Saturday, November 8, 2008

Days 4-8: Saratoga, WY (Oct 10th-13th)

RIVERSIDE TO SARATOGA

i woke up in the morning feeling sore and stiff (no surprise).  i had breakfast at a small café, which was also the bar i ate at the night before.  the entire town was just slightly larger than this building.

RAIN DANCE

riding most of the 20 miles to saratoga in the rain didn't really bother me.  i did get cold though, so once i got into saratoga i promptly found the hot springs, parked jorge, tore off my cycling shoes and jumped in.  i had a few days to relax in the hot springs while the storm blew over.

“WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU BIKING THROUGH OUR TOWN ANYWAYS?”

asked the angry drunk cowboy at the local watering hole. maybe it was the edward abbey shirt i was wearing that made them so angry,

            “a patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.”

but it was more likely my loud response. “because you don’t have to start a war to fuel the damn thing!”  this pissed off enough people that even I knew i had crossed the line.  i spent the next 15 minutes backtracking, lying and finally pulling a 180 by conceding to these right wing nuts “you’re right, change is bad!” (this was just weeks before the election) and that if i saw any terrorists on my travels to jackson i’d be sure to let someone know.  if you want the full story just ask me sometime.  this was high up there on the 'look-what-you’ve-gotten-yourself-into-now’ scale along with getting mugged in mexico and almost getting kidnapped in new zealand.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

i spent the next 3 days in saratoga drinking coffee, watching the weather, and soaking in hot springs.  i met a fishing and hunting guide in a coffee shop, kyle, who was eager to get one more run on the river.  floating on a raft we went fishing and duck hunting – surf & turf as he called it.  also, thanks to a friendly couple, i was offered an empty bed to crash in and learned a great deal about native americans.  chilly, part Lakota, spent hours talking to me about the history of the land; he also showed me the bows and arrows that he had made for hunting.




 

 

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