Day 24

2004_0425Image0002.JPG A couple of inches of snow fell overnight in Rawlins 2004_0425Image0003.JPG The view to the right 2004_0425Image0004.JPG The view to the left 2004_0425Image0005.JPG First official crossing of the Continental Divide for me 2004_0425Image0010.JPG to the right around Muddy Gap 2004_0425Image0012.JPG 2004_0425Image0013.JPG Spectacular outrcrop (previous is closeup left of this picture) 2004_0425Image0019.JPG Split Rock from the East 2004_0425Image0021.JPG 2004_0425Image0022.JPG Split Rock from the West

Day 24 - 4/25/04
Rawlins, WY to Jeffrey City, WY
70 miles

Before I talk about today, I wanted to mention something I forgot to put in yesterday.  One of the people I met while staying in Medicine Bow was a really friendly, nice lady in Medicine Bow named Christel.  I was chatting with her at lunch about the bike trip and later that afternoon she left two one-pound bags of trail mix for me at the hotel.  Everyone I met in Medicine Bow was really nice to me.

It snowed overnight in this area, so there was a couple of inches on the ground when I started out this morning.  I guess a tongue of the continental divide stretches east to just north of Rawlins, because I crossed it once and then about 10 miles later crossed it again.  After crossing the second time I descended into a valley that used to be part of the Oregon trail and was on the Pony Express route.  The scenery is getting pretty spectacular.  I wish I knew more about the geology in these parts.  The outcrop above looks to me to be an upturned sheet of sandstone with a perfectly flat flace.  "Split Rock" is a National Historic Site because it was a prominent landmark for settlers traveling along the Oregon Trail.

There's not much to Jeffrey City, not even a convenience store.  Perhaps more stuff is open during the summer when lots of people are going to Yellowstone.  There were a handful of people at the local cafe/bar watching Die Hard 3 on the TV when I went in.  Didn't really strike up a conversation with anyone, just ate my food and left.

I'm not really sure what the name of the hotel I'm staying at is.  The sign is just a tophat  with the word "hotel" under it.  It's run by a nice old couple, the husband's 85 and the wife must be close to his age.  The room is quite nice, but it doesn't have a phone.  Wyoming PBS is the only station on the TV so I'm catching up on my gardening shows.