Day Three

Woke up at 6am. No recollection of any weird dreams. Hit the pool just after 7am. It was the coldest hotel pool ever. Smashed out a few lengths. Each length equated to about three metres. It was also the shortest hotel pool ever.

Hit breakfast and had waffles. Ann kept getting cereal and then throwing it away because it was too sweet. Not sure if she actually ate anything.

After we checked out, it was decided that Ann was going to drive. A nice couple of small roads and then a fairly clear interstate would be a good way to have her first go in the beast. Within 30 seconds we hit a snag, our side of the road was covered in debris forcing us to have to swerve into the opposite lane. As we passed it, I noticed it was a spillage of bags of pretzels littered everywhere!

I battled the stereo which seemed to have a mind of it's own. All I wanted to do was play stuff from the iPod, but the whole system kept freezing. This became a recurring theme all day, but we did get music at times.

After about half an hour, Ann decided she was bored of driving and said she felt funny, so we stopped to switch roles.

We made our way along the I-80 to Rawlins and then had a quick stop. Next we headed north as we noticed something of interest on the map. Took us an hour to get there.

 

Rocky

It is a large granite rock at the south-east end of the Granite Mountains. It is famous as it lies on what was the Oregon and California wagon trails from the mid nineteenth century. Travellers tried to reach it by Independence Day so that they could clear the rest of the mountains before winter, hence the name. As it was a well known spot on the long journey west, people started to carve or paint their names into/onto it. Supposedly there were roughly 5000 names in total although more than half a million people passed it.

Register of the desert

You can still see the names today, although the ones we saw were difficult to read or photograph. Did my best.

There is something there if you look closely

You are allowed to climb it but, due to the fact I had flip flops on and it was quite warm, we headed back to the car. Made our way back south to Rawlins.

Ate lunch at Penny's Diner. https://oaktreeinn.com/pennys-diner/ It was average. Filled up with gas and then headed back on the I-80 on our way west for another hundred miles or so. Speed limit was 75/80mph most of the way so we breezed along nicely. Even the miles of contraflow were 65 mph, so we hit Rock Springs just after 5pm.

Checked in to the Comfort Inn and Suites. Sat and watched Harry Potter for a while before heading out to Subway to grab some dinner to take back to the room. We have been in a lot of Subways over our four trips. This was not one of the best. Whilst in there, I pointed out to Ann the very bizarre sight of a six month old baby with pierced ears. Why?

Back to the room to eat and finish Harry Potter. Didn't lose the key.

Ann is now asleep. What's new?

States visited - 2

Granite Rocks seen - 1

Pretzel watch - high