Mood:  lazy

As usual, I went for breakfast early even though this was a rest day.  There were at least 8-10 motels within a six block stretch of the road, so there should be plenty of eateries.  There weren't.  There were three restaurants, one of which was Chinese food, but none were open for breakfast.   I stopped in a convenience store and loaded up.

The first order of business was to find a charger for my MP3 player so that I could listen to "Ivanhoe" once again.  There was a small radio Shack inside a Do-It-Yourself Center (kind of like a Home Depot), and I found one there.

My second order of business was to visit the "Old Pen", a nickname for a penitentury in Rawlins that was in use from 1901 through 1982.  In much of it, little had changed, other than the gift shop and tour.  A 6" thick metal pole was still there where unruly inmates were tied, then guards would whip them with leather straps.  A small window into the cell block was opened so that prisoners could hear the screams of the offenders.  The cells were small, and initially no heat.  It was decades before heat was installed.  We toured A,B, and C Blocks, as well as solitary confinement, and the section where the condemned were kept until killed.  The cafeteria still had original paintings from one of the inmates.  It was eerie to wander through the exercise yard and eye tyhe gaurd towers.  The tour took an hour, and it was an interesting view into how prisons used to be run.

After lunch, I visited the Rawlins Museum.  I love history and seeing how our forefathers lived, and this museum did not disappoint.  In fact, it was so chock full of displays and artifacts that I finally achieved sensory overload.

So I went back to my motel room and slept for an hour or two.

Dinner was followed by preparations for tomorrow's ride.  My plan was to leave early tomorrow morning, catch breakfast on the other side of town, and start early enough to get in some distance before the winds started increasing.

This would be a pivotal week for this trip.  After the fourth day, I would be in Estes park (I hope!), and through with the mountains, other than the ride to Boulder.

Rawlins, I found out, is loaded with all sorts of outside companies doing oil and energy exploration as well as mining companies and road construction crews.  All these workers (or at least the vast majority of them) were from out of the area, and that is why the motels were so expensive, and also why the motel owners treated me like a tenant instead of a valued customer.

With today's rest, tomorrow should be better.

Will McMahan