Day 287 Wed. 17th Aug Vernal to Walden 498km

The Dinosaur National Monument only opened at 9h00, so we had time to kill as some of the old men in this group wakes up at 5h00, so they except everyone to be up an about by 6h00. We decided to take a ride to Moon Shine Arch (yes, lets see more Arches.) The little gravel road woke me up very quickly when I did some spectacular slides in the soft sand, luckily I managed to save myself and save-face.

Sadly we got to the parking area of Moon Shine Arch where a foot-path disappeared over the hill, no indication how far we would have to walk, so we gave this a miss and rode to see Mollies Nipple, there we had more success and Molly was “punt in die wind,” sowing off her nipple.

We then went to the Dinosaur Monument where we had to pay and then got onto a shuttle that took us to the “Dig” where Follis Bones of Dinosaur’s were discovered in 1909. They started digging down and the deeper they went the more fossils they discovered. Many complete Dinosaur’s bones were discovered at this site. The bones were then sent to at least 20 different Museums where they are currently on display. I include a few photos of these. When they dug deeper they discovered many bones from many different dinosaurs, all just mixed together. They believe that a very big Drought killed many dinosaurs that were in the river bed where the last water was. Then yeas later there was a very big flood that killed more dinosaurs which were washed down-stream with those killed by the drought. All these dinosaurs ended at this section where they left them exposed for us to see, they just built a building over the site, called it the Quarry Exhibition Hall, which helps preserving the fossils.

All these bones were dated to be 149 Million Years Old.

While waiting for the Scuttle to go back I saw there was a message on the Blog from a Rex, telling me to tell Pie that there was a very special Studebaker on display and Pie should go and look as he also owns one of these rare cars. It was Roadster Four Seasons, (it had windows that could wind up and down, therefore it could be driven in 4 Seasons. So we changed our route for the day and drove to Rangley, a small town in Colorado, and went to the Auto Museum. But it was closed. A phone call later an appointment was arranged in one and a half hours time. I was not very eager to wait just to see a few old cars, but I am glad I did as what awaited us was a “Mind Blow” as the kids of today say.

In the entrance hall we were greeted by this beauty iconic bike:

This Bike with the seat in front of the rider might have been designed by a husband who had a “Back-Seat Driving” personality, with this design the poor wife caught all the bug and acted as a Air Bag in case of a crash.

The car above had a special Grill that would open-up automatically when it needed more air-flow.

Below is the Car Pie had to come and see, how beautiful is this car!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note this red “Pick-Up” above.

The blog is so full tonight I don’t need to give you details of our road today, so no photos of the twisty mountain road through the pine forests, or the sections where we crossed through farmlands and green grass and cattle and horses.

Tomorrow we head to Alliance.

Greetings Fellow Travelers.

Fleisch