Jeffrey City to Rawlins, WY

Via Hwy 287. 69 miles.

It was a remarkable day, in that we somehow managed to complete the ride to Rawlins despite high cross winds and our being tired from 2 previous long days. It took us 9 hours to make the trip from Jeffrey City, an even longer day than those.

Our day began with a visit to Faye's cafe where, unfortunately, there were no other customers. Faye was watching TV and smoking a cigarette when we entered. Her response to my cheerful "good morning" greeting - without taking her eyes off the screen - was a grunt. She then handed us menus and walked away without a word. But the atmosphere eventually thawed enough so that we were able to order, eat and depart without another confrontation. And her cooking was pretty good too.

Soon after we got on the road it became apparent that our luck with the infamous Wyoming wind had run out. The wind was gusting out of the west as we rode southeast, resulting in a cross wind (and slight tail wind) that made it difficult to steer the tandem. At about mile 25 the highway bisected a rock formation known as Muddy Gap. The winds were blowing so strong through the gap that we were forced to stop riding and push the tandem up the hill between the gap. As we approached Lamont (at mile 33), we had made up our minds that we could not ride another 36 miles to Rawlins today. We had decided to stay there for the night and go on to Rawlins tomorrow. The "town" of Lamont consists of a cafe and a house (presumably, that of the cafe's owner), and the available accommodations consist of camping behind the cafe. We knew that before we arrived, but didn't know that the cafe was closed on Sundays. So we could camp, but would have no additional food, water or access to a bathroom. We then decided to flag down a pickup truck and catch a ride into Rawlins - something we have never before done. We spent a fruitless 1/2 hour trying to find a suitable truck and to get the driver to stop. So we decided we had no choice but to plod on and see how far we could get. We ate a quick lunch and resumed riding.

After going about 14 more miles, the wide shoulder we had been enjoying disappeared and the cross winds were blowing stronger than ever, making it tough to stay out of the traffic lane and tiring us even further. We again attempted to flag down a pickup truck for a lift and this time we were successful - twice. The first vehicle was a fire department SUV. The driver said he wished he could help us, but it was against the department's rules. The second driver was a private individual and his truck was perfect, except that he was carrying a large dresser mirror in the truck bed. He too said he would love to help but could not risk breaking the mirror, which he had just purchased at a rummage sale. At this news we concluded that we were just going to have to suck it up and ride on.

We knew we had a significant climb up over the Continental Divide before reaching Rawlins, and thought if we could get over that we'd be able to glide down into town. The climb proved to be manageable, although it went on and on far longer than we had expected. But when we reached the top, with only 9 miles to go, the weather gods played a cruel trick on us. The crosswind turned into a fierce head wind and it began to rain on us. I kept thinking that we would probably have a flat tire too, as it was about the only bad thing that had not happened to us today. The rain didn't last too long but the head wind continued unabated into town, actually making the descent from the top of the divide more difficult than the ascent. We crawled into Rawlins after 5 pm, but strangely we were not as tired as we had felt when we reached Lamont. Nevertheless, we were both very surprised we were able to ride the whole route, completing in 3 days a 220 mile stretch that began in Dubois. Tomorrow we are going to take a well-deserved rest day.
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