Dinosaur Bones, Rocky Mountain Breakdown, and Looking East

May 22, 2017

The weather was holding so we decided to descend from the higher elevations and head south to Dinosaur National Monument. We had visited here years ago with our daughter. We weren't so much interested in viewing the park again, but were attracted to the small campground along the Green River. By the time we reached the park, the riverside campsites were full, but we found a lovely site shaded by a large cottonwood tree.

Crossing the Green River to reach Dinosaur

Dinosaur camp

Our little oasis along the Green River

After lunch we drove to the visitor center and took the shuttle up to the dinosaur quarry. In the early 20^th century huge amounts of fossilized dinosaur bones began to be dug up from the site. As the magnitude of the find was realized a choice was made to leave part of the hill exposed with the bones left in place. A national monument was established and a building designed to enclose the hill. Entering the building we saw a jumble of massive bones embedded in the wall. Scientists speculate that during a drought dinosaurs died in this spot. Later flooding swept the bones along and the skeletons were entombed in the rock layers.

Dino petting zoo

Inside the building

Touching a Real Dino!

The Dinosaur NM viewing building

The bone wall

With time left before dinner we decided to drive down the dirt road to Josie Morris Cabin, an old remote homesite that Josie, a widow, worked alone for 50 years. We hiked up Hog Canyon, a slot canyon where she used to corral her cows. The trail followed a wooded streambed into the canyon with towering rock walls. Lovely for a shady late afternoon hike. Then back to the Green River campground for a quiet evening listening to the sounds of the river.

Josie's cabin

Slot canyon ideal for cattle corral

Up at the top of the canyon

Rock art in a nearby the canyon

Dinosaur National Monument had one more very large section, the Canyons area, that we wanted to explore. The next day we checked out of camp and drove back to the main highway and 25 miles east to Harper's Corner Road. We drove up onto a high plateau above the tree line. After a few stops to see the expansive views, we drove 31 miles to the end. A one mile hike brought us to the overlook where the Yampa River joined the Green River way below us. Spectacular! It was wonderful to discover that the park had more than the famous dinosaur bones.

The Yampa River on the right joins the Green on the left

The Green River heading west

Lizard trying to warm up on a cool day.

Scaled Quail

Another lizard!

We needed a place for the night, so we drove an hour east in Colorado to the tiny town of Maybell, population maybe 300? The town had set up campsites in the town park around the sides of the grassy playing field in the middle. We picked out a small spot under the cottonwoods again. They had a water spigot, a dump, but what we most wanted were real showers. We hadn't been in a campground that offered them for quite a while, and we were tired of our “Navy showers”. After nice showers, a good meal, and the final episode of “Centennial”, we settled in for a good night's sleep in the very quiet city park. We did have a thunderstorm during the night. It was a foretaste of extreme weather to come!

Western Colorado plateau

Maybell Town park

The next morning Greg walked over to Gramma's Kitchen for breakfast. The slogan on her sign read, “Eat here or we both starve!” He had her special breakfast burrito and lots of attention to his weak “Mormon” coffee, since he was the only one there. After he returned, once again, we had a decision to make as to where to go next! Southern Wyoming and Nebraska were looking not too interesting and possibly cold and stormy. We decided to do some exploring in the Rockies, if we could find open roads. Rocky Mountain National Park had one very cold campground open and only one road plowed, so we vetoed that. We decided to take what turned out to be a very scenic backroad Rt. 57 south from Maybell to Rifle and saw lots of pronghorn, various birds, mule deer, and a bald eagle on a fencepost!

Bald Eagle

In Rifle we rejoined I-70, found a Walmart and resupplied. We had a tentative plan to travel to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and then over the rest of the Rockies to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We both pulled up our Weatherbug apps and started to check weather, first for those two parks and then all over the Rockies. The weather was still going to be good for the rest of that day, it was after noon by now, but the next day a storm system was coming in and promised snow at the higher elevations. We were running out of time to make the distance we needed to cover before night fell and we would need to find a place to camp. We didn't want to get stuck in a high elevation area with a storm coming in.

