June 22.
We’re visiting our fourth state—California, Nevada, Utah, and now Colorado. We have seen a lot of different terrain and covered over 1000 miles of the 3600 mile trip. Hard to imagine!
The road from Roosevelt to Dinosaur was pretty nice—hot, but a nice ride. We are mainly on Hwy 40, except for a little bypass to skip going through Vernal, Utah. I actually missed the turn and ended up in Vernal, but I missed the pink dinosaur that is, apparently, the town mascot. The terrain in Eastern Utah and Western Colorado is desert and canyons and river valleys. There isn’t much growing except where it is irrigated. You can get some pretty good pictures of rocky buttes or mesas, and of sedimentary rock.
I was starving by the time I got to Dinosaur. Apparently we have a new policy that we only have sandwiches at rest stops on century days (strictly speaking, days of 100 miles or more). Light snacks won’t do it for me, even on a 60 mile ride day. I had some beef jerky with me, but tried to go on without it. It didn’t work well. I finally had to stop and eat some protein. When I got to Dinosaur, people were asking me if I needed a cold drink, and I gobbled up a turkey and cheese sandwich. I felt much better after eating that sandwich.
After arriving in Dinosaur and being welcomed into the only church remaining in town, several of us (14 people in a 12 passenger van) took a field trip to Dinosaur National Monument back in Jensen, Utah. We arrived just in time to catch a shuttle to the area where dinosaur bones were first discovered by a paleontologist in 1909. They’ve built a building around the quarry wall, have models of some of the things that have been found in the region, and even allow you to touch some of the dinosaur bones. It was pretty cool. We got back to the church where we had a great dinner of spaghetti, bread, salad, and brownies. Everything tastes better when you’re really hungry!
Pics from the Dinosaur National Monument:
