24 May - Road Trip Day 3

Today was to be the longest day of the trip outside of that miserable day of Sunday when will have to return to the ho hum life of normal working stiffs. We had about 250 miles to drive and needed to be in Moab in time for a “full circle” dinner at the condo that Too Tall and Guitar had rented for the week.

The day dawned in fine style with the sun rising over Split Mountain across the Green River from our camp site. I arose at about 5:30 am….just because.

A cup of joe, a breakfast burrito and a little oatmeal and I was set for the morning. The bride was up by 6:30 and we were on the road again by 8:30. I’m really starting to wonder about the bride, she is being a trooper on this trip and seems to enjoy it as much as I do. Have I finally broken her bonds to the Ritz Carlton/champagne brunch persona?………….Nah. Just lucky this trip I suspect.

It was a very interesting ride down highway 191 from Vernal to Moab. Vernal is a very interesting town that merits another trip for exploration but this day we didn't have the time. Some rolling country side with green grass and trees everywhere. Some mountains and coal mines and some typical Utah butte and sandstone formations. This is the west! Life is good!

We arrived in Moab at about 4:30 got Bivouac set up and we got cleaned up and proceeded to dinner with the circle. Too Tall and Guitar had rented a very nice condo on a golf course on the south side of Moab. We six had rented a similar condo in years past and always enjoyed the location.

Dinner consisted of tri-tips, spinach casserole and some type of sweet potato casserole that should have been labeled as explosive material for the amount of whiskey “seasoning”. Very good stuff! As usual, great food, great conversation and great friends. A short walk after dinner and we were all ready to call it a day and get ready for Friday’s four wheel trip.

Thanks for visiting.

23 May - Road Trip Day 2

It must be the country air, or the fact that the bride was in bed shortly after it got dark at about 8:30 pm. She was actually up and ready at about 7:30 this morning. I awoke at my usual very early hour and was making coffee by 6. After eating a quick breakfast we were “on the road again”.

Today’s journey took us on some little traveled highways and to add to the mix it’s mid week. There was hardly any traffic at all on the roads. My kind of road trip!

About 60 miles up the road we passed thru Rangley. A true “rural” town. The only sign of homogenized America, aside from the gas stations was a Subway sandwich shop. We stopped for gas there and consulted with the map and literature I had about Pintado Canyon. We decided to try to see 3 marked sites that contained Archaic Indian petroglyphs. While these are marked they are not very well known which is exactly the kind I like to seek out!


Driving down Hwy 39 we missed the first two because they weren’t marked very well and decided to go to the furthest down the highway, see those and work our way back. The 3rd was actually the best one with several sites connected by a marked trail. The day was gorgeous. Clear, 60 degree, slight breeze, Colorado gorgeous. The site had a great little parking lot that made it easy to pull into with Bivouac. Some pictures here will tell the story better than words can.



After about an hour of exploration we made lunch in the trailer and headed for Dinosaur, Colorado. Dinosaur, Colorado. What can I say. I’m thinking it’s The Little Town That Couldn’t. I’m thinking some speculators and real estate types tried to build the place up in the 60’s when Dinosaur National Monument was formed. There were lot’s of,,,well,,,lots. I mean lots as in a square of land. These lots looked like they were set up as mobile home lots or camping grounds. Concrete pads, electric hookup boxes, all overgrown and in a state of decay. Now there wasn’t just one of these. I counted four quickly and we didn’t look all that hard. Much to my happy surprise the town was also filled with old trailers. Old trailers as in “canned hams” that are the prize for those who seek old trailers. I am one of “those”. Here’s some pics.

From Dinosaur it was a short drive to the Utah side of Dinosaur National Monument where we intended to camp for the night. We were planning on really roughing it here because they had no electric or water hookups at this campground. I was going to have to play pioneer camper and break out the generator so we could use the microwave! The campground was very nice in spite of the fact that we didn’t get electricity or water.

We spent the last part of the afternoon on a self guided tour of the area which included more Indian rock art and seeing deer, wild turkey, birds, lizards and knock-out scenery. Barbeque ribs, potatoes, peas and pearl onions for dinner and I am going to be G O N E as in destroyed, wiped out, fast asleep until the golden hours of tomorrow morning when we head for Moab. Tomorrow is the longest day of driving with 230 miles to go so come back and see how we did.























Thanks for visiting.