Swallow Pride, it’s Non-Fattening

We woke with a sense of purpose this morning – a package was waiting for us at the post office, we needed to stock up on groceries, and we had seen a sign for a Thai restaurant when cruising into town last night.  First stop was the Rawlins post office where we retrieved our support box, mailed some unwanted items back home and talked with locals about our journey.  Next up, the Thai restaurant.  We arrived at the perfect time, opening time.  Skipping the traditional seat-drinks-order-eat paradigm we headed straight from the entrance to the buffet line.  We piled our plates high with rice, fried bananas, chicken, broccoli and other Thai delights while using our opposite hand to snack on other edibles.  The few plates that made it back to our table with food still intact were quickly devoured.

Stuffed from our buffet lunch we waddled our way down to the nearest grocery, the “discount” grocery run by the local Mennonites.  If you’re not familiar with a “discount” grocery, it’s basically a store filled with unwanted items from other stores.  This can range from dented and crushed cans and other packages of food, to “experimental” products that just didn’t sell.  We stocked up on dented cans of chili and baked beans, crushed Cheeze Nips, energy drinks (of the “experimental” variety) and other nearly expired food products before setting out for the day’s ride.

Departing Rawlins, we headed south on Route 71, otherwise known as Sage Creek Road.  Over the next few miles our route delivered us out of the generally flat and tree-less terrain that had been the norm for the past few days.  The riding was easy until the end of the day when we had some up-and-down hills to conquer before setting up camp just off route.