Wyoming - Rawlins, Independence Rock

We were ready to go somewhere new, so decided to head south and west.  We hoped to find a campsite somewhere close to the Flaming Gorge in sw Wyoming.  It just happened to be Labor Day weekend, so that didn't happen.  Instead, our destination for the next 2 nights was...Rawlins, Wy.  Yay.  Anybody that is familiar with Rawlins knows it isn't exactly a "destination".  Nothing wrong with it, just not much to do.

We left Buffalo Friday morning and that put us in Casper for lunch.  When we lived in Wy, we would occasionally drive to Casper for movies, shopping, eating, etc.  There was a Chinese restaurant that I had hoped to go to, but with a 40' 5th wheel, you pretty much just pull in where you fit.  So Arby's it was and then back on the road.

The drive from Casper to Rawlins is pretty, in my opinion.  For a ways the road follows the North Platte River.  You also get to see hills of different sizes and various rock formations.  Of course there is also lots of just open land.

About an hour west of Casper we came to Independence Rock.  So named by a party of fur trappers who camped there July 4, 1824.  This rock was a well-known landmark along the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails.  It has also been called the Great Register of the Desert because of all the names carved on it by the emigrants.

 We walked around the base of it, but didn't get to climb it.  There was a line of storm clouds quickly coming our way and the top of the rock didn't seem like a good place to be :)!

Just a few minutes driving and we passed another landmark that was used as a guide by the emigrants called Devil's Gate.  This is a notch in the rocks that is visible actually before you even come to Independence Rock.  Reading the information on these two places we learned that it took the emigrants one day to travel between the two.  An entire day for them, minutes for us...crazy.

Enough history for today :)!

We got to Rawlins that afternoon and went to our campground, RV World.  Our site was pull through and level enough that we didn't have to unhook the trailer from the truck.  Nice!  Actually, everything about the campground was really nice.  The laundry room and bathrooms were spotless, thankful for that.  The camp store had anything we could possibly need, including Ben & Jerry's ice cream (yes, that's a need).  The lady in the office was very friendly and helpful.  For a place to stay while traveling through, it was great.  Oh, and they had putt putt golf on site for the kids...they still talk about it :). 

We got to rest, catch up on laundry, and eat some good food.  There is an excellent Mexican Restaurant in nearby Sinclair called Su Casa.  Super nice people, too.

It turned out to be a great destination after all :)