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[Jan 02 '07]      Another Segment Completed! Three Legs Across America: The Rockies

Nancy takes a break by a steaming pool.
In 2006, Nancy Nelson and her husband, Dan Fender, continued their cross-country bicycle ride as part of their Three Legs Across America campaign to raise funds to help Vietnamese amputees. In 2005 they traveled from Fort Canby, Washington, to Missoula, Montana. For the second year of their planned five-year trip, they traversed through the most physically demanding stretch yet of their route as they went from Missoula to Rawlins, Wyoming, a course that took them across the Rocky Mountains. Nancy had the following words to say about their journey:

Nancy and Dan complete this portion of their trip in Rawlins, WyomingIn 2006 we rode from Missoula, Montana, to Rawlins, Wyoming, and added another 735 miles to our cross-country journey. Highlights included: panning for garnets in Idaho; meeting a lone bison on a back-country bike trail in Yellowstone; spending the night as the only humans in a forlorn motel in a modern-day ghost-town; and receiving a bottle of wine from one couple that flagged us down to talk about our weird-looking bike. Not a single flat the entire time!

Forget what you learned in elementary school about the Continental Divide being a single point that defines which ocean a given drop of rainwater will eventually reach – we crossed the Divide at least a half dozen times this summer. The first time we celebrated with whoops and hollers and a photo shoot; likewise the second and third times. By the fourth crossing we were so blasé we didn’t even slow down – we just wanted to have the climbs behind us.


The shadow of Nancy's prosthetic limb.Nancy poses for a photo at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park.

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