6/8/06: Another marathon, wonderful touring

My journey to Casper, Wyoming was pleasant—uneventful flight to Denver, pretty drive up to Casper. I found the hotel in Casper unbelievably easily. By the time I had settled in at the hotel, and checked my email, I looked at my phone. It was only half charged. At that moment I realized I had forgotten a phone charger. What to do? I hoped that if I could find a Verizon store, they might agree to charge my phone. That turned out to be quite easy. The phone book listed two Verizon locations, one of which was in the only local mall, which was very easy to find. The people at the Verizon store graciously charged my phone for me. First problem solved.

I spend Saturday touring the Casper area, including Fort Caspar. It is a replica of the original fort built in the mid-1800s. The fort and the accompanying museum offered rich history of the area. I drove up the North Platte River and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. After a lovely day, I returned to the hotel and the packet pick-up area to check on the details of the next day. I was just in time for the pasta dinner, which was one of the best I’ve seen. Good company, good food. What more can you ask?

The marathon started at the Casper Event Center, with indoor toilets available. Yeah! The course was well laid out and very scenic. I saw many rabbits, a chipmonk, and a deer. As the day progressed, with its unrelenting heat and sun, my body rebelled. I ate Frito’s as regularly as I could, but the humidity was so low that my mouth stayed too dry to eat between water stops. By mile 18, I was reduced to walking, periodically feeling nauseous and lightheaded. The swollen hands were the last clue that hyponatremia was coming back for another visit. Determined to finish, I just committed to walking it in, and finished in about 6:20, just happy to collect the medal. After a quick nap, shower, and more good food and company at the post-race party, I started out on my drive to Jackson.

Not only did I underestimate the driving time, but I foolishly believed Yahoo!Maps driving directions and started out going north rather than west. This cost me about another two hours of driving, although I did see a lot of beautiful country. I got into Jackson about 1:30 in the morning, slept well, got out the door by late morning, and went first in search of another Verizon store. I found one right away (Jackson isn’t that big), but apparently the charger wasn’t working properly. After a half hour of charging, the indicator showed less charge, not more. I decided Yellowstone couldn’t wait any longer, and departed with my uncharged phone.

Yellowstone was awesome. I arrived in the Old Faithful area just abut fifteen minutes before its eruption, and then proceeded on a walking tour of the many other geysers, vents, pools, etc. I never knew how many geysers are there, nor the variety. I probably spent too much time in that area, but it was so hard to leave such a fascinating scene. I drove a loop through other areas of the park in search of wildlife and was treated to several herds of bison, pronghorn, and mule deer, as well as more chipmonks and snow. There were pockets of snow remaining from a recent snowfall, and I couldn’t resist getting my hands in it and walking through it. It never ceases to amaze me to walk in snow on a warm day wearing shorts.

My phone had barely enough electrons to allow me to check messages and return a couple of important calls before I boarded the plane in Denver, so I escaped a phone calamity.

I now have a treasure trove of wonderful sights, sounds, and smells (the air really does smell sweet in Wyoming). Great trip!

Marathon count: 30
State count: 19



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