Day 21 – Casper to Wheatland
July 14, 2009
Well the longest day of the trip has finally arrived. It is a strenuous 126-mile ride to Wheatland but we are all happy because the cattlewomen will be providing dinner for us. About two miles into the trip, one of our crew mistakenly forgot to mark a turn and my pace line rode a few miles in the wrong direction. A van came to pick us up and take us back to the other riders so we loaded our bikes on the racks and headed that direction. Moments later we were in small accident. The accident did not involve any other drivers but the back bike rack fell off of the trunk and totaled two bikes. Luckily my bike was on the top rack and was unharmed. Our guys dealt with it very well but had to be racked for the next few days due to the fact that they didn’t have bikes to ride. After the incident, Matt Schmidt and myself decided to ride in a two man pace line for the entire day. We don’t know why we did it but it was the nicest ride I’ve had with another member so far. We prayed for the team, each other’s families, the broken bike situation, and many other things. The miles melted away and it felt as if we had been transported to Wheatland instead of riding there. The dinner was unbelievable that night and we got to hear more amazimg stories about Rancher’s lifestyles that we did not know. Apparently, a lot of ranches are going to be going out of business due to a “gas tax” that the government is enforcing for cattle. Every rancher will have to pay $85 per head of cattle for a fart tax on their animals. We were all shocked and outraged by the new legislation. Ranchers have it hard enough; they will not be able to make any profits if trends like this continue any further.
