July 12th: Grant Village - Colter Bay: go - stop - go - return - stop ...

It promised to be another sunny day … at 7am. But by the time my breakfast was gone and the Sweet Machine was all packed up dark clouds had popped up. This meant trouble! What to do: start and be sure to get in the rain or wait for the storm to blow over. I decided to hit the road – another continental divide was still calling my name! Since the storm lay ahead of me, I thought ;”let’s not cycle too fast”…or was it the uphill that made me go slowly. Soon upcoming cars were using their headlights. I had this campsite in mind: “If I can reach that before it really pours down…”. I pushed somewhat harder on my pedals but along Lake Lewis I needed to put on my yellow “Ensorinstituut.be” flashy vest! At the campground came the next decision…stay or go on! Move…said my inner voice – cycle to the falls! So I did and there my rain jacket and pants came in handy! I heard thunder rolling in the distance but had no place to take cover. I just stood there along the road, while it rained. Strangely, was not willing to move. I just kept on riding and more strangely…on the nicest part of the ride – on the top of the rim of the canyon of the Snake River – it stopped raining! Out with those pants and jacket, I thought. Alas, just a few miles further, it wanted to rain again. Jacket back on, for a screaming downhill to the south entrance of the park. Goodbye, Yellowstone!

My next stop was a lunch break at Flagg Ranch – a campground and lodge between Yellowstone and Teton National Park. There I met two cyclists going the other way. Back on the road I noticed real dark clouds to the west … not good. Just before I climbed up to Teton National Park, I decided to return to Flagg Ranch! What a good idea! I spent about 2 hours waiting there – and met 4 other cyclists heading for Grant Village and also waiting till the new thunderstorm went away. When it finally stopped raining I felt like cycling on. In the distance more rainclouds were coming in, but I had enough of waiting around and talking politics of the USA. Said good-bye to my fellow cyclists and set out again. I had the chance to climb without rain, but upon reaching the top the sky just dropped all the rain it still had. There was a small toilet on the parking lot where I could hide – and get rich  if I had cleaned the toilet every time someone came. At least I did not feel alone there because two years ago a road worker showed me some pictures of a bear wandering there. Once again I decided to go on the moment it almost stopped raining – but once again I was wrong and I could hardly see on the downhill! Out of the corner of my eyes I did notice two other crazy cyclists climbing the hill and we just screamed good luck to each other! An awesome view of Jackson Lake and the mountain range can be seen on this downhill, but I only saw this wall of rain. Strangely enough – once down, the sun finally came out again. It was so weird: ahead of me it was raining, in the back of me the sun was doing its work. The road along the lake to Colter Bay was too much for me: I had enough of rain and enough of bear warnings (red cones and signposts warning a bear was seen here). I wanted to be at my destination: a hot shower and a roof over my head was all I needed. In the cabin I took out all the luggage to dry. I was happy the sun was shining that evening!