day 12 Wy to Co

Day 12, July 20, 2008 – Sunday

From Rawlins, Wy to Fort Collins/Poudre Canyon, Co. – 254 miles

OK, not only do I not count well, I also don’t know what day it is. Seems I assigned July 26 to Day 11. Oh, well. It’ll be July 26 pretty soon.

I’ve stopped for the night at another KOA – this one has a better view.

I meandered through the day. Again, I changed plans over breakfast. My niece in Golden had other plans for the evening. I decided to head towards Vail, no make that Cheyenne, - not Cheyenne, OK Vail, but then. I went west from Rawlins on I-80 and then turned (I thought) on Hwy 130. But it was really Hwy 30. Close enough? The sign said Medicine Bowl and Linda said there were great roads there. Well, Hwy 30 north from Walcott takes you directly to nowhere. And the wide spot in the road called Medicine Bowl is NOT where the mountains roads hide. I rode 60 miles, passed Hwy 72, which would have taken me to the hamlet of Hanna. When I got to Medicine Bow, I stopped at the only store in town and a young lady with dancing eyes explained it was 60 miles to the grocery store, and that the attraction further to the east, Como Bull Famous Dinosaur Graveyard, had gone downhill the last 10 years and was now closed. But the worst part was, I was north of the Interstate, in the barely rolling desert and getting further away from anything I wanted to see. So I turned around. I thought of getting a good picture, but it’s hard to photograph nothingness, sort of like a black hole. Turned into Hanna, just because, and turned around (again) at the sign that read “To Mines.” I’ve gotten some good practice doing U-turns on the bike. Sometime later, I was back exactly where I came from. But this time I went south on Hwy 130, and the world began to heave and turn green. Stopped at Saratoga and had lunch beside a river. Amazing what food does to improve my attitude. The mallard added a nice touch. http://picasaweb.google.com/gypsyjudgefjr

But I still didn’t know where I wanted to go. I turned east with Hwy 130 and made an incredible ride across the Medicine Bow Mountains. Linda was right. I stopped at Libby Flat and wondered if my asthma was acting up. But the sign explained my problem – at 10,847 feet you’re suppose to be short of breath. I walked up to an overlook and this cute furry critter. I asked the father of a young boy, “Is that a golden marmot?” His son explained, “It’s a wat!” Looked like a rat, once I thought about it.

My friend Helen from the RV Park in Lakewood has been at a RV park in Cheyenne for a month or so. So I decided to drop by and see her. But she decided to hook up and pull out, this morning.

OK, now what? By then it was too late to make the ride through the mountains to see George and Linda near Vail (another couple from Lakewood). So I kept turned south on Hwy 287 and enjoying. The world began to change yet again – the boulders are larger and so are the trees. Red Mountain looked like its cousin in northern New Mexico.

And now I’m north of Fort Collins. Tomorrow? I guess breakfast will tell.