Three Jr.Badges and Troubles on the Mountain

Today started off great!  The hotel was wonderful. The breakfast was good. The front desk gave me very clear directions on how to get out to Promotory Point.  We were on  our way!

What it looked like on our way out there. 27 miles from the hotel.

Ready to learn about the railroad!

Working on his badge
Wait, what was that?

It's the Jupiter! Coming in from Sacramento!

Waiting for the Union Pacific 119

Here it comes!

We watched the whole re-enactment. It was very cool. Lon was the first one to go up to have his picture taken with the cast. They let him hold the silver spike.
We learned there were four spikes! and they just popped them into a pre drilled polished laurel wood tie.  Leland Stanford did not have to hammer in anything!

Taking his Jr. Ranger Badge Oath from a Ranger/re enacter!
Time to hit the road. The original plan was to go to Vernal, Utah and just have a slow day. Things change.

We got gas in Corrine. It was only half a tank.
Mileage: 1178.9
Price: 26.02
Gallons: 6.849
Lon got a corn dog and an ice cream. He had to eat the ice cream first or it would be a puddle in the back of the car.  He did finish his corn dog too.

The road we were on to Vernal, was closed at Henefer. Why, I have no idea, but it was not open. We took the detour, and got confused. The garmin got confused.  We ended up in Wyoming.  Not sure exactly how that happened. But there we were

We saw a sign that said Fossil Butte, 40 miles. What the heck, it was early in the afternoon! Sounds like a fun, very out of the way place!  Fossils are cool.
Lon was the only child there. It was not crowded. I think we had 6 people all together. Including us.

Matching up his find a fossil pictures. The ranger told Lon that if we wanted to get back at a reasonable time, he should do the three most important pages and promise to do the rest in the car on the way back to Vernal.  That would be a deal!

Taking his ranger oath.
Wait! There is MORE ! Lon got another booklet to work on in the car and a Jr. Paleontologist badge!  That was so cool. Lon was over the moon with that!
We had half a tank of gas left, but the garmin said it was only 110 miles. No problems, we should be able to make it, if we can not find gas anywhere

We had been talking about maybe seeing Bison in Kansas. We found some in Wyoming! Even baby bison!  Lon has now seen Bison!
Then things started to go wrong.
We were going through the town of Mountain View Wyoming.  The sign ahead says 55, so I start speeding up. Well, that is not the right thing to do till you pass the sign. I had less than 25 yards to go when I got pulled over.  I owe the state of Wyoming a little money.  It was not as bad as it could have been.  I was polite, Lon was good.  First ticket I have had in over 25 years.  I was not going to let that pull out the fun from our adventure.
I forgot about getting gas after that. I should have.  There were no more gas stations along the way. None.

We drove through the Flaming Gorge. It was amazingly pretty.  There were cows grazing on the sides of the road. Roaming into the road. Then the car dinged. Once, then as we went up the mountain, it dinged 5 times in a row, then the gas light started to flash. I was teaching Lon how to save on gas by putting it in neutral going down hill.  It got to a point where we just had none left. We were not going to make it up the hill. There was no cell service. Lon had seen some ATVs riding around.  We thought that if we could find a group of ATV people we might be able to buy a gallon or two of gas to get us to Vernal.  We said our prayers and pulled off the road into a clearing with a camper and an ATV parked beside it.  There was a very nice man in the camper. He had  1 3/4 of a gallons of gas left and I was welcome to it.  I asked if I could pay him and he said no, just do something nice for someone else. I told him he was an answer to a prayer.   We still put it in neutral going down the hills. It was dusk, and the deer were starting to run across the road!

There were 5 deer in front of that truck.
We did not hit any deer.  We were very careful and going slow.
We finally got to Vernal!  We found a gas station
and filled it up
Mileage:  1508.1
gallons: 12.212
Price: 47.00
We made it! We did it! We survived ! We did not have to push the car!
I did feel a little like Blanche DuBois (Streetcar Named Desire). I have always depended on the Kindness of strangers.
We found a hotel. Best Western Dinosaur Land.  We are going to go see the Dinosaur National Monument tomorrow.  That is the plan. With a full tank of gas.
We took the time and cleaned out the car. I found Lon's garbage bags so he can use them now.
We went to dinner at a place called 7/11 Ranch Restaurant.  Lon had chicken strips and I had a burger. Fast, and not horrible.  Lon tried their fried ice cream, but it was not up to La Corona's standards so he did not like it. I tried the fried cheesecake, and it was not bad.  It needed some work, but it could be fun to try to make it at home.

Then I noticed this. Lon with horns.
It was a day that will make a great story.  Off on our next adventure tomorrow. With a full tank of gas.