Last night we stayed the night in a Choice Hotels’ Econolodge. It’s apparent that this was once upon a time a more upscale hotel but is getting dated. I think the room was fine but the bathroom had a number of telltale signs (broken/stained/etc). The pool area too was looking old and there were no towels to be had (nor extras in the room). Finally, there had been a restaurant there but it was no longer open. This may be a reflection of the town since we came in from Rock Springs along 30 and saw many old closed up motels. I’m not sure what has happened to the town but it looks like they’ve had an industry shut down.
In spite of all that, the room was nice, clean and comfortable and I slept well. The next morning we went to where the restaurant had been for the continental breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to find scrambled eggs in addition to the normal oatmeal packets, danishes, dry cereal and toast. After getting something to eat we headed back to the room to get our bikes packed up. By the time we rolled out it was 715AM, later than what we hoped but still a decent time.
It took us about 2 hours to go on I80 from Rawlins to our Rt 30 turnoff. We stopped at a gas station there to refill water and then headed up Rt 30 to Medicine Bow. There were very long inclines but the day was cloud covered so it was quite enjoyable. Rain finally moved in the final 2 hours of our ride. As we rode into town, dad mentioned that he really didn’t want to set up tents in the rain and would like to get a hotel if possible. Dad had found an entry on Kampnik of 2 bike tourers that had camped outside of town at a lake. It sounded awesome and we had had our hearts set on it but we have learned to be flexible.
In Medicine Bow, we found The Virginian. It is a hotel/restaurant/saloon that was built back around 1905 based on a person who’s real life accounts/writings eventually led to TV’s “The Virginian”. You know… ‘when you call me that, smile’. Maybe you have to be a Western fanatic but I got showered and headed to the saloon where I had a drink surrounded be real cowboys. Yes – I was in heaven.
Dad joined me and we both had a couple of steaks surrounded by tons of authentic western motif and history. One of said cowboys asked where we were going and when he found out we were heading to Cheyenne and then Fort Colins, was very insistent that we wanted to go from Laramie to Fort Colins.
Turns out there’s an 8 mile climb out of Laramie to Cheyenne and when you get to top, you many times have up to 50 mile and hour winds (closing highway from semi’s). Others in the saloon echoed his thoughts and we immediately decided to follow their advice. The road to Fort Colins may have many hills but sounds like in the end will be less painful.
By the time dinner was complete we headed outside and the weather had completely blown over. We could have gone to the lake to camp after all but we would have missed a tremendous piece of history and some really friendly folks. There will be lots of beautiful camping in the future.
