Overnight in Rawlins, WY

Rawlins, WY, August 14, 2012.  A short history of Rawlins: In 1867, while in command of the US Army troops protecting the crew surveying the route of the first trans-continental railroad, General John Rawlins (Chief of Staff of the US Army) expressed a wish for a drink of good, cold water. Not wanting to disappoint their commanding general (never a good idea...and I speak from experience), a detachment of scouts explored the countryside as they rode west and approached the hills that stand guard over present-day Rawlins - and lo and behold, they discovered a spring.  General Rawlins declared it was the most refreshing drink he had ever tasted and exclaimed, "If anything is ever named after me, I hope it will be this spring of water." General Grenville Dodge, commander of the survey party, immediately named it Rawlins Springs and the community that grew up around it bore the same name. Later shortened to Rawlins, the town was incorporated in 1886 and was designated the seat of Carbon County.

Well, we've made it to the edge of the Continental Divide and shall, in all due haste tomorrow, attempt to cross it and the Rocky Mts.  Hopefully we'll get an early start and have no problems along the way, pulling into a campground somewhere just north of Ogden, Utah, tomorrow night.  When we checked into our Rawlins campground for the night - RV World - we received a copy of today's edition of the Rawlins Daily Times .  While purusing this fine example of a small town newspaper (populaton of Rawlins is a wee bit over 9,000 residents), I ran across some interesting tidbits of news.  Now, while I'm fairly certain this 24-page, 50 cent collection of Rawlins news is of great importance to any number of people, I was mildly amused by the following account of activities as reported by the Rawlins Police Dept for this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  This stuff is way too funny/strange to make up, believe me.

Rawlins police responded to/conducted:

One 911-hangup            
Two ambulance calls             
18 animal cases         
One assault case
Two assisted motorists  
Four assisted other agencies  
Six building checks     
Three civil disputes
One civil standby         
Five domestic disturbances    
Four fights in progress 
18 follow-ups
Two harassment cases 
Three hit-and-runs                  
Two larceny cases       
Six misc complaints
Two cases of malicious mischief
One misc juvenile problem
Two moving vehicle complaints
One non-bank alarm
Two parking complaints
Three pedestrian stops
Two prowler reports
Two sexual assault cases
Four suspicious persons
One suspicious vehicle?????
One threat?????
17 traffic stops
Two cases of criminal trespassing
One warrant served
Three welfare checks?????

In addition...

The Wamsutter Fire Dept responded to a vehicle pulling a trailer that overturned on I-80 westbound at Milepost 158. The call was reported cancelled. Hmmm, wonder why and how did that trailer get upright again???   Strange, but true.....