Day 1 Ends in Rawlins, WY

Leaving I-25 and Colorado behind, we made a left turn onto I-80 and headed west into Wyoming. Flat and easy, this is our third time traveling this route.

Road conditions today varied between wet and dry. What fell from the sky varied between rain, light snow, heavy snow, and nothing. The sky itself varied between thick grey clouds, light overcast, and puffy white clouds with patches of blue ... and the sun peeking through.

Our original plan was to boondock near Laramie. I even found several pull-over locations that would have worked. But there was a great deal of snow on the ground ... with more in the forecast for tonight. So, we moved on.

In the end, we drove another 100 miles or so to Rawlins and pulled into the Western Hills Campground. We’ve stayed here twice before.

The first time was on the maiden voyage of our Phaeton ... our first “condo on wheels ... now traveling around with its new owners, Jared & Rebekah. We arrived here around 9:30p ... after we cleared a miles-long traffic snarl that shut down the interstate for hours ... in both directions. I was never happier to be in a self-contained unit than I was on that occasion. As people whiled away the time playing ball on the traffic-free westbound lanes of the highway, we ate dinner and watched TV. That was in 2010.

Then, in 2018, we stayed here on our way from Utah to Colorado. That was at the tail end of our “where shall we settle tour.” Well, we know how that story ended ... even if it was another year before we got off the road and into our stix & brix.

Anyway, we pulled into Western Hills around 4:00p and got settled into a 30A electric site. We could have dry camped here, but decided that the Cruiser would welcome the use of the engine heater since there is a hard freeze tonight.

Since we jiggled our plans today by some 100 miles, we’ll be traveling further than planned tomorrow as well. We might even overnight in Utah ... our home state at one time.

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I have one photo that warrants a longer explanation than what I can capture in the caption. I think you’ll figure out which photo it is when you read the story.

“Lone Tree on the Laramie Range” ... aka “Tree Rock” — This is a point of interest on I-80 … accessible via off/on exits on the left in both directions, with a loop road for those who just want to drive around Tree Rock without stopping. We stopped for a photo op, but it was too darn cold to stand around, so we skipped the selfie.

No one really knows the age of this limber pine — Pinus flexilis for those who understand such differences. The tree, which literally looks like it is sprouting out of a rock, has been around since before the first Union Pacific Railroad tracks were laid across Sherman Mountain between 1867-69. Stories abound that tell of locomotive firemen giving the tree “a drink” from their water buckets. Like the railroad before it, the Lincoln Highway diverted its route slightly to go around the tree … as does I-80 today.Read more