A Few Small Repairs: Wyoming to Idaho
We spent two weeks in Rawlins listening to freeway noise and putting things back together. It took about a week to get the new springs, and the local RV guy came to the park and put them on without issue. Everything looked much better! Now we have extra springs we’ll have to figure out what to do with, but at least the trailer is safe to drive.
The nice thing about a place like this is everything is 10 minutes drive away. The library, the grocery store, the car dealer - it’s all close. It’s right on the interstate so you can get shipments easily. Happier times for Rawlins were a few decades ago (a common theme for these smaller towns), when oil prices were high and drilling was expanding. Now property prices have fallen enough that many buildings are not worth the retrofit, creating a patchwork of healthy properties among shabby, disused buildings.
Springs weren’t the only repair to do in Rawlins. I went to several appointments at the local hospital seeing their orthopedists about my foot. Several labs and a round of steroids later led us nowhere, unfortunately.
The sightseeing in Rawlins centers on the old Frontier Prison Museum, a truly creepy place that I would not like to visit again. It is a historically fascinating but dreadfully unpleasant building, which testifies to the conviction of its builders that those who turn to crime deserve only to suffer.
We did make it out to Saratoga, a little vacation town on the North Platte for dinner one night. They have hot springs there, and an RV park - it would be a nice, quiet place to spend some time if you’re in the area. We didn’t make it to Thermopolis, which is similarly nice and a bit more built up.
After Rawlins we headed west to Fort Bridger, an Oregon Trail stop with a good tour of the eponymous Fort. There was a good museum there, and we spent a whole day exploring the buildings and exhibits. The park there was exceedingly quiet and grassy - very peaceful.
We cut our stay short there and headed to Idaho Falls midweek, to see all the podiatrists I could in an attempt to figure out why my foot is still a mess. Our stay there was a whirlwind of appointments and getting ready for our next Xscapers event, the Convergence in Driggs. We did get to enjoy the public Japanese garden in the middle of downtown.
Overall, we felt like we were trudging through this late summer stretch. My health was poor, and drove our travel and time away from activities and sightseeing towards appointments and rest. We’re heading into another Convergence and I’m back in a boot. It’s not a great scene. At this point we’re aiming towards Portland after Convergence, expecting to stay and get real care for whatever is wrong until we know otherwise. We’ll be there for at least 3 weeks, with access to much better care than we can get in Wyoming and Idaho. So here’s hoping!
