I left Saratoga Lake behind with Nancy and the doggies this morning to ride the 42 miles to Rawlins, WY. The terrain looked easy enough with no large climbs so a 10 AM start should get me there around 2 PM leaving me with a relaxing afternoon for setting up camp and seeing the town.
It wasn’t far into the ride that I began pushing into the building headwind. The forty mile per hour wind never let up, I struggled to stay on the road as the traffic buzzed by. Halfway to Rawlins I stopped at a convenience store to fuel up my tired hungry body. I watched as a motorcyclist mounted his Indian touring bike to drive away from the pump, a gust of wind tipped the motorcycle on its side. It took four of us to set it back on its wheels. I then followed the route up the on ramp of Interstate 80 to finish my ride to Rawlins.
On the Interstate I still battled the wind but I now had an 8 foot shoulder, plenty of room for the wind to push me around without coming close to the fast moving traffic. Riding up to the crest of one of the rolling hills a strong gust blew me off the shoulder onto the grass. There was a pickup pulling a large camper that also was in the path of the blast of wind, the camper almost flipped. The driver was able to get control and continue without damage.
I finally arrived in Rawlins exhausted, too tired to find a campsite and setup for the night. I rolled into a motel and got a room.