20070630 Saturday
356 miles to Rock Springs, WY
96*F at Rock Springs

We both woke up early, so we got an early start. The campground rabbit watched while I got the outside of the trailer ready to run. It was downright chilly (38*), so the diesel made a lot of racket and smoke as it started up.

We ran north to I-70 at Frisco, then west on I-70 through Vail to a turn onto CO-131 north.

CO-131 was winding and twisty, ups & downs, but the surface of the road was fine. As we neared Bond, it began to level out and we got going.

Then the frustration began. We joined a tour of the Colorado Bike Tour from Bond to Steamboat Springs, some 50 miles. CO-131 was two-lane and most of that with no shoulder. So we had to pass a clump of bikers until an oncoming car forced us to slow drastically and pull in between clumps. Then we would pass another clump. Slow. Nasty. No fun at all.

I respect their right to do their tours. But it sure was frustrating being unable to get around them easily and proceed. This was the final day of their one-week long tour. See http://www.bicycletourcolorado.com/ for details.

I think I passed a thousand bikers. Probably more. Incredible.

We all turned left onto US-40. Finally we got into downtown Steamboat Springs; the bikers turned right and we went straight into the nightmare traffic of a resort town on the weekend leading to the 4th of July. When we finally got to the other end of town, we were able to run normally. 

We reached Craig, CO, refueled and pulled into a Village Inn (chain out here) for lunch. Quite good. Popped into Safeway for a few groceries.

Then we went north from Craig on CO-13. Just before the Wyoming border, a truck bearing an Oversized Load sign and a huge cylinder of some sort pulled onto the road ahead of us. On we went, sometimes at 10mph uphill. A few cars passed us, then gingerly passed him. He stuck out into the other lane at all times, because there was no shoulder. Oncoming trucks stopped to let him go by. About 30 cars, trucks, and RV's stacked up behind him, but he still wouldn't find a pullout and give us a chance to get by. Finally, I got by him going uphill where there was a double left exit and I briefly had enough room.

We went on. Now and then a car would overtake us and go on. I wonder how long he held up that string.

One nice part of the slow drive was that we spotted small bunches of antelope and elk.

We turned onto I-80 West and went to Rock Springs without hassle except for one transmission cooler. My homebrew wiring showed there was power to the cooler's fan, but I couldn't hear it when we stopped. The other cooler/fan combination did enough cooling not to damage anything, although it was running warm. Late in the evening, I found the fan's plug had pulled out, probably due to all the bouncing and jolting. Tomorrow I'll duct-tape the plug/jack together.

At the KOA (a tremendous parking lot) we pulled in and had one heck of a time getting the trailer leveled. I now think we were just hot and frustrated. We finally got it done and started cooling the trailer. We took a ride looking for the churches we found in the yellow pages, found them and got a look at the town, then returned.

I fell into a discussion with the guy in the next site. He said he was up here in 2002 as part of a group that worked on building churches where the congregation wanted to do a lot of it themselves. Turns out the church he worked on is the Lutheran one I'll go to in the morning and that tomorrow is the dedication of the whole finished church (they've been using it for a couple of years in an unfinished state). 

At last the sun set and the temperature cooled. It's supposed to drop into the 50's tonight, but that's not bad after Leadville.

What a day.
 

20070701  Sunday
at Rock Springs, WY
94*F afternoon, low humidity

I got up early, had coffee, and left for Trinity Lutheran church. Met Pastor Shields and got known, and talked with a few folks. Later today is the dedication of their new church building, five years in the making, and all built by volunteers with donated materials. It's a nice, simple, attractive church atop a small hill. It is not air-conditioned; they hold service early in the day in the summer with open windows and ceiling fans.

They have a larger congregation than we in PCB do. There were probably 125 attending. They have a small choir, with decent singers. It was a great service; I didn't notice until I got into the truck that it had lasted one hour, forty minutes. This pastor takes a few minutes for a small catechism lesson spoken responsively; today it was on the Lord's Prayer, second petition. There were a few other insertions.

I raced back to the campground, picked up Dolores, and delivered her to her church (Sts Cyril & Methodius) at 10:59. I went back to the trailer and dressed for the heat, then went back to get D. We shopped at Albertsons, returned to the trailer and had lunch.

Then Dolores found a brochure on a ride through wild horse country, so we made a 50 mile loop onto the bluffs north of Rock Springs on a dusty, gravel road. And we *did* see wild horses, about five of them in a clump, not moving but for their tails. Too hot for them, even. Of course there was only foot-high scrubby bush, so no shade. Poor things. We also saw a clump of antelope off in the distance.

Back at the trailer, I replaced the hose we've been using (and disliking for its taste) with one supposed to have no taste. It's much better.

Now we'll take it easy for the evening, doing computer work with pictures, etc.

It was a good day.