Monthly Archives: July 1988

Dubois, WY

camping
Grand Teton was very close to Flagg Ranch.

In the morning, as I started out again, I was mesmerized by the jet black butterflies fluttering just a few inches off the road. Black as living shadows of the deepest night… and then, I hit a truck.

I sure was accident-prone. Fortunately, the truck was parked. It was right in the bike lane while the occupants were looking at a flock of geese. Just like the barrier, I hit it straight on, and bounced back. I didn’t fall off that time, either. And the bike was okay, thank goodness.

I’m guessing those are the Grand Tetons in the distance.
My journal says I stopped for lunch at the Hatchet Hotel, and that it was a well-kept place, much to be recommended over the Flagg Ranch. Perhaps this was it? I ate my own food, though.

Lunch was a can of Vienna sausages and pita bread. The sausages fell in the dirt while I was trying to shake them out of the can. After a few weeks on the road, that sort of thing wasn’t even an annoyance. I barely even brushed them off before eating.

In the afternoon, I climbed to Togwotee pass. At 9658 feet, it was the highest I had been on the trip. I had no trouble with the grade or altitude; I just took it at a leisurely pace. Some other people were also slowly working their way up the hill.

About halfway up, I stopped to talk to some other people who were touring. One of the women suddenly cried, “Ow!” and slapped her leg. This was my first introduction to the Black Deer Fly. As long as I was near the women, the flies didn’t bother me. Whatever made me last choice for mosquitoes apparently also made me last choice for the flies.

I continued on to the crest. There at the top, there were no fly-decoys around. A black fly landed on my thigh. It hesitated for a while, then I felt like I was being pinched with long-nose pliers. It was BAD! I slapped the fly and stunned it. A local man later told me that the deer flies didn’t suck blood — they ate meat. They would bite out a small chunk of flesh, then go away to chew on it. “But they’re slow,” he said, “so you can kill ’em without too much trouble.”

There are many reasons to travel with women, but see the text above for an unusual one.
Downhill into Dubois.

Dubois (DOO-boys) was my stop for the night. The Circle Up campground had incredibly nice showers. Such a contrast from Flagg Ranch. And the price was only $3.

The showers at the campground were so good, I felt I had to take a picture of them.

For dinner, I had half the bag of pasta shells that I got for 53￠, with a can of tomato sauce, and 1 small can of spinach. Dubois was a nice town with reasonable prices, but it looked like it was poised for high growth – there was construction everywhere.