No cycling today…because I was goin’ to Jackson with Melissa & Mike in their 5th wheel RV! They’ve been living on the road for seven years now, having sold their house in Missouri and downsized everything they own. Mike is a retired engineer and Melissa is a nurse. On the ride there Melissa shows me her laptop and GPS and we identify this gravel road that goes northeast from the small town of Kellly, up the Gros Ventre River valley, then ends at the Iron Ranch trailhead. A few miles east you can see where there’s another road that comes north from the Green River valley…and harking back to my days as a wilderness canoe guide in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Quetico, I get to thinking there must be a trail to connect the two roads, which would put me back on the Great Divide Route on the other side of Union Pass. Viola! Melissa and Mike drop me off at the Jackson Visitor’s Center, where I talk to a useless Forest Service agent, but Mike helps me identify the two USGS 7.5 min. topographical maps I need. I treat them to a big lunch at the Diary Queen and they head off to the RV park in south Jackson.
Outside the Visitor’s Center I see a Koga (Dutch) touring bike, easily identified by the front and rear racks, extended handlebar, etc. I wait around and meet Udo Rehfeldt, who is traveling in his Sprinter camper van and making day trips on his bike. He invites me to share his campsite at the Gros Ventre Campground a few miles out of town.
The rest of the day I spend going from outfitter to outfitter, trying to see if anyone knows the Gros Ventre + Green River basins, and specifically anything about the trail connecting them. A helpful gal at one ATV outfitter zeroes right in on where I want to travel, and she confirms that the roads are open and that trail I want is rough but passable. At an outdoor store I meet John Slaughter www.jsimagery.com who sells me the two topo maps and takes a break to see my bike and trailer in the town square. I promise to send John an email about where I make it through (or not…).
It’s getting late so I zip down to the Safeway to load up on groceries, and on the way back I pass the RV park where Melissa and Mike are staying. I find their trailer and Melissa insists on baking me some chocolate chip cookies…how can I resist? I can’t, and we chat until dark, and then Mike graciously volunteers to take me to the campground (I don’t have any lights for cycling at night).
We find Udo’s van at the at Gros Ventre Campground; I get my tent set up and we enjoy the sunset and unfolding night sky with a view of the Tetons. Udo offers me a beer (Pilsner Urquell!) and we got to sharing life stories. Udo is from Berlin and came to the U.S. in 1969 to work in a shipping company. After I tell him my last name, he asks if I know a company called “Footner & Company” and someone names Roberto Gutierrez. When I tell him that’s my father we’re both speechless! Here I am in the middle of Wyoming and I meet someone that worked with my father 40 years ago. It’s such a small world story that we have to confirm three or four times that we’re talking about the same people – absolutely unbelievable! Well we drink some more beers and talk all about the forwarding industry, where Udo spent most of his working life, although on the West Coast (only two years in Baltimore).
Udo mentions that he signed up for a rafting trip on the Snake River, and I agree to join him and take a layover day in Jackson.
