Day 10 - Rawlings, WY - 327 Miles

Woke early, as usual, to the shared bathroom dilemma: the locked bathroom door. Would have been easier had I access to other bathrooms, but such was not the case. Bobby J's was private, so was the owner's part of the house. I didn't want to bother Wayne, et al, because they were still sleeping at 6:00 a.m. So, the only thing to do was go into town sans brushed teeth and cover the mornings ablutions as best as can be done in the restroom of a restaurant. Managed to get another good breakfast anyway.

Returned to the lodge in time to have coffee with Wayne and Dick. They were the only ones moving. I packed everything up and waited for all the sleepy heads. Didn't happen. I remembered Bobby J saying they wanted to be on the road by 8:30. That time came and no one was stirring so I decided to head on out. But only after plotting with Wayne for him to tell Ron not to open the left-side saddle bag of his bike since I'd been forced to use it since he locked me out of the bathroom. I know it was him...some of that passive-aggressive revenge for the bathroom in-use code I'd tried to set up.

Anyway, sleepyheads, sorry I missed you before leaving. See you next year if not sooner. Had a ball and loved it all.

Retraced part of the poker run in leaving Red Lodge today. Unfortunately, it was the bad part: the road repair on the way to Belfry. Took Hwy380 to Belfry, MT, Hwy72/120 to Cody, WY, then Hwy14 to Greybull and Hwy20 into Wayne's hometown of Thermopolis, WY. I stayed on Hwy20 to Shoshoni, taking Hwy 26 to Riverton. This last section is the Wind River Range and is a beautiful ride. Stopped at a tourist trap looking for a light, long-sleeved something because the dark underarmour I was wearing was just too hot.



Didn't find anything to fix my heat problem but I did get a great tee shirt.



Front












Back


I just love this shirt!







Outside Riverton I took the Sand Draw cut-off, Hwy135. This is an 36 mi. trek through substantial heat over parts of the indian reservation. A camel would have to carry a water bucket through this. About half-way through you start up and then top a ridge and an amazing panorama opens up. I regret it now, but it was so damned hot I didn't stop and take a picture. My smaller camera from the back of the bike wouldn't do it justice so I just kept on going. Now, in the cool of this room, I regret that decision.

Pulled into Rawlings about 5:00 p.m. and decided that was enough. Checked into a motel and went looking for food. What I found was a thunderstorm that drenched me with very cold rain. Hustled back to the hotel and ordered in Chinese. That usually works.