October 10, 2023 Day 3 Rawlins Wyoming to Sterling Colorado 277 miles
The outside temperature is much cooler this morning. It was 44 F. Good thing we packed an ice scraper for the windshield. We may need it before this trip is over. We checked and the elevation here is 6,755 feet. Rob got a winter storm warning on his phone for here on Wednesday. They could have 12-20 inches of snow. Sure glad we will be gone by then.
Our route today will include freeway and local roads. Not much else to do across Wyoming. But unlike yesterday the terrain today is more mountainous. So we do more climbing which is slow going. Lots of places where the road can be closed so we know it is bad sometimes.
We passed a large dairy with mostly Holstein cows. Then we passed a beef cattle ranch with mostly black angus. Next to that one was a field full of large round hay bales.
We stopped at a rest stop at the top of one of the hills. A sign at the entrance said this was the highest rest stop in the state at 8,640 feet. I had not realized until then that we were on the Lincoln Highway. The rest stop had a bust of Lincoln sitting on top of a tall rock stand. The views were beautiful.
The road is lined with miles of snow fences. They run diagonal to the road on both sides. The wind is still blowing. A wind sock beside the road is nearly gone. Obviously wind is normal here.
Another area had hundreds of windmill. Most of those were turning and at a good speed. Then we came to a large bank of solar panels. Looked like it covered several acres of ground.
The freeway is rougher than some especially when going on and off of bridges. The passenger side door jarred loose three times. Thank goodness we could pull it closed again without stopping. Having and using our seat belts adds to our peace of mind.
We stopped in Cheyenne Wyoming for gas and to eat lunch. The gas mileage is definitely better with the higher octane fuel. We headed for a park that was supposed to be close. Well close is about three miles. Some of the most confusing roads are just passed the gas station. The road to a Main Street was really rough. We don’t know if it had picnic tables or not. If so they were not close to the parking lot. The temperature wasn’t bad and we were partly in the shade. So we ate lunch in the car.
From Cheyenne we left the freeway and went on state highways and county roads. Going out of Cheyenne we crossed over a large train switching yard. I think the back roads were smoother than the freeway. The number of semis was greatly reduced. The terrain has flattened out significantly. The fields are huge. The crops all look to be harvested except some of the large round bales. Farm houses are miles apart as are the towns. Occasionally we see an oil well. Some are pumping and some are not.
We arrived in Sterling about 3:30. Seems to be a busy little town. Temperatures here are in the upper 70’s. The altitude is 3,875 feet. Hopefully we are out of snow country for awhile.
Spoffords Travel 