No Age Limit - Piaggio MP3

Day 9 - Rock Springs, WY to Laramie, WY

After leaving our hotel we spent about an hour riding around the old town of Rock Springs, WY. The sky was blue, with a few white puffs and no threat of rain. The temperature was in the 70’s…this was going to be a good day of riding. Heading out of town we found that the old two-lane Lincoln Highway sat about a 100 yards to the South of I-80:

This road had a few twists and turns, and was a pleasure both to ride and to get away from all the trucks flying down the Big Road — aka I-80. We we were able to continue on for 25 miles when we came to Point of Rocks, a mere stage stop in the early days of the Lincoln Highway. Now only a chemical processing plant remained, and it was back to I-80:

At most every exit we got off the I-80 and looked for any remnant of the Lincoln Highway, and eventually found some of the towns through which it passed, including Table Rock, Wamsutter and Creston Station. We see a sign on the highway prior to Wamsutter announcing Rhubarb Pie and Coffee at the Broadway Cafe…just what a couple of hungry riders needed for a mid-morning snack:

The Broadway Cafe sat way back off the highway, and as we rode up, it appeared to be an old house that had been converted into a restaurant. No cars were parked in front…which is never a good sign. In the window a small sign said Closed Saturday and Sunday.

Darn!

Before heading back east, we stopped to snap this fascinating old gas station:

It was back onto the big road; to keep my mind off the missed pie and coffee I looked out over the landscape. Sagebrush on my left. Sagebrush on my right. In this area sagebrush is the shrub that means survival for the world’s largest population of Pronghorn Antelope and Sage Grouse:

To me it looked somewhat barren but what I can’t see is the other 150 species of wildlife that live here.

We rode on to Rawlins for lunch and after a little searching we found Anongs Thai Restaurant. The best darn Thai food in Rawlins:

After a great lunch and a short ride on I-80 we finally turned North onto US 30 and the LH.

Taking a short detour into the town of Hanna, we found a memorial dedicated to all the coal miners in the Carbon-Hanna area who’d lost their lives in mining accidents:

There were way too many names engraved. If there was star next to the name, it meant that person was still entombed in mine number 1.

The next town on the LH was Medicine Bow:

Made famous by writer Owen Wister’s book "The Virginian":

The original hotel dating back to the early days of the LH was on the north side of the road…

…and one could still get a room there.

Sitting on our MP3’s talking to yet another group of people crowding around us, we spotted a white van slide to a stop in front of us. It was the same film crew from WQED — the PBS affiliate in Pittsburg, PA. — that we’d met the day before and lost!

They’re making a documentary about the Lincoln Highway to air on PBS in late October. We’d lost them the day before and missed our scheduled interview with them. They were as excited to see us as we were to see them. We spent the next 2-1/2 hours with them as they filmed us from every angle riding/flying down the road. It was great fun, and who knows? We may get a few seconds in the final product.

We arrived in Laramie around 7:30, tired and hungry.

Bob out.

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