Another rest day today, which makes four days without biking. It's a rest that my body definitely needed. I'm feeling much better, and much less tired - but I'm beginning to think that my body is on its own strange time zone. The last two days I was ready for a nap (or sleep) at 5 PM, but after I ate dinner I was wide awake again. Very strange. Or maybe it's not strange - maybe I'm so used to my biking constant eating (and drinking Gatorade) that anything else doesn't work. I ate more on a normal person's schedule (breakfast, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner) rather than constantly for those 2 days, so maybe that's the source of my 5:00 blahs.
Things went well today. The motel I stayed in last night had a cancellation for tonight, and they were able to move things around so I could stay in the same room. That was great, much better than changing hotels and not having a place to nap in the middle of the day. And yes, I did take a nap this morning. What a nice treat. I called Yellowstone reservations this morning to see if I could get a room in the Old Faithful area for Friday night. No luck, the place was totally sold out. That wasn't too much of a surprise, since it's recommended that you call for reservations there 9 months in advance. The guy I spoke with said that they get cancellations all of the time, but that they don't have a waiting list. So - I called back in 2 hours and was lucky enough to get a room at the Old Faithful Inn. I'm really happy about that because I want to spend some time in that area and it wouldn't be as enjoyable knowing I still had a 20 or 30 mile ride ahead of me. What luck!
After my morning nap I went out to find some lunch, then wandered through Jackson. The National Elk Refuge is on the northern edge of town, so I went up there for a while to watch the geese and ducks. No elk in sight today. Yesterday when I came into town there were some trumpeter swans there, but I didn't see them today. When I walked past the visitor center I met a miniature wire-haired dachshund from Indiana. What a funny little dog! I stopped to talk to the owners because I saw the dog on a leash pulling them along. That's just what Brandy and Caesar (my parent's dogs) do. It's the little dogs that think they are in charge of their people, and it's amazing what kind of pull a light little dog can exert on a human when the dog only weighs 10 pounds.
Here's another "regionalism": I'm currently in the town of Jackson, which is in the valley called Jackson Hole. In Wyoming, a hole is a high valley with mountains surrounding it. In Colorado, the same feature is called a park. So if Jackson Hole were in Colorado instead of Wyoming it would be called Jackson Park, and if Estes Park, Colorado were in Wyoming it would be called Estes Hole.
Tomorrow I'm headed for Grand Teton National Park, and Friday I'll be in Yellowstone National Park. I'm preparing to soak in the beauty...
