Bolder WY to Walden, CO - Rain and I-80

Mon 6/19 : Boulder to Rock Springs

A long (90 mi)  hard ride (1700 ft climb), some headwinds and some rain.  The good news is that there was about midway was the Farson Mercantile , serving sandwiches and ice cream!

Rock Springs has a population of 22,000 and is on I-80 .  By the time I got there, I was ready for dinner.  Nearby is Sapporo, a teppanyaki restaurant.  

My dinner companions

Tue 6/20 : Rock Springs to Wamsutter: I-80

72 miles of freeway.  Shoulder was really nice sometimes, but had some areas where it was cut up and gravelly.  Wamsutter is a town without much going for it.  There 1 restaurant, 2 motels, and a Love's Travel Center (truck stop) .  My dinner was a 5" pizza that was cold in the middle.  I was glad to get out of there in the morning.

Wed 6/21 : Wamsutter to Rawlins: I-80

only 40 miles to Rawlins.  The continental divide is about 6 mi west of town.

Was able to get there before 1PM for lunch at Anong 

Noodles with Yellow Curry & Shrimp

Coming out of the restaurant, I discovered my rear tire was flat.  There's no bike shop in Rawlins, so I went to the Carbon County Public Library, which is only a couple of blocks from the restaurant... I was going there anyway to use their computers...   The flat tire was the result of truck tire shrapnel from the I-80 shoulder.  There's a first aid center in the same municipal building that the library is in, and they leant me some tweasers so I could pull the little metal wire out of the tire before patching the tube. 

Thanks to Amelia and the rest of the Library staff for letting me fix my flat inside the building!!

After checking into the hotel, I went up to the Peppermill Bar & Grill for a really good BBQ brisket dinner.  Included 2 sides.  Bill was $13.  Can't beat that.

Thurs 6/22 : Rawlins to Encampment

I got to Penny's Diner at about 7:15.   The place was empty except for the waitress, who told me that they were closed, because the cook didn't show up for work.

Not wanting to wait around for the Peppermill to open at 8, I bought a few donuts at the supermarket across the street, and went to McDonalds for coffee and a table before heading back out on I-80 for 20 miles to the Walcott exit to then head south on WY 130 towards Saratoga.  

3 young pronghorn females on the run 

After lunch, I went to the Saratoga Hobo Hot Springs, which is on the Platte river, and is open 24/7. 

106.5 °.  The other pool was even hotter!

Same pool, better subject and better view.

After ice cream, started out for the last 20 miles towards Encampment seeing dark grey skies.  I got to the southern edge of town and felt the first few raindrops, so I ducked into a supermarket while the deluge progressed for the next 1/2 hour ... even with hail coming down for the last 5 minutes.

After it cleared, I resumed heading south.

The town I stayed in Thurs. night

Next to my hotel was The Divide  ,  A surprisingly good restaurant.  The kind of thing you don't expect to find in a town this small.

Bison and huckleberry sausage fettucine

 Caramel bread pudding with Chantilly cream

Fri. 6/23 : Headwinds to Walden

Hard ride with 20 mph headwinds most of the way to Walden.  A 50 mile, 2000 ft elevation ride that took 6 hours.  Reward was a fine BBQ lunch at All Smoked up BBQ.  
Followed by a few hours in the local library to work on the blog etc ....

Walden is at 8100 ft elevation.  Tomorrow's ride starts with a 2300 ft climb to Cameron Pass @
10,300 ft. After that, the next 68 miles drops 5200 ft into Fort Collins.