We had a short day ahead and the plan was to try to beat the heat and arrive in Rawlins, Wyoming, before 2pm. Takoda and I set off 21 miles south of town, covering dirt roads and unmarked trail, i.e. going cross country, for the first 10 miles. After that the trail followed alongside a busy road and then wound straight through downtown Rawlins. We got some odd looks as I waited at intersections to use the crosswalks and walked through the suburbs. We made our goal and met my mom on the north end of Rawlins by 2pm. We then drove a short few miles to a horse hotel that we booked for 3 nights. I’m not going to lie; Rawlins is not exactly a place you want to spend two and a half days in. My mom and I decided to give in and stay in a motel 5 mins from the horse hotel so that we could have air conditioning and some relief from the intense heat. The one redeeming quality of Rawlins was the Thai food; they had the absolute best Thai food. This was a surprise, as it was not the place where I would have expected to find a good Thai restaurant, but the owner was a woman from Thailand who married a military man from Wyoming, and then she missed a lot of things from her homeland, so she started this restaurant. And boy, am I glad she did!

#2018CDT