WYOMING!

We stayed the night at a City Park in Walden, CO and from there we were only 22 miles from the Wyoming border.  People said the scenery would become boring and bleak but we never thought it did.  It got different, and very desolate but not boring.  Wyoming is oh so beautiful in it's own unique way.  I have come up with many ideas as to why this state only has a total population of around 500,000 but I still am not sure why so few people live here.  Some of the people we've met have acted sort of, well, miserable, to be frank.  Not all of them, but we have run into more older grouchy folks than anywhere else on the trip.  I can't figure this place out yet. Part of me loves it and another part of me feels like something is missing or something.  I guess it's just different than anything I've seen so it's confusing.  I am still trying to figure it out and as we pedal it keeps getting better, so I guess I will let you know how I feel about Wyoming when I get to Montana.  :)

There are some serious ranches here.  Hundreds of thousands of acres of land belonging to private owners is one of the reasons I think Wyoming has remained so natural.  No strip malls here!

And check out the wide shoulders.  Just the right size for a trike!

We like this very much!  Kinda strange there would be such a nice shoulder when there is hardly the traffic to warrant it.  Still quite nice, though!

At our campsite in Walden.  And nope, this isn't Thoreau's Walden.

It's windy here which makes it good for these.

Here is our campsite in Riverside.  A nice place with nice people and good food across the street.  The population of Riverside is 52.  We stayed for two nights.

In that door is where we made JenTiles.

We worked on them all day and did some new designs.  Anyone want to buy a JenTile?  Or a KenTile?  Just leave a comment here or email us.

Fun to make and wear.  I am wearing the Peace Sign right now. See?

Several hours after we left Riverside we ran out of water and had to stop at a house, the only house we'd seen all day.  We were taken inside by a nice man and his kids and as we filled up our camels we told him our story.  He seemed moved and told us of another child organ donor story that was recently on the news in Wyoming.  He bid us farewell and his dog did too:

Simon didn't care much for this but I did.  I love dog "attacks!"

Sinclair was a HUGE oil refinery town with an interesting history.  It had a strong odor.

It was loud and dirty looking.  Kinda creepy, actually.

The town was really small, other than the oil place, and this was their Post Office where Ken stopped to mail his Mom the present he got her in Rand.

Ken loves his Mom.  He sends her things from time to time to remind her of that, and to thank her for being such a strong supporter of our tour.  We appreciate that very much!

Then we went to eat at Su Casa and it was GOOD!  To save money and keep losing weight Ken and I have started sharing plates instead of ordering two meals.  And we order water instead of expensive teas or sodas. Our food costs have gone down considerably because of this change.

We finished this day in Rawlins where we stayed at an RV Park on the other side of town.  We made a stop at the local bike shop and saw this guy taking a nap.  Yeah, it was hot and we do get this tired out here.  Thing is, there was a couch inside just for this, but he was too tired to know it.

ZZZzzzzzzz.....

Loud because of I-80 but still okay.  Unfortunately with all the empty spots there for tenters someone decided to set up just two down from us.  That being a HUGE pet peeve of mine I said something to them and yes, they moved, but then I felt bad and so I went to apologize.  I didn't mean to be rude, and they said I wasn't and that they accepted my apology, but I felt mean about saying anything to them.  Mean people suck and I just never want to be one of them.  I began to think that maybe Wyoming was making me grouchy too!  The next day would change my mind though...