Lincoln Highway
Day 4
We left the hotel early (as our bodies are still on CST) and went to McDonalds for breakfast. We could have stayed a while in Cheyenne, but the traffic had picked up and it’s hard to drive the A when you aren’t familiar with the area, so we moved on.
Today was the first day we had to drive on I-80 which was nerve racking enough, but ever since we crossed the state line into WY the wind has never stopped blowing! Steve struggled keeping the car on the road especially when semi’s and trailers zoomed by. We were doing 50mph, but I guess that’s still standing still on a freeway.
We did make some stops and saw cool things. Just west of Buford, WY in the middle of I-80 is a turn-off to see a tree growing out of a rock, called amazingly “Tree Rock”. This tree has fascinated travelers ever since the first train on the Pacific Union rolled by. It’s said that the tracks were even diverted slightly to pass by the tree as the rails were laid in 1867.
About 10 miles from there was a rest stop with two significant Lincoln Highway monuments. A giant bust of Abraham Lincoln and the Henry Joy monument. The bronze head of Lincoln is the world’s largest at 12.5’ high and the most controversial depiction of Lincoln. Robert Russin, the sculptor, wanted to show a “contemplative Lincoln” in the last years of his life. Critics of the work think he looks like a madman and have dubbed it “The Crazy Lincoln”. This is the only Lincoln monument along his namesake highway. The Henry Joy monument honors the first president of the Lincoln Highway Association and the Packard Motor Car Company.
We exited I-80 at Laramie, WY. There we stopped at the Gas Lite Motel to take pictures of a hodgepodge of Old West statues and other things in and around the motel.
The real highlight of the day was The Territorial Prison built in 1872. It housed some of the toughest desperadoes in Wyoming Territory. The most famous was Butch Cassidy. The prison is now a museum that you can tour. There were several buildings, the first being the Warden’s home, then we entered the prison. Inside the prison we saw the cells which were 5x5x8 with a bunkbed. We also saw the kitchen and dining area. The walls featured 19 inmates and their stories. It was amazing to me how many were paroled early for good behavior or escaped. This prison also held women, first in one big cell and later a separate ward for them. We spent about 2 hours and could have stayed longer, but we needed to move on.
This time we found the old Lincoln Highway and passed many towns long forgotten because of I-80. Once such deserted place was Como Bluff. It boasts of being the oldest house in the world because it’s built of 5,796 dinosaur bone fragments. It was built in 1933 by Thomas Boylan from a “dinosaur graveyard” discovered in 1877 by Union Pacific workers. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Although it’s now abandoned, you can still stop for pictures.
The next stop was at Medicine Bow and there on the main highway you will see The Virginian, a first class Hotel. It was built in 1911 and at one time was the largest hotel between Denver and Salt Lake City. The name came from Owen Wister’s 1902 Western novel, The Virginian. I remember watching the TV show the Virginian with James Drury in the 60’s.
Not long after that stop our car started having trouble and began to miss. As we drove, Steve somehow kept it running by choking it. In some ways we were lucky because the old road was almost deserted so it wasn’t an issue going 35 mph up the hills, but in other ways we were very nervous it would stall and not start again. We kept it going like that until we finally got back on the freeway and knew we close to Rawlins, WY. Thankfully, Rawlins is not a ghost town! It has a population of 8,000 and there are stores, motels, restaurants, etc. Once we were in Rawlins we stopped for gas, and right next to the station was an O’Reilly’s where Steve purchased what he thought he might need to work on the car. Although it was still relatively early (3:30) it was a no brainer to stop for the night. Steve worked on the car at the motel we are staying at and is hopeful he figured out what was wrong. If not, tomorrow he’ll put on a new carburetor.
He saw the winds are to be lighter in the morning so we plan on leaving early before they hit 40+mph again.
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