June 28 - Rawlins, WY to Riverside, WY

Written by Michael

Today was a relatively comfortable 59 mile ride.  We had no killer hills, pretty rolling countryside, tall mountains in the background, and excellent shoulders the whole way.

Shortly after we left Rawlins, we reached the town of Sinclair.  Many of you may remember the Sinclair gas stations from your youth.  Sinclair gas stations had a dinosaur as their symbol.  Until this trip, I had thought Sinclair was bought out by another company years ago.  However, we have passed many Sinclair gas stations on this trip, usually in very small towns.  The town of Sinclair apparently still has a Sinclair oil refinery, and Sinclair (the company) donated the police truck(s?) to the town.  The town also smelled like an oil refinery.

Immediately after we left Sinclair, we were a little anxious as our map instructions told us to get on Interstate 80 for 11 miles. We were more nervous when it turned out that what we thought would be a concrete protective barrier was only a rumble strip.  However the shoulder was at least 6 feet wide, paved, and very smooth for almost the whole way.  Afterwards I think we all agreed that the interstate was actually safer than most roads we have been on, including Yellowstone park.  Most roads don't have shoulders this nice, and the speed limit in many western states is still 70 mph, even on non-freeways. When we hit a construction zone, a kind worker drove over to me and recommended bicycling in the section under construction to be safe.  We did just that.

After we left the interstate, we passed through fairly broad rolling plains between mountains off in the distance.  The Wyoming Highway Patrol and the county sheriff very politely checked on our SAG cars waiting for bicyclists, and on all of us together just to be sure we were all ok.  This was especially appreciated since we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

On one of our stops, Alicia pointed out Elk Mountain where our mom and dad visited with Alicia in the early 1970's.  Alicia is my sister.

Today we saw many, many deer and antelope, including 2 antelope fawns.  I also saw a bald eagle.

We had an excellent lunch at J.W. Hugus overlooking the North Platte River where Bob and Gloria ate 10 years ago.  They had many cute signs including, "You don't have to be crazy to work here, we will train you."  Several people thought this also applied to places where they have worked.

Today was Anne-Renee's last day as our SAG driver.  We cannot thank her enough for joining us on this part of our trip.   She was always cheerful and always offering snacks, ice, and cold beverages.

Today was Alicia's first day as a SAG driver.  She considers herself in training, but I assure you that no training is needed for this job.  Since Alicia used to live in Laramie, WY and now lives in Colorado, she has already been a big help identifying wildlife.  Thanks for joining us, Alicia! We are delighted you will be with us until after we are over the Rocky Mountains.

We spent the night at Riverside Garage and Cabins.  The place appears to most often be used by hunters (and fishermen) as evidenced by the sign just inside our cabin.

We suspect hunting here shouldn't be difficult as deer and antelope walk through town often.

This was another great day!