We both wanted to travel down Rt 550 to Durango, a favorite town, in the southern Rockies, but didn't want to get caught high up in the San Juan Mountains. The fastest way over the Rockies looked to be I-70. We could make good time beating the storm and drop over a scenic route to Great Sand Dunes. The weather there was looking like there might be some rain, but Greg would have a chance to use his Fat Bike again. Regretfully we canceled plans for Durango and started the climb up on I-70. Staying on the west side of the Rockies wasn't an option either. We had a deadline to get back to Maryland by May 23^rd, so we needed to start heading east.

At 2 pm, just before Vail, an RV pulled up alongside us and the passenger was yelling and gesturing for us to move off the road. Greg rolled down his window and she yelled, “There is smoke coming out!” Greg quickly maneuvered onto the shoulder of an exit ramp. We both jumped out, Greg with a fire extinguisher in hand. Smoke was rolling out from under the hood and the smell of diesel was strong. Diesel was spurting out all over the engine and running out underneath as well. Greg called our Good Sam road service. At that point we were SO glad we were on an interstate highway with good cell service. We have a penchant for scenic backroads. If we had taken the road to Durango we would have broken down on a high elevation road in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal.

It still took Good Sam 4 ½ hours to get a wrecker to tow us into Denver over two hours away. Sprinter chassis are Mercedes-Benz and we needed to be towed to the nearest dealer. There was a lot of debate about what vehicle could handle towing us. We had a long uphill climb and a low clearance tunnel two miles long to get through before we were out of the mountains. One company asked if we could wait until the next day! His truck was already out on a call, and he needed to drive up from Denver. We said that we couldn't wait. In the meantime we were watching the storm come in. The temperature was dropping, the wind howling, and we were watching snow squalls on the surrounding mountains. Finally, Chris showed up from West Vail. A former Sheriff's Deputy from Las Vegas, he was an expert tower, and in his words, he “just loves to tow”. He got us moving by 6:30 pm. We rode into the Denver area with the three of us crammed into the cab with two and ½ seats. We arrived at Westminster Mercedes-Benz by 9 pm. Greg and I had a drink, dinner, and went to bed in the parking lot.

A late night was followed by an early morning. Greg awoke at 4 am when the garbage truck showed up! We left the rig in the service department's capable hands while we decamped to their well equipped waiting lounge. By 1:30 the rig was repaired. The fuel lines and various filters were replaced. A broken low pressure fuel line had spewed diesel all over causing smoke on the hot engine. Greg said that gas would have been a fire risk, but diesel was not as bad. What happened to us apparently was not unusual. Our next dilemma was where to go for the night. The late winter storm system was predicted to become bigger, snowier, and colder by the morning. Denver was getting ready for snow and freezing temperatures. We set our sights for Pueblo far enough south down I-25 along the front range to be on the fringes of the storm. We would probably have wind, rain, and cold, but no snow.

Camp at Pueblo Lake

We gave up on Great Sand Dunes since their forecast had changed to temperatures in the 20's and snow. We needed an electric hook-up so that we could run the space heater continuously if needed. Pueblo Lake State Park looked good, so we settled in for three nights on the reservoir to ride out the weather before making the run east and back to Maryland. We had a beautiful view of the lake and marina and snow capped mountains, including Pike's Peak, on three sides. Our two days and three nights brought us high winds, thunderstorms, hail, sleet, rain, and cold temperatures. East of us tornadoes were roaring through Kansas across our future route. We stayed until the weather cleared and on Saturday morning the 20^th drove out of Pueblo for the flat prairies of eastern Colorado, and Kansas.

Today is Monday the 22^nd. We have been in a fair weather bubble as we cross the country. After following US 50, a much more interesting route than I-70, we eventually connected up with it in Kansas City, Missouri and it is our “automatic pilot” route back to Maryland and family. Two nights at Flying J's and tonight at Cabela's in Wheeling, West Virginia, will bring us back for a week's visit and then on to our summer workcamping jobs at Geneva Point Center on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire!

Kansas

Crossing the Mississippi