9/1/10 – Slowed by Snow

Before we dive into today’s blogosphere, I want to wish a happy birthday to my sister Ann who is celebrating her 29th birthday again today for the 17th consecutive year. Happy Birthday!

The bad news: It’s raining and cold with high winds and scattered snow flurries in the higher passes.

The good news: Tomorrow’s forecast calls for sunny skies, light breezes and highs in the 70’s.

Based on the above, my decision to stay put in Jackson Hole was an easy call. Since we have some time to kill, I read through the hotel guidebook and a bunch of brochures and I will now share with you some useless Wyoming trivia:
• WY is the 10th largest state by area, but the least populous state with just 544,000 residents;
• Racial and religious demographics: 97% White; 70% are Christian,11% Mormon and 19% Pagan;
• 70% of registered voters are Republicans and the rest are wrong;
• WY is ranked #1 “Business Friendly” out of all 50 states and it imposes no income taxes or death taxes – Yeah WY!;
• Cheyenne is the state capitol and is the most populous city with nearly 57,000 residents [Wow, that's a lot of people!];
• The State sport is Rodeo [sport?] and the State Dinosaur is Triceratops; and
• The “Hole” in Jackson Hole is derived from arcane trapper-speak in which valleys and other geologic depressions were referred to as holes. Somehow I think Silicon Valley wouldn’t be the same if it was called Silicon Hole; although it’s the unique molecular structure of silicon and specifically the Holes that hold and release electrons in the material that give silicon its special semi-conductor and photovoltaic properties, but I digress.

OK, enough of the worthless trivia. Today was a good day to curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee and that’s precisely what I did. I’m reading a fascinating nonfiction book called The Big Short. Basically, it’s a detailed chronology of the frauds and shenanigans perpetrated by investment banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions that created the financial meltdown of 2008. It’s an interesting read, but a sad commentary on the immoral management of many financial institutions.

By late afternoon the rain turned to sprinkles and I was getting hungry from sustaining myself all day on a granola bar, wasabi almonds, goldfish, coffee and Coke Zero. As I was getting ready to ride into town a dude from St. Louis rode in and parked next to me. He’s riding an ST 1300, which is Honda’s version of my Yamaha FJR 1300 sport-touring bike. To me the Honda is a geeky bastard step-cousin to the Yamaha; it’s much heavier, slower, poorer handling and its looks scream “Old Man” to me. That said, the ST it’s reliable, smooth riding and twice as powerful as a Harley. He had ridden down from Yellowstone today and he said the weather was foul the whole way down, the mountains were shrouded in clouds and parts of Yellowstone were closed due to snow. I’m glad I decided to wait out the storm.

At 5:30 I rode into town and walked along the wooden planked covered sidewalks lined with colorful hanging flower baskets, upscale boutiques, restaurants and bars. It’s amazing that the Jackson Hole Founding Fathers had the foresight to construct the sidewalks out of long lasting pressure-treated lumber. After 150 years of Wild West wear and tear, it still looks new! In the center of town there’s a pretty little square park with lots of trees and arches in each of the four corners constructed out of thousands of Elk horns. The antlers were obtained from Boy Scouts who were commissioned by the town leaders to slaughter thousands of woodland creatures so the park could have cool arches. Actually, I made that up, the Elk shed their antlers each year and the Boy Scouts go into the woods and collect them off the ground. Every May the Boy Scouts hold an auction in the park to sell the antlers they collect.

After strolling around town I decided to have dinner at the historic Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. There are two long bars that have silver dollars and ranch brand symbols embedded in them. There is impressive lacquered burl wood throughout and above the bar are lots of back lighted oval Wild West scenes, mostly of cowboys shooting Indians. The bar stools are actual horse saddles with stirrups to rest your feet and there are pool tables and regular tables between the two long bars. The menu is basic: Burgers, chicken sandwiches, cheese-steak sandwiches and of course bison and elk burgers. I had a Snake River Lager and a cheese steak sandwich with sautéed mushrooms, onions, peppers and Provolone cheese. It was over priced and small, but pretty good. The couple sitting next to me was from Wisconsin and they are touring the western states for the first time. They looked pretty uncomfortable in their saddles and frankly after nearly 3,000 miles in the saddle, I would have preferred a regular bar stool too.

When I left the Cowboy Bar, it was raining again so I rode back to the hotel and wrote this post. I’ll sleep well tonight dreaming of a sunny ride north through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone tomorrow.