Again, I got up earlier than my other camping friends, and went to Atlantic City to checkout if I could score some breakfast and/or coffee there. I had to pass an old abandoned mining site along the way, and some wicked hills that I had to get off the bike and walk up on. Not exactly encouraging since I needed to make as many miles across the Great Basin as I could today. Besides Atlantic City, there were supposedly only two other places to get water in the Basin. One was a pipe that had water flowing out of a well, and the other was a reservoir that was my planned destination if the winds didn’t interfere too much. There is really nothing in the basin, including trees, so the winds have free rein to cause havoc. My backup plan if I didn’t reach the reservoir, was to camp somewhere in the middle of that desert.
I rolled into Atlantic City that had a sign proudly proclaiming they had about 57 residents 😆. Further on there was an array of Trump type propaganda displays about “draining the swamp”, and “Jail Hillary” 🤐. I was looking for the supposed general store that might have some things for this crazy traveler, ready to cross the Basin. It was in the far end of this little town up another steep and rough road. I was having doubts whether this was a futile detour.
Airbnb in Atlantic City
When I got there I saw that Mike and Jaime were finishing up their breakfast at an outdoor picnic table. “The breakfast burritos are great” they hollered. Phew! There were two ladies inside this little store and immediately asked if I would like coffee and a burrito as well. Great! They didn’t have the much desired chocolate milk, but I grabbed a Gatorade instead. I ended up chatting a bit with both of them while munching on my breakfast. I was curious why people would live in such a remote spot. Both of them had moved here from the Midwest. They said it was a peaceful place to live. I asked about the winters and notorious Wyoming winds. They confirmed it could get pretty bad at times and pointed to the top of the roof, saying the snow drifts would get that high 😳. Anyway, I enjoyed talking with them both, but felt an urgency to get going before it got hotter and windier.
Joy and Ricky of the General Store in AC
Leaving town I passed the last tree that I would see until the following day near Rawlins. Interesting that they had these neat wood stump seats set up around the tree with inscriptions. They even carved the top of the stump to resemble a tractor seat. How cool! This would have been a great place to camp.
Last tree for a while
I pedaled on past that tree into a wide area of nothingness. It is very hard to describe that unless you are there. There is no sound other than some birds, the wind, and my tires crunching on the dirt road. The old America song “I have been through the desert with horse with no name..” kept replaying in my head. So far the wind was directly from my side and had not hit full force yet.
Nothingness
I had been told that the first water source, Diagnus well, was hard to find. I had a pin dropped on my GPS map on my phone of the exact location. It was about a quarter mile from the road with no signs for it. I didn’t have any trouble finding it thanks to my map, and surprised others missed it often. It was a pipe sticking out of the ground with flowing water that was clear. Still, I took no chances and filtered it before putting it in my water bottles, and put a reserve bladder in my frame bag. Especially if I could not reach A&M reservoir today.
Diagnus well
When I left the well the winds were blowing quite hard from the West. A northbound cycling couple came up the road towards me. I will typically stop to talk if I sense they want to do the same. In this case each had a somewhat “I hate this” look on their face, so I just waved and said “good luck”. The man raised a hand half heartedly, while the woman about 50 feet behind him refused to acknowledge my presence. Here we are, the three of us on bicycles, with nobody nearby within a radius of over 20 miles. I know that they had a strong headwind to contend with, but I found it a bit strange about their demeanor. I talked with other southbound riders later that also encountered them. Same experience. Oh, well..
The route I was on did take a south westerly direction for several miles, and I got to encounter that wind more head on. Yes, no fun at all. I got to experience Wyoming winds on many occasions and I keep wondering why anyone would live in such conditions. The ironic thing is that there are hardly any wind turbines to take advantage of such free and clean energy in Wyoming. Yep, they love that clean coal and fossil fuels instead.
It must be true, it is on the Google
It was getting later in the day and I was determined to try to make it to the A&M reservoir campsite. I was running out of steam, but the thought of setting up my tent in this wind with no protection or water kept me going. I finally did slowly slog along and get there about an hour before sunset. Peter, Mike, and Jaime were already there and had setup their tents near the water. The winds were dying down a bit as they usually do around that time. I didn’t have much energy for social interaction, so I set up my tent, stuffed a few food items in my mouth for dinner and crashed into my sleeping bag. I did have a good sense of satisfaction making it to my destination after a grueling 89 mile day.
A&M reservoir
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