The thru hikers call a day with no mileage a “zero” and a day with few miles a “nero”.  I like these terms and will adopt them.  I took a nero!  After two nights with little sleep and hard miles I was tempted to take a zero but thought I should make some progress.

The day started early.  Mostly because I was too cold to stay in the tent.  I got breakfast at a diner at 6 and then did shower laundry at a laundromat.  From there I explored West Yellowstone.  Being the closest city to Yellowstone it thrives on tourism.  I was tempted to spend th $15 to see the grizzly and wolf zoo, but decided to eat a good breakfast and lunch instead.

For lunch I stopped at a Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of town.  When I arrived, there was an Asian tour bus parked outside and it was packed with Chinese tourists.  That was a good sign.  I wanted to go to Old Faithful simply because of the buffet, but this was a much better deal.  The atmosphere and food reminded me of my trip to China earlier this year.  I especially appreciated the giant serving of rice.  The deal I would recommend to hikers and cyclists is the two person dinner for $15.  I asked if one person could order it and the waiter said yes.  You get two entrees, two soups, and unlimited rice and drinks.

To rest and digest, I went to the city park and took a nap.  The wind was blowing strong from the North and I wanted to give it a chance to die down before hitting the road.  I finally left West Yellowstone around 4 PM after restocking on food.  The wind had all but stopped and it was relatively flat.  I took my time and pedalled easy trying to enjoy my nero.  There were campgrounds just North of Hebgen Lake I planned to stay at.  The ride was cut short when I saw the Yellowstone Holiday RV Park.  It had tiny cabins for rent and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  It was $100 more than free camping, but I enjoyed getting out of the cold.  The unlimited hot shower, free-ish laundry, and microwave helped.  The cabins were bare except for the small table and bunkbeds.  

Once checked in, I gave Quinton a call to let him know that I had room if he was anywhere close.  He responded and was only 10 miles behind me.  The rest of the evening I watched the osprey dive for fish and the thunderstorms develop in the East.