Rawlins and the Six Mile Straight – Day 21

Date: Friday 27th August  

Route: Sweetwater Station, Wyoming – Rawlins, Wyoming 

Distance: 85 miles 

Total climb: 2207ft

Net climb: 855ft

We set off from Sweetwater with a tailwind for the first 20 miles, after having a quick go with the handcarts on site.  A relatively easy stint took us to Jeffrey City, formally a small town thriving on the extracts from the local uranium mines. With the cessation of mining, the population disappeared almost overnight – we had discussed this with various people along the route to date, but were still surprised by what was left.

The ghost town had the slowly deteriorating infrastructure of what was clearly a bustling place, perfectly illustrated by the cafe we stopped at for toast and a soda. We were the only covers for the duration of our brief stay and enjoyed taking in the surroundings of the saloon, furnished with signs such as “wolves – state sponsored terrorists” and “cat – just another white meat”, whilst our hosts played Farmville on their laptops.

The next stop was Muddy Gap, reached with a light mile-long stroll for Jay, who suffered a flat tire within sight of the facilities. We were met by Team Heagney for lunch. The only noteworthy matter for the stop was that the shop there sold t-shirts with the phrase “Wind? What …wind?” – a hint for how the afternoon might pan out.

We made our way up a short climb onto a new plateau, where it became clear that a storm was brewing.  We raced through the wind and rain, with Jay on ‘tornado watch’ and me checking for trucks overtaking on the narrow and rough road. Once through a spell of rain, we turned towards the only significant climb of the day, ahead on the horizon. It looked to be a mile or two away, so after over half an hour of pedalling without appearing to get any closer, Jay checked Greta and confirmed that the straight we were on was 6.5 miles long. This is something we agreed would become more frequent in the coming weeks, but was tough on the motivation.

After scurrying up the climb to a second continental divide for the day, we were blessed with a gradual downhill almost all the way to Rawlins. This enabled easy free-wheeling and some conversation about route tactics and music. Sprawling Rawlins (population 8,538) was reached in good time, beating the RV to our KOA ‘kampsite’ for the evening.

Final notes:

– No photos today, due to issues with the camera.  We are getting a replacement tomorrow, all things being well.

– Jay went for a swim and I backed down, due to the water temperature.  This seemed to please him a bit too much.

– Jay also ate 5 large bowls of spaghetti bolognaise, which we now understand is the equivalent of 8 portions of pasta. I gave up after three bowls.