RV World in Rawlins, WY

Today was a planned late start for Chris, which is always a nice way to mix things up. I made eggs and biscuits so he could eat with us before leaving. He took off, and we were not too far behind. I'm not fond enough of being in the wilderness without cell service to stick around for a while by myself.

The first stop of the day was in a town called Encampment a few miles down the road. Encampment is a town that was part of the copper boom and subsequent bust back in the early 1900s. Particularly for being such a small town, it has put together a marvelous little free museum to show the early way of life there. All of the buildings and implements were painstakingly moved to this location where you can wander through them.

While waiting for my tour to start (no tour times here, each visitor or group of visitors is offered a tour guide to take you around the buildings at your own pace), I perused the gift shop. I should probably just avoid them because they always lead to my buying something, but I think they're so interesting.

I chuckled at the sight of this Donner Party Cookbook, wondering what appetizing recipes could possibly be in there. Apparently it is a darkly humorous book which mixes the factual history of the Donner Party tragedy with recipes from the era. I won't be buying it, but did enjoy the laugh.




August, meanwhile, had lots of fun with the wide selection of finger puppets. I ended up buying him the eagle one because he is quickly growing tired of the small selection of toys we brought from home and it's nice to have something different to throw in there now and then.

I also got a kick out of this Rules For Teachers in 1872 reprint I found. I know our teacher friends will enjoy reading them.

Most of the tour guides were teenagers, and all were pleasant and informative. After going through the third building or so, I started to yearn for yesteryear only because many of the cabins had more square footage than the RV! Then I recalled that back in the day womenfolk also had to spend every waking hour preparing the family meals and handwashing the clothes of a husband and 9 children.

A highlight of the tour was the 2-story outhouse. Back then outhouses were shared by the whole town and the snowdrifts were often so high that a single-story outhouse simply wouldn't work. Of course, the lower level would be out of commission during that time and would require a good cleaning before being used again (collective "ewwww!").

With us on our tour was a trio of women in their 60s who were clearly having a good time. They also wanted to see every. single. item. in every. single. building. I appreciated their enthusiasm, but Auggie and I bowed out about halfway through so he could hit the playground next door. All in all it was a fine experience and one I'd recommend to anyone in the area.

We then continued on down the road and once again happened upon Chris around lunchtime in Saratoga. We stopped at the city park and had lunch in the RV. A couple of hours later we were at Chris's stopping point for the day and ate a very late second lunch at a small place called Su Casa. It has been around for over 20 years and is known regionally for its authentic Mexican food. Chris was a little surprised at the form of his chicken quesadilla, but said it was good. I had a delicious chimichanga, smothered in green chili of course since we are in this part of the country.

Tonight we are staying at RV World in Rawlins, WY. It has a neat large retro sign out front and the owners are very friendly. I saw on the bulletin board inside that they had offered a group of 38 cyclists to use their showers in the fall, and I was happy with our choice to give them our business.

Wyoming has two primary industries: tourism and energy. Both are obvious once you spend some time here. Wyoming is scenic, with a strong western "cowboy" feel, and has many wildlife sighting opportunities. On the drive today I must have seen 50 prairie dogs alone. The other industry, energy, brings in lots of seasonal workers from other areas. Nearby in Sinclair is one of the west's largest oil refineries. The RV park we are staying at caters to those workers in the winter, when they commonly brave negative temperatures and blustering winds to make a living for their families elsewhere.