This travel day took us from Salt Lake City, Utah to Rawlins, WY.  Distance: 295 miles

The Dog decided it was his turn to drive when we stopped at a rest area!

After dropping of the RV at the Rawlins KOA, we took a “quick” trip (about 65 miles each way) to Independence Rock State Historic Site.

The story goes that if the migrants following the Oregon Trail reached this destination by the 4th of July, they would be fine crossing the rest of the mountain passes with very little snow.  Many pioneers carved their names in the giant rock but are now mostly eroded away.  A small section of the rock is protected by chain link fencing, but you can hardly see the names anymore.

John hiked to the top, heard a rattlesnake in a crevice and took the long way down.

We also stopped at Emigrant Gap outlook a few miles down the road.

On the drive, we saw many wild horses and antelope.  No pics of the horses but here’s one of an antelope.

The last time we were here – almost 20 years ago – there wasn’t an official rest area at the location.  Barb was also drugged so nothing seemed familiar to her this visit. (reason: while we were in Maine on that trip, an emergency room trip ended with her being diagnosed with kidney stones in both kidneys.  One was 11 mm and the other was 9 mm – both too large to pass.  Once those things start bothering you, drugs are the only way to cope!)

It would be several weeks before doctors in Maine would be able to blast those things away, so we continued our vacation (2 kids and a tent-trailer) and followed the Oregon/California Trail most of the way.  Barb got the kidney stones blasted away about a week after we got home.