FROM HERE TO THERE AND BACK: TRAVEL DAY 9

Difficult goodbyes as we parted with the little family who give us endless hours of entertainment and pleasure... But a plan is a plan, so off we went.
Soon after we were on the road, we entered the State of Wyoming.

A huge oil refinery by the side of the road

Buford

Interesting things dotted the otherwise rather boring terrain. This town marker was just inside the state line:

The "town" is an unincorporated community consisting of a convenience store, gas station and a modular home. Population: 2, the owner and his son. His son moved away, so the number changed to 1. The property was bought by a Vietnamese pair who changed the name to PhinDeli, by which name it appears on the map. We remembered stopping here earlier on our way from Utah to North Carolina as we were in the process of moving to Pinehurst in 2002. Two gentlemen became fast friends comparing their Jag XK8s...

Rawlins

Part of the reason we had chosen Rawlins as a half-way point between Denver and SLC was a gorgeous Queen Anne style mansion that now is a bed and breakfast place. What better place to spend the night! But we soon changed our minds.

The George Ferris Mansion in Rawlins, WY, is one of the most significant Queen Anne style buildings in Wyoming. The house was built during 1899-1903 for George and Julia Ferris. The Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and has served as a bed and breakfast place since 1986.

George Ferris was born in Michigan. He moved to Wyoming and pursued a variety of vocations, but his wealth came from the Rudefeha Copper Mine (later the Ferris-Haggarty Mine). Work on the house began in 1899, but was interrupted when George Ferris was killed in 1900 as he was thrown from a runaway carriage near his mine. The house was completed in 1903, and Julia Ferris lived there until her death at 76 in 1931.

We were going to stay here the one night we were in Rawlins, but changed our minds when we read this:

“The mansion has had a few ghostly encounters, which began after the death of Cecil Ferris during the early 1900s. Cecil was the son of George and Julia Ferris, who began constructing the mansion in 1901. Cecil was killed by a fatal gunshot accidentally fired by his brother who was playing with their father’s gun. . . . Owners and guests have reported seeing the apparition of whom they believe to be Cecil and a lady adorned in white who frequently roams the kitchen area–which many believe to be Julia Ferris. Other mysterious happenings reported include the sounds of footsteps, whispering and banging noises.”

No, thank you just the same!

(The pictures above of the Mansion are not mine; it was cloudy and rainy, and mine did not turn out well enough to share. The picture above right is by Glenn Cunningham. I'm using it because I think it is perfect to show the aura of a haunted house...)
After we left Rawlins, the weather declined. We encountered strong winds, thick fog and heavy rain.

Visibility kept getting worse and worse as we drove through the highest point on our trail: 8,640f.

Another notable marker was the Continental Divide at 7,000 feet.

The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Continental Gulf of Division, the Great Divide, or merely the Continental Divide) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. Basically, the Continental Divide extends from the Bering Strait to the Strait of Magellan, and separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Though there are many other hydrological divides in the Americas, the Great Divide is by far the most prominent of these because it tends to follow a line of high peaks along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains and Andes, at a generally much higher elevation than the other hydrological divisions. I did not realize that the Divide goes through both the Americas, North and South. (The picture below shows just the ridge of the Divide within the USA.)