Day 6. Lander, WY to Arco, ID

I woke up this morning to a sunny, but chilly, 37 degree day. As I was packing up the bike, the man in the room next to mine came outside and started to clean his Harley. We talked for a long time about riding and getting older. He said he was going to be 76 next month, and that he'll continue to ride as long as he can. He actually looked closer to 60 years old.

I left Lander and headed towards Kemmerer, WY. I had to cross the Wind River Mountains. I'm glad I didn't go north to Cody or Yellowstone. I didn't bring enough cold weather gear for that kind of cold. Some of those mountain passes are close to 11,000 feet. My route is over lower elevations. It was darn cold on the 7600 feet pass I went over. I had to stop at a Wyoming rest area and go inside and warm up. Many of the mountain tops still had snow on them.

Wyoming antelope crossing sign.

I crossed into Idaho on hwy 30, north of Cokeville.

I stopped in Soda Springs, gassed up and grabbed a quick lunch at Taco Time.

One of the things I wanted to see on this trip was EBR-I, or Experimental Breeder Reactor-I. It's the first atomic reactor to generate electricity. Unfortunately, I arrived just 15 minutes before closing. I had time to walk in and snap a few photos, but I didn't have time to read the information about the displays. More information here, and here. Also in the parking lot are 2 experimental nuclear aircraft engines. I'd like to see the size of the plane that could get the engine and a bomb load off the ground.

2 experimental aircraft engines.

After they closed the EBR-I, I walked over to the aircraft engines. There were 5 or 6 other people looking at them. A 30's-ish man walked over to me and started talking to me about his motorcycle trips in years past. He told me he was "car camping", and tried to keep me talking as the other people left. I seldom get weird vibes from people, but this guy had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I don't know just what it was about him, but I couldn't get on the bike fast enough. Something in the back of my mind was telling me, Run from the Psycho.....

I stopped for the night in Arco, ID. across the street from the hotel I'm staying in, is this. It's the conning tower from the USS Hawkbill. It's sitting on a slab in the city park.

Tomorrow?