Wyoming

I have driven on Interstate 80 through Wyoming quite a few times and have always wanted to stop and do a century in Rocks Springs or Green River. I finally got my chance in September of 2011.

An overview of the area with Green River marked on the map.

The route planning was easy since there aren't that many roads heading out of the area. I started at a park in Green River and headed south on 530 to the Utah border. On the way back I took a little side trip on McKinnon road to get the extra 10 miles or so I needed.

The route.

The route turned out to be a good one. 530 wasn't busy at all, but there is plenty of shoulder if things are busier during the summer travel season.

Island Park in Green River before the ride.

This was the biggest climb of the day (only ~1000 feet) and it is right outside of Green River. It served as a nice warm-up on the way out, and who doesn't love a downhill at the end of the ride?

Much of the day's scenery reminded me of Nevada.

The Utah border, where I turned around.

Welcome to Wyoming.

Things were a little more red near the border and actually felt more Utah-like.

Louisiana

I passed through Louisiana in September of 2011 and was fortunate enough to have time to squeeze in a century. I planned a route near the Kisatchie National Forest, which is in the central western portion of the state. I based my route around the 17-mile Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, a nice stretch of rolling road with little traffic.

An overview of the starting point.

My campground for the night: Dogwood Campground.

Dogwood Campground is right next to the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, so my plan was to begin from there and complete a loop that took me through Natchitoches.

The actual route.

Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway

Longleaf Trail is a nice, smooth section of road with a few rolling hills and plenty of forest scenery. The only traffic I saw for the entire 17 miles was Forest Service employees. After leaving the ease of the Scenic Byway, things began to go wrong. The very first back road on my route ended up being a terrible stretch of pavement that eventually turned into a dirt road. A little bit of dirt riding is no big deal, but it turned out to be an omen.

This is what you get when you don't know the area and you just plot out a Google Map that looks like a good idea at the time.

I encountered my first chasing dog of the day while I was riding on the dirt road. I haven't been chased by a dog since I moved to Nevada, so it was an interesting experience that reminded me of my days living in the Midwest. I can't say that chasing dogs ever bothered me when I was used to them (most of them just wanted to play and weren't aggressive), but I can't say that I've missed them, either. For the day I just considered it a taste of the local lifestyle and I gave them all a run for their money.

After the dirt road, my route sent me mostly on the main roads. Unfortunately, I either had bad directions or made a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end by a river with no bridge to cross. I was too short on miles to just turn around and I wanted to see more sights anyway instead of backtracking all day, so I had to improvise from there. Things turned out pretty well and even though I was riding mostly on highways I found that I either had a shoulder when I needed it or there wasn't much traffic to deal with.

All in all the ride was fun and the weather was great (sunny with highs in the upper 80s). Here is a small taste of what I saw along the way.