Day 38 Rawlins WY to Forest Edge Ranch WY

For the past several hundred miles, my journey has been predominantly east. Today the Divide turns south which feels pretty good – I now feel I am going somewhere!

During breakfast, Divider, Sandy, from Chicago, blogged me.

They had been 5 miles back from the Storm in the Great Basin & wisely held back. I will watch out for you guys & hope to cross paths again real soon!

My Rawlins home

I’ll have good memories of Rawlins. Pleasant place, nice people but stuck in the middle of a desert, 7300 ft above sea level. Not for me.

Quite a few climbs today. The first: 8 miles to escape Rawlins, the second was to finally leave the desert behind 8000 ft & forests – reached only at the end of day. The wind killed any hopes of an easy ride or respectable distance. All day was a strong gusty, southerly all day making even the downhills very hard work.

Road 401 out of Rawlins

Some Dividers already have the perfect bike shot – I’m still working on it!

Major roadworks on the route all day – huge wagons carrying gravel & tarmac travelling the road. Lee, from Ohio, on traffic control, pulled me over to hand a bottle of water & chat. This is all part of what makes the ride special – enjoys talking to Dividers & help them where they can!

Typical of today’s view – lots of desert

Camp- Birch forest just inside Medicine Bow National Forest.

The nights are drawing in very quickly. Today, by 7pm, I needed to pull off the track to set up camp, only last week I had been riding til 8pm or after. Accelerated by me traveling east & south.