The view out of our hotel window
Our first glimps of the Rocky Mountains in WY
North Platte, Nebraska ArchwayThe Refinery. You could see it and smell it from a few miles away. Rawlins is located on the Continental Divide. Yes, we drove to the top of the world and would be heading toward the Pacific tomorrow. The population of Rawlins lives and literally breathes the refinery life as its mainstay. Trains constantly move in and out of town somehow involved in delivering the lifeblood of America to points east, west, north and south. We were staying in this place, one way or another. We took one of the three exits for Rawlins to find a hotel.
There was the usual strip of motels and restaurants found on just about any exit of I-80 and sure enough, the sign said, 'special $69 a night". I went inside to see if there were vacancies and luck was on our side. I asked the gentleman at the desk (who had no front teeth but was very pleasant) if we could have a second floor corner at the back in order to avoid the sound of running children, loud partiers and other noise. He checked and sure enough, a room was available. Irony, is such a wicked bedfellow. I swiped the card, got the key and headed out to the car. As I walked to the side parking lot, I noticed that the wind was blowing incessantly and it reeked of diesel fuel. This was the life of all Rawlins residents I was later to discover. We drove around the side, walked up the stairs, a little concerned because from the outside, this well known chain hotel looked, well, seedy. We opened the door and low and behold, it was meticulous, comfortable and roomy. Nice!
We set down our things, looked at the clock and decided to go down to the 'OTB and Sports Bar' attached to the hotel. It was about 6:30 and we thought an hour or two of relaxation, mingling with the locals and checking out life in Wyoming was in store. Every state has its own laws about gambling. Wyoming likes Off Track Betting. The lounge was large, with sofas and small tables near a tiny bar. We ordered a draft beer-Bud or Bud light (the bartender apologized that the 22 oz beer had gone up from $2.50 to $2.75 recently. Much better than Philadelphia I remarked where a 16 oz beer was $7.00. I heard that story repeated three times as we sat there. A little more casual conversation with the four locals at the bar told me a few important things. Everyone works or is connected in a supporting way to the refinery. It's ALWAYS windy and not too many people end up leaving town.
A juke box from the seventies was over by the far wall and I can never pass up some music. The bartender came over and apologized again, said the CD's that were hand written wouldn't work because they were homemade ones but the others were fine. They hadn't changed the CDs since NOW 14 and much of it was country which kind of left me hanging. The bartender put in a dollar and said to play A14 and C12 and whatever else I wanted. Since I didn't recognize most of the albums I settled on Kid Rock from long ago and Pink, her first album. The bartender had played Johnny Cash and some local bootscooter band. I never even saw a CD with Johnny Cash's name on it so that was lost to me.
Richard and I relaxed in the comfy chairs, listening to music and enthralled by the six large screen tvs that were showing dog and horse races from all over the country. He knew little about it and I knew more so I explained the mechanics of this OTB phenomena to him. One lone fellow sat looking at the screens and would periodically go up and place a bet in the corner with a fellow sitting behind a machine. Half way through our big beers, a wedding party of bridesmaids started filtering in to smoke and check out the action in the bar. Not much was going on, believe me. Someone came to deliver a pizza to someone at the bar and then an Asian man delivered Chinese food...no food at the Inn I guess. So much for our exciting night in Rawlins....not even a cowboy showed up. The highlight of the evening was when a guy walked in who was dressed and sort of (without my glasses on) resembled Kid Rock with the leather hat, studded jacket and hair flowing out from beneath it all. The bridesmaids took immediate interest.
There was the usual strip of motels and restaurants found on just about any exit of I-80 and sure enough, the sign said, 'special $69 a night". I went inside to see if there were vacancies and luck was on our side. I asked the gentleman at the desk (who had no front teeth but was very pleasant) if we could have a second floor corner at the back in order to avoid the sound of running children, loud partiers and other noise. He checked and sure enough, a room was available. Irony, is such a wicked bedfellow. I swiped the card, got the key and headed out to the car. As I walked to the side parking lot, I noticed that the wind was blowing incessantly and it reeked of diesel fuel. This was the life of all Rawlins residents I was later to discover. We drove around the side, walked up the stairs, a little concerned because from the outside, this well known chain hotel looked, well, seedy. We opened the door and low and behold, it was meticulous, comfortable and roomy. Nice!
We set down our things, looked at the clock and decided to go down to the 'OTB and Sports Bar' attached to the hotel. It was about 6:30 and we thought an hour or two of relaxation, mingling with the locals and checking out life in Wyoming was in store. Every state has its own laws about gambling. Wyoming likes Off Track Betting. The lounge was large, with sofas and small tables near a tiny bar. We ordered a draft beer-Bud or Bud light (the bartender apologized that the 22 oz beer had gone up from $2.50 to $2.75 recently. Much better than Philadelphia I remarked where a 16 oz beer was $7.00. I heard that story repeated three times as we sat there. A little more casual conversation with the four locals at the bar told me a few important things. Everyone works or is connected in a supporting way to the refinery. It's ALWAYS windy and not too many people end up leaving town.
A juke box from the seventies was over by the far wall and I can never pass up some music. The bartender came over and apologized again, said the CD's that were hand written wouldn't work because they were homemade ones but the others were fine. They hadn't changed the CDs since NOW 14 and much of it was country which kind of left me hanging. The bartender put in a dollar and said to play A14 and C12 and whatever else I wanted. Since I didn't recognize most of the albums I settled on Kid Rock from long ago and Pink, her first album. The bartender had played Johnny Cash and some local bootscooter band. I never even saw a CD with Johnny Cash's name on it so that was lost to me.
Richard and I relaxed in the comfy chairs, listening to music and enthralled by the six large screen tvs that were showing dog and horse races from all over the country. He knew little about it and I knew more so I explained the mechanics of this OTB phenomena to him. One lone fellow sat looking at the screens and would periodically go up and place a bet in the corner with a fellow sitting behind a machine. Half way through our big beers, a wedding party of bridesmaids started filtering in to smoke and check out the action in the bar. Not much was going on, believe me. Someone came to deliver a pizza to someone at the bar and then an Asian man delivered Chinese food...no food at the Inn I guess. So much for our exciting night in Rawlins....not even a cowboy showed up. The highlight of the evening was when a guy walked in who was dressed and sort of (without my glasses on) resembled Kid Rock with the leather hat, studded jacket and hair flowing out from beneath it all. The bridesmaids took immediate interest.
We got another beer (our Ambien for the night, even though we were already doing our share of yawning) and I put another dollar in the juke box. I found a Red Hot Chili Peppers and a Bon Jovi song and forced myself to play Garth Brooks. A local everyone knew arrived with a massive German Shepard on a leash and the place was jumping. Richard and I plotted our next leg of the journey, watched the horses being paraded on the screens for a while more and because we couldn't stand the excitement for another second, finally went up to our room.
It took us all of about ten seconds to fall asleep at the crazy hour of 8 p.m...not sure what time zone it was, must have been mountain. Oh, about that room in the back...the rail road tracks were just behind our room and we listened to trains for about five minutes and decided to crank the air conditioning. It took care of the pervasive smell of diesel and the sound of trains on tracks. We slept for ten hours. It was the best night sleep I'd had in ages.
Day Three, coming up next. Can you stand the excitement!
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