Windy Wyoming

It was a very windy ride today on route 80 from Rock Springs to Rawlins, Wyoming.  In addition to the strong winds, we had about 20 miles of road construction and hundreds of big rigs whizzing by us with nothing but barrel construction cones separating the lanes.  The scenery was over 100 miles of dry desert with an occasional cow or oil rig thrown in.  We were very glad to get settled into our site at the KOA in Rawlins even if the wind was blowing at gale force.

After a quick trip to the dog park for me, Kathe and Jim went to Penny's Diner for lunch and came back smelling like hamburgers.

While in town they found out that the area around Rawlins has quite a lot of history.  So, armed with brochures from the front desk, they set out to explore.

Between 1843 and 1869 about a half million emigrants passed through this area on the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails.  Many thousands stopped to chisel messages on Independence Rock which is located about 45 minutes out of Rawlins.  We drove out to the rock and while many of the messages are still visible, it wasn't possible to get close enough to photograph any of them.  Still, it was an impressive sight.





We also spent time at the Mormon Handcart Historic Site in Alcova, Wy.  It was a really interesting museum with the purpose of commemorating the passage of the thousands of Mormon emigrants who traveled from Iowa City to Salt Lake City pulling their belongings in handcarts.  There was a film which told the story about one group of 500 who suffered great hardship and death when they were caught in snowstorms and freezing weather.  Hand carts were used because many of the emigrants couldn't afford the cost of oxen and wagons.