Rawlins, WY

I turned on the TV, and the first local station that pop was the Channel 31, Denver.  That sure made me feel at home. Rawlins is only 50 miles away from Colorado, equal distance away from Grand Junction and Denver. I can reach out and touch.

It's funny how Colorado feels like home. I've been there only once, and yet I know it like the back of my hand. You see, I crisscrossed it all over, starting at Grand Junction and ending in Denver, when I was there last year. I swept the state from west to east going North and south, from San Juan mountains to RMNP to Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I drove its interstate and backroads alike.

Enough about Colorado. I started out the day with Flaming Gorge in Utah, just 70 miles south of Rock Springs. Then I was back at Rock Springs to charge the car. I was going to sleep on Walmart parking lot there, but I had a long way to go to TRNP. I figured I'd drive another 100 miles and get to Rawlins at least before the night fall. And that's how I ended up at here Rawlins, equidistance away from Grand Junction and Denver.

Wyoming South of Wind River Range is not unlike Utah. The mountains turn into desert covered with sage grass soon after you get out of the dirt road that takes you out of Big Sandy. By the time you get to Flaming Gorge, it becomes bona fide Utah complete with red cliffs and beige rocks, the color of Bryce. The rocks and rivers don't care about boundaries. It is us that drew the line and gave different names to either side as if they are two different places. And our brain is programmed to think different names mean different places and gets surprised when it finds that they are the same.

 Before you get to Flaming Gorge though, you must pass Manila, a green oasis at the foot of Uinta mountains of Utah, a finger sticking out of Wasatch Mountains to the east, kind of like Wind River Range sticking out of Wyoming Rockies. The clouds must be blowing in from the north and dump its moisture before rising above Uinta Mountains.

The Green River originates deep in Wyoming mountains and flows down south, blocked by Wind River Range from flowing East. It then circles Uinta mountains to the east and flows into the vast Utah valley surrounded by Utah and Colorado mountains. There, it merges with the Colorado River in Canyonlands. I saw the confluence there last year. Now I saw it's beginning and journey through flaming gorge and Uinta Mountains. 

What a pleasant place Flaming Gorge was. The plateau above the gorge was populated with pines, firs and junipers. If I had more time, I would've camped at one of many boondocking sites there for a few days and explored the trails and the lake. I only have 12 days now however, to get to New York City. That may not be enough to make stop at TRMP, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I may have to cut something out.