Day 10: West Yellowstone, MT to Sheridan, MT

Miles on my Specialized: 104

Temps: low 80's at the end. Felt like I was riding my bike in a sauna

Terrain: the first 70 mi were rolling hills. We did that in exactly 4 hours with one short stop. We were definitely hauling tail! Looking back, we probably went out too fast because we basically got destroyed/obliterated/crushed/blown up by this 9 mile section of climbing on this hill called Virginia Pass coming out of Ennis, MT. We climbed into a fierce headwind, with about a 15 inch road shoulder on a 65 mph highway..... and did I mention it was hot as all Hades? However, it was an important test. And let me just say that Luke officially became a man today. If we were in the scouts, I'd give him a patch or pin or something. He stayed on my back tire the whole way. He never wavered through the hills, heat and sheer number of miles that we rode. He rode hard. I was proud of that mountain goat. It was pretty much a sufferfest for both of us. But, we made it through and lived to tell (and blog) about it. Fortuntately, the last 25 miles weren't too bad. However, we are both paying a price right now as we are tapping out for the night.

# of buys I swallowed: 2

# of insects/bugs of somesort that stung me today while riding: 2

Playlist while riding: (in my head, of course...as I left my CD walkman at home)

1. "Agnes Dei" -MWS

2. "Mighty to save" -MWS

3. "Omaha" -Counting Crows

4. "The one I love" -REM

5. "Training Montage" -from the movie Rocky IV

What I saw that made me almost vomit today: I saw some kid in an Aaron Rogers (Green Bay Packers) jersey walking down mainstreet in Ennis. Not a fan of the Pack, in case you didn't know.

Here's a conversation that occured today between LUke and some trucker at this bar (the only place we could get aqua) right after we got owned by Virginia Pass. It was kind of funny and what you should know is that these convo's happen on a regular basis in the towns that we stay in. Besides the bartender, we were the only three people in this place.

Trucker: I saw you two coming up that nasty mother (expletive) Virginia Pass a few minutes ago.

Luke: Yeah, that was us.

Trucker: If I'd of thought faster, I would have thrown you guys a tow rope and pulled you right up that mountain

Luke: I wish you would have b/c I would have taken it (shortly after this remark, Luke has his face and arms completely buried on the bar itself) Maybe next time.

Me: I was pretty much staring at the wall, listening but too tired to move at this point.

Possible alternative mode of transport to Oregon: see pic above. We are currently in negotiations with a bean farmer here in Sheridan for this tractor. We are hoping that he will trade it for a half a bag of banana chips, 23 cliff bars and a couple tire levers. He's pretty stubborn, though, so I would expect to see us on our rides manana.

Tomorrow's Ride: 103 miles to Wisdom, MT (4300 ft of climbing, two mtn passes)

SHOUT OUTS.....

*We are exremely grateful for the Happy Trails Motel who graciously donated 2 rooms for us tonight!

*Annalisa Galgano for the "Lion King" link! That is sure to come in handy at some point in this trip. Nice find.

HUNGER RIDE SAYS GOODBYE TO.....

David Butler. Most of you know that Davis has been with us since the very beginning of the trip. That's 650 miles and 9 days that he has ridden with us. And he was certainly a trooper, that's for sure. We're really going to miss having Davis with us. He was a really great guy to have around.

I like Davis because he's into a couple of the more important things in life one should be into; cross country and 70's & 80's music. We definitely had a good time turning the dial up to the likes of the Doobey Bro's, Boston and others on several mixed cd's that I've had spinning in my car since this trip started. Davis, we'll miss you buddy. Hope you enjoy Florida!

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES.....

William Bateman and Stewart Gunther. Probably new faces and names for most of you unless you currently reside in Memphis, TN. Back when I was teaching in Memphis, I had William and Stewart in my "Defense of the Faith" Bible class when they were seniors. It's been three years since I've seen them, but they were more than willing to travel almost 2,000 miles to be a part of HR 2010. They will be driving vehicle support, quoting random 80's movies and providing comic relief for us until this Saturday .... and we're ecstatic to have them with us!

PLEASE PRAY FOR....

The Valor Africa team that is currently in both Uganda (Tikoling!) and Kenya. Pray for the unity of teams, the work they will be involved with and changed lives when they return on the 26th of June.