July 17 - bidding farewell to the cowboy state

{Brock}

For our last full day in Wyoming, we began by eating again at the Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow WY, a hearty breakfast of pancakes and a breakfast burrito smothered in chili. We had eaten there the previous night and raided their salad bar with its withered lettuce and tapioca bowls, and decided that we would rather eat a fresh breakfast cooked from the griddle than reconstituted dried bean mix, all that was left of our food stores.

Packing the tent in the town park, we marveled at the free camping and gave thanks for a money-saving option that allow4ed for a luxurious breakfast.

We pedaled our of Medicine Bow and headed southeast towards River Rock, another small town across the county line with a single open grocery and a town park for eating our morning snacks in. We had chased freight trains down the Sand Creek Massacre Trail all morning. The lady at the grocery recounted her experiences fighting fires recently in the area, a common experience for many. we assume.

Twenty more miles down the road we arrived at a ghost town no longer the center of commerce for the region. Burned out husks of buildings greeted us with little exuberance. We sat in the shade of an aluminum-sided warehouse to enjoy a lunch purchased in River Rock of crackers, tuna, and mustard with pickle spears to garnish. As we sat, the legendary Doc pulled up to the warehouse with two rolling chairs loaded into his pickup truck and asked us if it was snack time, to which we replied in the affirmative. He told us about the town that one month prior had stood with facades of buildings lining the highway. Today, after the ravaging fire that had started in a garbage can, only his residence and a few other scant buildings remained.

We arrived in Laramie late in the day after threading the needle between two storm systems that were dumping rain around us. I thought we might get doused with a summer sprinkle, but as the day before we had avoided being soaked, this day also brought us between the clouds and safely into town without danger or relative discomfort.

We spent a few hours at a coffee shop in downtown Laramie, then cycled to the home of our hosts, Evan and Kennedy, whom we had connected with using the warmshowers.org website. They welcomed us with open arms, despite their basement's recent leaking problems, and gave us dinner, a social connection with some friends, and a bed to sleep in after an evening around the campfire in the back yard.

Tomorrow we arrive in the legendary Fort Collins and enter a mecca of bicycling and beer.