Lazy days in Rawlins. I ate, drank, and slept for a day and a half. Struggled even to push to write anything. I’m scratching this out quckily this morning before heading out of town. I have to stop at the PO and mail a package home before I can be on my way. 

Being in town is always a relief after a hard section like the Great Divide Basin. But stopping for rest is hard too. After moving for so long, to not make any progress and just be laying on a motel bed, I find depressing. Got to move to make it to Mexico. 

80 miles or so till my next resupply in Encampment/Riverside and from there it’s just a hop of 20 miles to the Colorado border. I’ll be in Steamboat Springs before the first of September. Good timing. The afternoon summer thunderstorms are predicted to decrease a bit next week with more sunshine according to the Denver station I picked up here in Rawlins. 

I’m nervous about Colorado. Big mountains and long climbs. Last night in the lounge at the motel, I was talking with two other hikers, and the advice was not to chew too much too soon. Don’t worry about Colorado. Get to the next stop. Take it a step at time. Go low if you have to. Find different routes if the weather is rough. Just keep making that continual forward progress. Good advice.