Friday, 24 September 2021
Once again, despite having gone through this 2 nights ago, I woke up at 11:30 last night and got up at about 1:00. This is really getting a little old. Not to mention dangerous. Since I'm a morning person, I don't really start noticing the effects until late in the morning or early afternoon, at which time I'm usually on the road and not in a position to take a nap, which anyway I can't take because they make me feel worse, not refreshed. Quel nuisance.
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| today's route |
On the road
East of Rawlins, I saw what looked like an oil refinery - a very very large processing plant of some kind with lots of smokestacks.
I was low on gasoline again and intended to stop where I turned off the interstate. But I was at least 12 miles past that turn down US-287 when I realized I'd forgotten to look for a gas station (I didn't even see a town, but the map said there was one there).
At this point I knew I had a problem because my "get gas now" symbol was lighted on the dashboard, and I still don't know how many more miles I can drive after that makes an appearance. I pulled over (onto a 2' shoulder but I thought the location was easily visible and passable from both directions) and desperately looked on the map for signs of civilization. I even turned on my hot spot (and was stunned to find I had a signal out in the middle of nothing) to see if the tiny town up ahead was more than a ghost town. It did indeed say there was gasoline there, so I hopefully put everything away and kept going forward instead of turning back.
When I got to the turnoff for Hanna, pop. 841, elev. 6,777', a highway sign told me there was FOOD and GAS thataway. Very positive signs, I thought.
But I drove all the way through town (which isn't nearly as big as you'd think for 841 people) not seeing a gas station and finally found the post office. The folks there told me to go back to a place across from the high school that, despite looking like it only serviced fleet vehicles, was actually a public station as long as I had a credit card. They told me not to worry if the card reader didn't accept it the first time, or even the 2nd, but to keep trying and it would eventually go through.
So back I went, found the station - which didn't have any kind of brand name or even a sign - and at first couldn't find the card reader. Fortunately a local guy came at the same time and I just followed his lead at the centralized card reader - it asks which pump you want. The guy was really nice and talked me through the process, saying sometimes it took him 5 or 6 tries, usually when he was late to work. These seem like really nice people and I don't know how on earth they've ended up with a set-up like this.
So despite the coaching, the machine didn't want to make friends with my credit card. With either of my credit cards actually, because when it wouldn't take my regular VISA card I tried it on a gift card, and it didn't like that either. Over and over I tried them both and it kept turning me down. I kept getting messages like "Invalid Card" and "Declined." Over and over. Very boring. And very nerve-wracking, because I truly needed gas.
Then another local guy showed up, I let him play through, and he too got accepted. And then I got the bright idea of asking if he'd be willing to buy gas for me and let me pay him cash in return. Which he agreed to do, but not how I expected. He stopped pumping his own gas and, without resetting the machine, started pumping mine. And explaining while he did so that he was pumping highest grade premium, which I wasn't sure my poor little RV would know what to do with. So I got him to stop at $20 worth and paid him while he finished filling his own tank. At $4.26/gallon, $20 worth of that premium wasn't going to take me as far as I wanted, but at least it would get rid of that gas pump icon on my dash.
I went on down the road, keeping my speed at 55-60 mph to save gas.
I passed several types of energy: a very large wind farm, with not one of the turbines working; a very large electrical substation; and a very large field full of round hay bales.
Medicine Bow
My first thought coming into the town of Medicine Bow, pop. 284, elev. 6,563', was to find more gasoline. The town had only 1 gas station, which figures given the population size, and they were charging $3.89 for regular, but I really needed fuel. I put in $70 worth, and the needle read just over ½ full.
I knew there was a museum at this town but also knew it wouldn't be open, because the website said to call for an appointment, which I didn't bother with.
This town's only claim to fame, as far as I can tell, is that Owen Wister stayed here for a few years in the late 1800s and used the town as a main setting in his book The Virginian. I never read the book but did see the TV show a few times. I remember Lee J. Cobb, probably because he's memorable in everything he did. But I'd forgotten that Doug McClure and Clu Gulager were in it.
Anyway, I didn't have any attachment to the book at all, and pretty much none to the TV show, which is why I didn't make an effort to see the museum. I found these signs outside:
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| Hard to read in real life but basically a tribute to Wister. |
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| I didn't ask. |
Across the street is the town's hotel with the name as no surprise.
