With an early start, we had a great day! It had been a while since we had a day like today. We passed through Newcastle picking up some Nutter Butters for the road. Jewel Cave was a nice long rest stop though the final 13 miles to Custer were a lot hillier than either of us expected. Hills felt great today. I am feeling so much stronger than on the Oregon passes. My legs are healing well. Getting into Custer after 73 miles and no real lunch, we could not resist indulging in our 2nd Pizza Hut feast. Next, we rolled our fat bellies through Custer to the Flintstone's Campground - Jellystone Park. The laughs and screams of children is both shocking and lulling.

We locked up the construction trailer and embraced the clear windless Wyoming morning. During our easy ride out of Wyoming I had stopped briefly to take off my warm long sleeve top and was immediately swarmed by a gaggle of mosquitoes. I lost all grace in my movements as I swatted swung and lamely attempted to pedal away. I sustained about 20 bites from that engagement and gave a nod to that lady from Muddy Gap speaking about how the wind keeps the mosquitoes at bay.

Stopping at Jewel Cave was a treat. It is the 3rd largest cave network in the World. I think Dick Cheney hides in there when the going gets tough in the real world. We took an elevator down 230 ft below the surface. We were lucky to have the modern amenity of electric lights down there but at one point during the tour the guide turned off all the lights for us to experience the true darkness of the cave. Complete and absolute darkness. It is amazing to think that the original explorers used small head lanterns to explore the confines of this labyrinthine space.