Travels with Twinkles: Rock Springs to Rawlins, Wyoming

September 9 - 10, 2020: Rock Springs to Rawlins, Wyoming

It’s still freezing, cold and cloudy and I want, I need to see and feel the warmth of the sun ! I get onto I-80 heading east towards Rawlins, Wyoming around noon as planned. The road is clear, all is well, but visibility so poor that I can't appreciate the rugged scenic terrain that this route passes through. There is also road construction on I-80 which restricts traffic flow down from 4 lanes to 2 lanes for about 12 miles. At this point, the east bound lane was clear, but the west bound lane for whatever reason was still partially snow and slush covered. As a result, the westbound lane was slowed to a crawl and traffic was backed up for miles, luckily the east bound lane continued clear all the way, luck is with me today !

I-80 traffic

I exit for only one town, Wamsutter, which appears to be nothing but an oil field slum town, where many workers make the big bucks in BP Petroleum’s largest oil fields. Yes, this is oil and gas country, you can see it and smell it from the road.

https://www.hcn.org/issues/282/14984

The Desert Bar

The old Railroad water tank remains

Most of the town is trailers

I came upon this mural along the route which turns out to have quite a story. It's about a woman known as Cattle Kate who was was hung (vigilante style) by local ranchers for cattle rustling under very questionable circumstances.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tragedy-cattle-kate-180968131/

Mural for Cattle Kate

I arrive in Rawlins about 2 PM, park on Cedar Street and get out to walk around the downtown, but see that the visitors center is right in front of me. I enter to check out the area brochures when a very friendly and a helpful attendant comes from the back to assist. She gives me a walking tour map of their downtown art project, it's murals which they are very proud of, I'm liking this town already. It proves to be a nice historic downtown, I would even say progressive for Wyoming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawlins,_Wyoming

The Miller Block building

Icy Hotel parking lot of the New Albany Hotel

US Post Office

Beautiful facade of the former Ideal Bread store

One of the mural project sites which some idiot has spray painted

The Strand Theater

Actually the downtown looks mostly the same today

Vintage gas station and Texaco truck

Prominent victorian house in town

Again I am in a railroad town, as are about all towns in this area of the country. BNSF has a thriving fright yard operation running adjacent to the historic area. There is also a impressive rail Depot and park area.

The Rawlins Rail Depot

Union Pacific caboose with snowy ridges in background

Mural to pose with at rail depot, note the masks on the people

I am patiently waiting for the clearing skies, but there are none, it's all clouds and still almost freezing as I walk around the downtown area and then it starts to snow lightly again.

I then find the town Library to work on the computer and to warm up. They are strictly practicing social distancing. I have found in my travels that libraries are the only places that have strictly and uniformily complied with this across state lines.

Afterwards, its happy hour and to stay warm, I don’t want to spend any more time than necessary in the cold van. The Rifleman Club Bar looks warm and interesting so in I go, it’s the typical wild west looking saloon with dead animals lining the walls, guns, pro NRA signs, pool tables and several intoxicated locals speaking loudly. It's also somewhat of a museum to the old west with all sorts of western ranching articles displayed.

The Rifleman Club, I once resembled the Rifleman, Chuck Connors, years ago ?

The Rifleman interior

One pool table removed for social distancing

I then find the Walmart on the outskirts of town but it seems high and more exposed to the cold. I get my stove out and cook some prepared rice mixture to help heat up the van interior and then find a more sheltered spot for the night on a downtown street. I jump out of bed at 6 AM in the morning, the interior temperature being about 35 degrees, but not as cold as I had expected. I dress fast, start the engine, get some heat going and head for the nearest coffee shop.

I go to the Carbon County Museum in the morning, it is another great museum, lots of local history, Indian artifacts, a special women’s history exhibit and macabre story about bad man “Big Nose Frank” who was hung for his crimes, A local doctor then cut his skull open to inspect /analyze his brain. He gave the skull cap to his assistant who used it as a bowl. The doctor then took some of his skin and (really weird) had it made into a pair of shoes. The cobbler who made the shoes might have been weird as well ! The lower part of the skull was lost for many years, then found and eventually returned to Big Nose Frank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Nose_George

Amazing invention

That is some keepsake to carry around your whole life

Lillian was quite special

Lillian assisted in the medical research of Big Nose George

A very ambitious man indeed

1921 Hudson Essex Racer that won a 201.8 mile race between Rock Springs and Pinedale, Wyoming

Safe originally was in the Carbon County Courthouse. It was moved to another building and eventually covered by a wall. In 1982 it was rediscovered when the building was being demolished and saved.

Big Nose George's skull and shoes made from his skin

I then went over to the Wyoming Prison Museum just to look at the front of the building, It has an amazing history and there are guided tours, but I’m not that much of a Prison history buff. This one had lots of action, guards being killed, prisoner escapes, prisoner riots and many hangings.

This place has both much history and notoriety ?

A huge state of the art prison for it's day

Mural at prison, not sure what this has to do with the prison ?

I then drove about 4 miles to the nearby town of Sinclair, Wyoming. Sinclair was originally called Parco and was a company oil town. A grand hotel, the Parco Inn was built in a Spanish Colonial architecture style and opened in 1925. In 1934 the company was sold to the the Sinclair Oil Company and the company owned houses and the Hotel were privatized. The Hotel is still intact, but mostly vacant and deteriorating. It appears currently to be used partially by a local church, but it is sad to see such an impressive building fading away and not being fully utilized. There is restoration work started on an adjacent Theater building which is a promising sign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair,_Wyoming

https://wyoshpo.wyo.gov/index.php/programs/national-register/wyoming-listings/view-full-list/494-parco-sinclair-historic-district