Riverside and Encampment marked the end of my downhill adventure and from then on I was bucking the wind and going slightly uphill. Saratoga turned out to be a decent town. There is a city operated free hotsprings pool where one can soak. I ran into two other groups of riders that I had been with from time to time and we stopped at the ice cream shop and had some cones. By this time, two of them went on to Rawlins (40 miles away) but I figured that 70 miles was enough for one day especially since I was probably going to end the trip at Rawlins due do a death in the family and some family business that needs to be taken care of. And I was not anxious to end the trip.

I got up early and went to a cutsey breakfast place that opens at 5:30 am and serves eggs benedict and muffins. Headed due North to I-80 and Walcott junction. It was really cold and there was a headwind. The weather channel had said that it was 38 degrees F and with the wind chill factor it was effectively 33 degrees F. After a half mile I put on another jacket and another pair of gloves but I was still cold but the wind was really strong. At 5 miles I turned around and went back to my cheap motel and read in my room until the 11:00 am check out time.

By this time it was warmer but the wind was still blowing. It took a little over two hours to go the 20 miles to Walcott Junction. After spending a few minutes at a truck stop I headed West on I-80 toward Rawlins. I was hoping that since my direction had changed 90 degrees, the wind would not be such a problem. Wrong. The wind saw which way I was going and changed course accordingly.

Fourteen miles later I was in Sinclair, the home of Sinclair gasoline. There is a big refinery there and a decent residential section in the town. The refinery employs about 800 people in three shifts going 24 hours a day. Rawlins was still seven miles away and I was so tired and sick of bucking the wind that I considered staying in Sinclair. This would delay for one more day the likely termination of this trip. But I decided that I should best keep going to Rawlins and so I did.

After getting hotel room, I started calling about car rentals. There was only one car rental place in Rawlins and it did not do "one-way" rentals. Rock Springs had several car rental places that did one-way rentals. I made a reservation to pick up a car on Thursday afternoon.

Rock Springs is 110 miles west of Rawlins on I-80 so I was able to
extend my trip for two more days.

But even in the worst hotel, a TV is "de rigeur". The room might not have a place to hang clothes, it might not provide a glass for drinking or a chair for sitting. The sheets might be threadbare, but there will be a TV - although this one did not have a remote. But that was not a problem because when you sat on the end of the bed, you could easily reach the TV and push the buttons on the set itself. It's just amazing what you can get for $38.00.

The compensation for this motel stay was that I got to watch a movie called "Mr. Destiny". It was about a kid who, in his high school championship series, struck out in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the winning runs on base. (I love baseball and this movie had voice overs. I am a sucker for movies with voice overs.) Approaching middle age he has a job in middle management with a wife who works for the same company on the production line and is a union rep. She tells him about something fishy going on in the company and askes if he can check it out. On his 35th birthday, he gets caught rifling through some private papers while trying to check on the fishy stuff his wife asked him about. He is fired. His wife forgets about his birthday because she has a union meeting to go to. He goes to a bar and has a drink. His car does not start. He returns to the bar to call a mechnic. Tells the bartender (Michael Caine) his troubles and wonders if his life would have turned out differently if he had gotten a hit in that final high school baseball game. The bartener who has special powers, gives him a free drink and suddenly, it's as if he hit a homer in the game. Then instead of middle management he is president of the company. He is now married to a different woman and his wife in his other life is a major antagonist. (I am a sucker for movies that jump around in time) This is about where I fell asleep but I'm going to rent it when I get home. I will rename this movie "Wamsutter relief".

I had coffee and two bean burritos (Reesers heated up in the microwave next to the coffee pot) and headed out for Rock Springs. It was faily uneventful. There is a lot of construction work gong on this (westbound) portion of I-80 but this was mostly beneficial to me. There was a 25 mile stretch where they made everyone ride in the right lane/shoulder. This would have been bad for me except that the right lane and right shoulder were free and clear for the most part. I just had to look out for large pieces of road equipment. It was a lot warmer and the wind was even helping me at times. The turnoff for the Rock Springs Airport is 10 miles east of Rock Springs. This meant a shorter distance for me than I has anticipated. Trouble is that at the turn off you can't even see the airport because it's on the other side of a big hill. The car was waiting for me. I took the wheels off of my bike, removed the seat post and turned the handle bars. I had what they call a "mid sized" car but even with all this disassembly I could barely get the frame into the back seat. And I got grease on the interior. I stopped in Rock Springs and got "De-Sove-it" an orange flavored spray that took care of the grease rubbings better than my wildest expectations. I headed down I-80 toward Utah feeling sad that my trip had come to a premature and unclimactic end.