Day 1: Jackson - Colter Bay Village

The alarm goes off at 8am., but Tomi has gone off at 7am. to return the rental car. When he returns, we head out for organic breakfast at Harvest Bakery & Cafe; a coffee, 2 freshly-squeezed orange juices, hot oatmeal, yogurt and granola, potatoes and toast cost us $24 altogether.
	After riding 19km in a little more than an hour we reach Teton Village, a touristy winter sport resort. We look for a coffee shop, but fail to find any. There is a sign to a bagel shop, which actually leads into an attorney's office. Oh boy, the guy looks surprised when I pop in in my bicycle outfit! We go on. We pay ten-dollar entrance fee when entering the Grand Teton National Park. The fee allows us to the Yellowstone park as well. Soon, and unexpectedly we hit a dirt road for several miles. Traffic is relatively heavy.
Below are pictures of the Teton mountains at left (large), and a view to the other direction at right. The mountains from right to left are Mount Owen (12928', 3940m), Grand Teton (13770', 4197m) and Middle Teton (12804', 3902m).

By 3:30pm. (after riding 53.9km in 3:27) we are at Jenny Lake Lodge for lunch. Unfortunately, we hit the place between the meals. We enjoy a couple of energy bars and go on. Frustrated, we don't even bother to make a detour to take a look at the (supposedly) scenic Jenny Lake. Our last rest stop before Colter Bay Village is at Jackson Lake and Reservoir (see the picture of Tomi taking a few deep breaths below). We reach Colter Bay at 6:15 after riding 84.6km in 5:40. This is definitely much longer and harder day we expected; the curvy gravel road in the Grand Teton National Park gave us some extra unplanned miles.
We camp at Colter Bay (elev. 6753') in the biker/hiker area for $10. At least that's what we think. As a first thing in the morning the park ranger leaves us a note saying we are not in the biker/hiker are but in a storage lot. We wondered why there are so many tables and benches. Being in the bear country, the note also reminds us of the food we left outside: a full bottle of water and few emptied from beer.
Back to the evening. First we do some laundry (in general, whenever it is possible, we do laundry). While waiting for the washers to finish, we check the local store, which seems a decent grocery store. While waiting for the driers we check a table in the nearby Chuckwagon restaurant. For dinner, Tomi has spaghetti and chicken breast for $12.95 (this chicken definitely had implants) and Tei has stuffed (with ricotta) pasta shells for $13.95. On our way back "home" we pick up some beers from the store: Snake River Pale (Snake River Brewing Co., Jackson, WY; Teton amber ale, Grand Teton Brewing Co., Victor, ID; and Black Dog Ale, Spanish Peaks Brewing Co., Denver CO. We enjoy the beers in the still and clear night watching shooting stars.

Day 2: Colter Bay Village - Grant Village

We wake up at 8:05am. into a cool and sunny morning (+7.5C). We have breakfast mini-buffet at the Chuckwagon's for $6.95 each. By 11am. we have packed the camp and are ready to go. After riding 24.6km and just before entering Yellowstone, we hit road construction area. We are not let through, but have to wait 30 minutes for a utility truck to pick us up. Tomi travels in the back with the bicycles and it is hard, he says. In the cab it is just dusty.
	After entering the park we see a wolf crossing the road, and then staying there staring at us passing by. Having read the warnings about approaching wildlife, we have no intent to stop and photograph him. Moreover, the canine is huge. Picture at left is from the north end of the Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park.
It feels like we are climbing all day. We have checked in the map that the road is supposed to follow a river most of the day uphill. The map does not tell us that the road goes some 100 meters above the river and rolls up and down. See the pictures at right and below for the views over the Lewis River gorge. We take a rest once in a while at picturesque spots. In one of those we meet a four-bicyclist group doing a four-day loop in the park. They tell us that after the final climb to the continental divide we have all downhill to Grant Village.
	In Yellowstone we see kilometers after kilometers of forest burnt in the 1988 forest fire that started from a tree falling over the power line. At 5pm. we reach the continental divide (elevation 7988') for the first time in this trip (see the photo below). We also discover that one of the spokes in Tomi's back wheel is broken.
This night we camp in Grant Village (elev. 7733') after riding 59km in 4:15. The neighbouring hiker/biker site is occupied by a (Dutch-)Canadian couple with a two-year old daughter. They quit their jobs to bike tour for a year. They started in Edmonton, Canada, rode 1600 kilometers to Yellowstone and planned to be in Mexico by Christmas. At Grant Village showers cost $3.00 per person and towel rent 75 cents. We don't do laundry tonight, but instead head out for dinner at the Grant Village Lakeside Restaurant. Even if we are seated pretty soon, service is slow and sloppy. The place is full, but we don't even get the beers, Old Faithful on tap for $3.25 a pint, until being served the appetizer salads. Tomi has trout for $10.95 and Tei linguini for $12.95.

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