Day 4: 2 Badges and NO Mountain Trouble

Today was a very fun day! We started out at Dinosaur Monument.

Lon had 18 badges at this point. He was so excited to get this one.

Lon still looks for little lizards everywhere

He is really having a great time doing this!
You  park at the Visitor Center, every 15 minutes there is a shuttle to take you up to the Quarry. This is where the bones are!

Exploring where the bones go.  The wall is impressive! So many dinosaur bones. It is an amazing record of the Jurassic period

Just part of the wall of bones.
Lon got his entire Jr. Ranger booklet done up there

We were having fun. We met a family from France, and a family from Germany and a couple from Japan.  Not much English was spoken, just some smiles and waves.
We learned why the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh has the second biggest collection of dinosaurs in the country. Earl Douglas came to Dinosaur National Monument, in 1909 before it was a monument, and sent them back to the museum.   Lon now wants to go to see them there. I really can not come up with a no. We can't do it this trip, but maybe later on.

Lon with Earl Douglas.

Getting badge number 19!!

This is East Four Mile Draw Rest Stop.  I found the little sansa clip and plugged it in to the speakers. It worked fine for about 20 minutes. Now it is not working at all. darn it.
I was thinking this was not a bad road, this Higway 139 down from Rangely to Loma.   Then joining up with 70. Again, perhaps I thought a touch too soon.

This is a part of the road, I still felt comfortable taking pictures. It seems Colorado does not like guard rails. Thinks they are for wimps.  I LIKE guard rails.  And yes, in case you were wondering, this is a drop off down the mountain. It is a small, narrow VERY twisty road. It goes over a pass that is 6,852 feet high. You go up, you go down. Switch backs that are marked 15 miles an hour.
One person was very anxious to get where they were going and passed me.  Then he slammed on his brakes about 50 yards ahead. Seems he forgot about the deer and the cows. He almost hit a doe with two fawns. They were beautiful. They were fine.  He then sped off. But we caught up with him a little later as he was forced to stay behind a gas tanker truck.  He got so frustrated that he passed him on a curve.  I hope whatever he had to get to was that important.

Finally off that mountain!  It was then I realized I had given myself a blister gripping the steering wheel so tightly as I went around those unguarded curves.
No more scary mountain roads for me. I want a highway over the passes, not just paved goat paths.

We stopped at Colorado National Monument in Fruita. This is right before we got onto Highway 70 East.   The Ranger told us we had to do a hike for his badge, but there was a very easy hike and I did not have to do all of it. Lon did the entire mile. I waited for him about 1/2 way.  There was a couple from Australia that were also hiking that tiny trail. They said he was a wonderful little man.

Pretty

Lon wanted to see what the rock felt like. He said it pretty much felt like rock

Running ahead, this was the last thing he had to do before getting his Jr. Ranger Badge!!!

Jr Ranger Badge Number 20! He is learning a lot about the parks.

The view from the Visitor's Center at Colorado National Monument
We got gas in Fruita
Mileage 1664.8
gallons: 5.289 (wanted to make sure we had enough to get over the BIG pass)
Price: 21.26

Along Highway 70
We crossed over the Rocky Mountains at Vail Pass (just east of Vail) Elevation, 10,603 feet. It was high, but the road was bigger, wider and had guard rails.
We went through a long tunnel, the Eisenhower tunnel, I think. It was marked halfway through Continental Divide.
We pushed on to Colorado Springs. This was a bit too long, we had delays on I-25. Construction, and an accident. We did not get to our hotel till about 9pm. Driving in the dark with big rigs and construction in the dark is not very fun for me.  I am hopefully not going to be doing that again.
We got gas in Littleton, Co
Mileage: 1918.7
Gallons: 9.955
Price: 37.02

The only places left open for dinner were a barbeque place and applebees. We went to Applebees.  Lon ate his entire dinner so he got a dessert. He picked Chocolate Lava Cake.  I think he was happy with that.
Tomorrow we are going to drive though Garden of the Gods, then on to Bent's Old Fort. We hope to spend the night in Kansas near Dodge City.  Western History is up next, the fossil part of our adventure is over.

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.

Day 2: Doing the Right Thing

This morning we got up after a good night's sleep ready to hit the road!
Our first stop was going to be the John Day Fossil Beds. What a fun place. Rather out of the way, but very beautiful. We learned alot!

Leaving Prineville.
Starting Mileage: 528.3

More cows. We were seeing A LOT of cows

Getting closer to John Day Paleontology Center at Sheep Rock.  Amazing
It opened at 10 am.

We got to the center at 9:39. We thought it would be good to drive out to the National Monument.  There was a trail we did a tiny bit on called the Flood Of Fire. They did have signs up saying not to take any dirt, flowers, rocks or fossils.

Cathedral Rock. Lon wanted to know if the green as because it had a lot of copper in it. I said probably.

The Cant Ranch House. Sadly, this was closed. It was a house built in 1919.

Getting ready to get his Jr. Ranger Badge! #1 on this trip

He has his book! Lon is exploring the center, looking for the answers!

Lon was the only one in the center who was pulling out drawers looking at all the samples

In case you were wondering who John Day was. There is so much named for him, a river, a town, there is a boat launch, a bunch of stuff!

Getting the Jr. Ranger Badge! Now he has 16.
We were going to try to make it to the Hagerman Fossil Beds in Idaho, but due to slower traffic and a time zone change we did not make it. I think once they get the Minidoka Internment Center Park finished we will come back to see that. I want Lon to learn about that.  It is not a nice part of our history, but it is something he should know.

Old Barns. The Trip Through Time Scenic Byway was much easier than Over the Rivers and Through the Woods. I was wondering why  the pick up in front of me was only going 65. I was three car lengths back. Then I figured it out when he locked up his brakes as a deer ran in front of his truck.  I slammed on mine, no one hit anything.  I was then very fine going 60 miles an hour.  We saw a good number of deer today.  And a eternally sleeping porcupine. I was tempted to get some quills, but it was in the middle of the road.

These were the size towns we went through.
We got gas in Ontario Idaho. They pumped it for me, even though it was Idaho.
mileage: 796.9
price: 42.26
gallons: 10.516
Another day of no lunch, since it seemed like everyone went home for lunch. I did not see any place to stop and eat!  We were looking too. We are going to find a place to replenish our snack horde, as we have been eating it for lunch!

Getting closer to Twin Falls.  This was going to be our stop for the night.
However, we gave up the reservation I made to someone who needed it more.  There is a forest fire north of Ketchum, Idaho.  They are evacuating people, and those people need a place to stay.  We thought it would be a good idea to give up our reservation and go on down the road.
We called ahead to the Hampton Inn at lovely Tremorton, Utah.
We got gas in Burley Idaho. Before there was vast spaces of nothing but scenery.
Mileage: 1017.7
Gallons: 8.378 ( I wanted not to run out of gas on the way to Utah)
Price: 33.00

Lon took this picture out the back window. The sunset was amazing.
The motorcycles were keeping up with us, and we leap frog-ed the slow trucks.  We would wave at each other. Sometimes, they went ahead of me, sometimes I was in front of them.

Nice picture.  I think the pretty colors are because of the fire

From the front seat.
It was good we called ahead and got our room.  They ran out of rooms too. There were some other rooms in the town.
We used the pool and the hot tub tonight!  Lon was thrilled that Mommy took him to the pool!
He is now asleep
Tomorrow we go see the Golden Spike!