Day 9, night

I thought Louisiana was poor. I thought Ogden was an unfortunate little place. I had not yet experienced Rawlins.

You know how I was saying Wyoming was desolate and unforgiving, despite its beauty? Rawlins is what happens when you throw money at that and set a town in the center. It's so strange. There's apparently a ton of work available here. Mining. But there isn't enough housing available for the men here working. So they fill up the neighborhoods, set acres of trailers in the dust, and keep demand for hotel rooms high. The cost of lodging is exorbitant. Our crappy room is costing us more than a night at the Stanley.

And there is yet more work available. The restaurants, the convenience stores, any amenities we're used to seeing, all of them were starting to close as we drove around in search of a good time around 8PM. They had Help Wanted signs up and couldn't stay open because they didn't have the staff to man the places.

So we ended up at a taco chain. Lobby closed, drive-thru open. And the boys in the windows were clearly tweaking. Hard.

Our hotel was absolutely full. Someone tried to steal our resrvation out from under us, but we bitched loudly from behind them in line and the receptionist was forced to honor us. I think if we had offered, the guy would have slept on our floor. We didn't offer.

All that money, and nothing to buy. Nothing around for miles that could possibly make life enjoyable.

David Lynch should film something here.