Wednesday, 24 August.

Yesterday was all about nature.  Today it was about history.  Glorious weather, nice two lane roads that weren’t challenging, pretty scenery.  Some road construction.  I laughed at one sign; “Motorcycles use Extreme Caution”.  It was a walk in the park.  Clearly they’ve never seen what road construction is like in Canada.

Rifle, CO seems to have health problems.  A “Student Health Center”, several chiropractors, and a senior health center, all on the main street.  But it’s a nice, clean town.

Meeker, CO, is also a pretty little town.  Very big on hunting.  Based on personal experience, deer roam the streets, where I assume they’re safer than in the forest.  The museum as very well organized, having descriptions on most things.

Craig, CO, also pretty, has a more organized though not so busy museum.  The pride and joy is their “Guns and Gunfighters” exhibit.  Exhaustive.  They also had an excellent exhibit of “then and now” town pictures.  Someone went to a lot of trouble to take “now” pictures in exactly the same spot as “then”.  Fun. I asked about a War Memorial and learned that they have a WWII statue ready to install, but the town council can’t decide where to put it.  Politics in a small town.  While driving through I passed four Gold Wings, three towing trailers and one a trike.  One of the GWs was a duplicate of mine.

Passed a power plant that used coal.  Nice Roadside display.  $1.8 Billion construction cost.  Huge.  “99% of pollutants are removed before exhaust is released into the air.”

Rawlings, WY is not much to look at.  The defunct Wyoming State Prison is an impressive building, but the exhibit was nothing exciting.

Learned a lot about emigrant trails.  The Overland was an southern (partial) alternative to the Oregon, which in itself was used for three destinations; Oregon, California and Salt Lake City.  Independence Rock on the Oregon Trail was an unexpected surprise.  A hostess said the name came from a wagon train guide who told people that if they got there by July 4th, they’d arrive at their destination before winter.  Climbing it was fun and surprisingly easy (non-slick surface).  People have been scratching out their names since 1824.

Casper, WY, alongside the North Platte River, is very clearly fishing territory (reportedly #1 in the country).  The road in was peppered with arrows pointing to boat access or fishing spots. But the town is ugly.  They’re certainly not putting any money into their roads.