April 9th, 2016. Fountain of Youth

This morning began a bit later than usual, as I said goodbye to my parents. I enjoyed my time in Riverton, hanging out with mom and dad. As usual, the food and conversation was wonderful. I spent the previous day taking care of logistics, but also had the honor of being interviewed for a Wyoming PBS production. I also gave two presentations.

Rendezvous Elementary

The first presentation was to a room of about a million 4th and 5th grade students at Rendezvous Elementary School. I came to the school, all dressed in my biking regalia with a fully loaded bike. Hiding off to the side while my good friend Steve Peck introduced me, I entered the gymnasium riding on my bike and circling the room. Steve handed me the microphone (a lapel style) and I said to the kids, “make sure you never wear one of these into the bathroom,” which resulted in a roar of laughter. Kids that age really appreciate potty humor (so do I for some reason). When I offered to answer questions, 150 hands went up. They actually mobbed me as I left the room.

Later that evening, I gave a talk at Central Wyoming College. A modest room was reserved for the lecture. About 15 minutes prior to the start of the talk, the room filled up so we moved to a large lecture hall. When that room filled up, chairs were brought into the aisles. Over 100 people came to hear about JWST. I conducted a simple poll: although all were familiar with HST, less than 1/3 had heard of JWST prior to the announcement of the lecture. This is an unfortunate, but common result that I have encountered whenever talking about JWST.

Central Wyoming College

The questions were all good, and many stayed an extra 30 minutes or so for additional questions. But the high point of the evening was reconnecting with my high school band teacher, John Aanestad.

So that was my second day off in the ride, and the 3^rd lecture.

The ride into Thermopolis was very enjoyable—as is nearly every day that is free of headwinds. The Wind River Canyon is still a breathtaking ride, even though I have driven through it hundreds of times since I was a boy.

Entering Wind River Canyon

As you head north through the canyon you encounter a series of 3 tunnels. As the ride is slightly downhill, you can almost keep ahead of the traffic which is supposed to slow to 30 mph. I pity the rider who is heading south–there is no extra space in these dark tunnels.

3 tunnels in Wind River Canyon

Wind River Canyon

Exiting the canyon, brings the rider into the town of Thermopolis, home of the world’s largest mineral hot springs.

Thermopolis

I had hoped to go a bit further before camping, but had to stop at the Fountain of Youth RV park for the evening. This park had a nice natural hot springs which has been channeled into pools. Everyone thinks that the sulfur smell is good for you, but that is hydrogen sulfide gas and is quite toxic in any quantity. Tomorrow I need to get an early start for the ride into Greybull where my sister and brother in law live.

Mineral Pools at Fountain of Youth