Thursday, May 7th - 3 States in 1 Day

Today was another real driving day – I left Boise, Idaho at 8am and arrived in Rawlins, Wyoming at 6pm …. tired, very tired. 

Having said that, the drive was incredible – from Boise, it was driving thru huge flat plains surrounded in the distance by mountains on all sides.  Then crossed the first mountains and into the red rocks of Utah – gorgeous colors with the oranges and sage greens against the blue sky.  Then into what felt like real ranch country as I climbed up onto the Continental Divide.  I have to admit I didn’t realize I was on it until I saw the sign – 7,000 ft elevation – incredibly cool.  It was a strange feeling to be as flat as it was and yet to feel like I was driving on top of the world.  Truly big sky and big wind country – I love the wind turbines, somehow to me they look like very large white flowers from a distance and then incredibly powerful up close.

I did have a couple stops – one in Morgan, Utah and one in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The first was for food – hard to be a veggie in a small Utah town and even harder it seemed to even just find veggies ….  In Rock Springs, I just needed to walk – and then I saw the perfect spot – my first Walmart – it was huge and filled with everything one might need (for me, Meatloaf’s Bat out of Hell for $7– always got me through the last few hours driving when I crossed Canada ….).  It was also a glimpse into small town Wyoming – not the most exciting part of America and definitely had the sense of it being a hard life – but of course that’s set against my experience. 

Rawlins is also pretty small – from what I can tell, a stop along the highway (see picture).  Though, I did find a new hotel and a Thai restaurant with take-out and so now, am very happy - tofu & veggies, wireless internet, Grey’s Anatomy, a very comfy bed and a skype call to the family – though I really missed being at C’s birthday celebrations in person, really, life is good …. :-)