Running Time: 51:40.5 + 1-Lap Kick
Sheridan is a beautiful small town near the Wyoming-Montana border. I chose it for my hotel stay because it is midway between Casper and Billings, adding equal amounts of extra driving time to the end of one day and the beginning of another. It turned out to be a fortuitous choice, although most of the restaurants were closed by the time I finished my run.
My running buddies were several deer and a rabbit. Sheridan Junior High School has a beautiful track with six lanes, situated on a bluff overlooking the town. A picturesque walkway runs along the southeast side of the school. Half a dozen couples strolled past while I ran.
I somehow crossed the Continental Divide three times on my drive across Wyoming, twice on I-80 eastbound, and once on the 2-lane highway north to Casper. I was thinking maybe the sign guys did not understand the concept, but then my wife sent me an image with maps of the continental divide, and there appears to be an oval in the middle of Wyoming that drains to no major body of water. Whatever water accumulates there apparently just soaks in or dries up.
Shortly before reaching Sheridan, I cross the South Fork Crazy Woman River, which gave me fair warning to get the phone camera ready for the Middle Fork Crazy Woman River just a few miles later.
It was also interesting to cross a Continental Divide at 7,000 feet above sea level and to be on extremely flat terrain. Utah and Colorado love to market how close to the heavens they are, but the whole state of Wyoming is uphill from them and seems to think not much of it.
Don't Make It a Habit. Make It a Ritual. 