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| The Virginian |
There was a lush yard of grass around the museum, which looked like a great place for the dogs. I parked in the museum's parking area and walked the dogs over and found, to my great dismay, deer droppings everywhere. I watched my step carefully, and found it impossible to stop Dext from sampling. Both dogs decided it was a great place to roll around with abandon and I was very worried they'd find something to roll in I wouldn't want to live with in the cabin. Very disappointing when I was hoping for a nice little walk.
The sun was out so we were comfortable enough having lunch there, but I wished I could walk the dogs more and wished I could stop worrying about gasoline. We were just about to leave when I realized I'd forgotten to close the bathroom door (I leave it open for Lily to get to her box). And when I got back in my seat I noticed 4 or 5 people standing right in the road (this is a US highway that is the main street of town) right in front of the museum. And then I realized there was an adult deer probably contributing to the poop already on that grass.
Once the people went away, I decided to try for a photo and the deer started walking toward the hotel.
He seemed pretty tame - walked right up to a couple of guys who were standing around in front of the hotel - and then walked casually away. Strange town.
Back on the road
I'm noticing a distinct drop in the number of bugs that have been hitting the RV. Up until a week or 2 ago, I was having to clean the windshield at least once a day, sometimes twice, because of all the grasshoppers and locusts and butterflies and other assorted bugs that would just cover the glass. But now very few and most of them are pretty small. Another good reason for fall.
I passed something labeled Como Bluff State Historic Site. I didn't stop but have looked up the historic markers there. This first is about why Como Bluff became nationally important. https://www.hmdb.org/dinosaur-graveyard And this second one has a couple of funny stories. https://www.hmdb.org/albany-county-train-robberies Odd how sometimes stories of the past can be so different from what they were at the time; now they're shocking or interesting or blah or funny or ironic. Nothing like some perspective.
I saw lots of sheep (domestic, not Bighorn) - I think Wyoming is a big sheep-producing state.
At Rock River, pop. 245 and elev. 6,892', I passed school buses leaving school at 11:00. Do they get out early on Fridays? We sure never did.
Much of today's drive was on fairly flat land, which I'm guessing is probably the valley between the mountains I can see around us. I saw scattered farmhouses along the way and lots of cows.
Bosler, elev. 7,074, which is shown as a town on the map, seems almost a ghost town. Most of these little towns in Wyoming (which is most of the towns) have been losing population, according to census projections (I don't know what the 2020 results are). Apparently, at a certain point they just cease to exist.
In contrast, about 7 or 8 miles outside of Laramie, I came to what was obviously a small town - lots of houses on streets that all had names on signposts. But it's not on the map and it's too far out to be part of Laramie. I never saw one sign or one business that had a town name on it. Odd.
I was playing the Sgt. Pepper's album trying to stay awake - which it helped do. But it's been a long time since I've listened to it and I'd completely forgotten - if I ever even realized - just how psychedelic that music is. Since I was completely sober, it was almost hard to listen to at times. Another way the past can change on us.
I came into Laramie, pop. 30,816 (WY's 3rd largest) and elev. 7,165, and saw a sign welcoming me to the Home of the University of Wyoming.
And I passed a sign for the Cathedral Home for Children, which I thought was an odd name so I looked it up. Their website says it's a residential home for teenagers that provides trauma-sensitive care. I clicked through their various pages 4 or 5 times and still couldn't figure out who these kids are that need this kind of treatment. A different website told me it's a rehab place for mental disorders (bipolar, clinical depression, schizophrenia) and for dual diagnosis (kids who have a mental disorder plus an addiction problem). I thought it was interesting the home itself couldn't just say this. Those are all, to me, straightforward problems that have solutions. Why pussy-foot around it talking about trauma. These days the word trauma is used most often for long-term abusive situations or sudden serious devastating experiences.
In town, I first stopped at a park so the puppies could have a walk. Then I found an Ace Hardware in town, got a pair of their version of Channellocks (different brand), and headed toward the campground. I passed a Catholic church named for St. Lawrence O'Toole, who is someone I'd never heard of and wasn't sure was real, so I looked him up. Here's the Catholic's version of his life, which sounds pretty remarkable. https://www.catholic.org/saints It's just that I can't help of thinking of Peter O'Toole's version of Lawrence.
The KOA in Laramie is quite large, but they did keep their promise to me and gave us a site not far from the dog park. I figure we won't be spending much time here anyway.
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