Rock Springs KOA (2)

This was a long travel day. We didn’t have reservations for this stretch, because I knew there was no particularly great place to stay. It also helps to not be locked in somewhere when you’re covering lots of miles. Sometimes you get tired of the slog on 80 and want to just stop. But sometimes you want to push it farther to see if you can cover more ground.

Rather than jump on 80 as soon as possible, we took lesser highways, like 313, 34, and 30, until we got to Walcott. There, you have no choice, and you have to join the trucks on the interstate. This little detour helped us avoid some weather too, so that was a good call. We stopped now and again for leg stretching breaks in paved pull outs. The scenery was really pretty and I would do that route again in a heartbeat.

The funny thing about the stretch on 80 between the Sierras and Scottsbluff is that I have traversed it so often over the years, I’ve stayed in those islands of hotels and fast food multiple times. I know the pockets of civilization pretty well. On this journey, we made it to the outskirts of Rawlins and had three RV park options available. They’re all about the same out there, so it wouldn’t have mattered which parking lot we chose. I was feeling up for more though, so we pushed it to the next island, which was just under a hundred miles westward.

We had been lucky all day with weather, but eventually we came closer and closer to a wall that looked ominous. We were only about forty miles away at that point, so we stopped at the next rest area and waited it out. I sat in Dory and blogged, while Richard got some work done. By the time it was five o’clock, the deep grey clouds ahead had moved on and the way was clear.

I thought I remembered staying at the KOA in Rock Springs on the maiden voyage when I had our kids in tow, along with Dory1. Sure enough, looking back at photos showed the same background in the same KOA. Different Dory, different Bruce, different traveling companions, same me. Eight years later.

We were not only fine staying there, but downright happy. We’d gotten a good portion of the miles clicked off, making an early arrival at a state park the next day a lot more feasible. Richard did a little exploration mission into town and we slept like logs. It is much cooler at the higher elevations, so didn’t even need the AC. We’re a week out from home now. What a trip it’s been!

Total miles from Robidoux: 360.0, 17.7 mpg, 8 hours 32 min. Site 17 full hookups. Good cell service for both. Also KOA wifi. Services available like laundry, pool, etc.