Happy: Take Your Dog To Work Day!

Hi!... I'm Happy... I'm always Happy... Today I'm happy because it's "Take your dog to work day"!

I'm a lucky dog because I go to work with Macgellan everyday! I'm sad for any dog who doesn't. Maybe your bosses will soon understand that it's better for everyone — canines, humans and their co-workers — if we're always together like we are meant to be!

Today was chore day for us, which is always one of my favorite days. Macgellan gets busy doing so many different things and it's really entertaining to watch him. Today's chores included updating our website, planning our next few days on the road, doing laundry and shopping for supplies, including some yummy new treats for me!

Macgellan said he just couldn't stand all the desert dust in our truck anymore, so another big chore was cleaning it out. I didn't really notice it was so dirty, frankly, but he's the boss! He started by using that noisy, evil vacuum machine I really don't like, but soon said some bad words and switched over to soapy water, rags and sprays.

Here's a picture of me at work under our camper while he was using the evil machine, and another of me at work outside on the grass while he was using the quiet, nice smelling stuff.



Macgellan said something about the desert dust being bad enough, but a whole second dog's worth of fur was just too much. That didn't make any sense to me at all, because I'm the only dog who ever rides in our truck. Sometimes he says the funniest things!

Anyway, if you ever want a spokesdog for a "Take your dog to work everyday" campaign, just let me know. That's a cause I could really get after!

US Hwy 191: Dinosaur Land — Part 2

A few miles east of Vernal, UT, lies the Dinosaur National Monument, originally just an 80-acre site dedicated to preserving an unprecedented discovery of dinosaur fossils. Accordingly, an informative visitor's center and a fascinating quarry exhibit are located near the Monument's entrance. They're both worth an extended visit, but they're not the key features of this report.

The bigger and better story is the surrounding geology, the importance of which was later recognized and prompted the Monument to be expanded by 200,000 acres. I'm not one to "bury the lead" so here it is: In this single photo, you can see rock dating from over 4 billion years ago when the earth first started to form, right up to a few million years ago that's just an eye blink in geological time.



Through a unique combination of deep geological forces that pushed ancient rock upward by many thousands of feet and surface river forces that eroded it in deep wide trenches, every age and stage of rock is visible. As usual, photos don't do it justice, but you can see there's a lot going on here:



Even within one general type or era of rock, much finer details of geologic time can be seen. In this photo, those variously colored bands of sedimentary rock reflect what was going on in earth's history during remarkably short periods. To have that much history so readily accessible is astonishing.



Geology may be the lead story here, but anthropology is a close second. Humans have been living here for over 10,000 years and have left many priceless artifacts for study. In numerous places, modest shelter spaces have been found that display petroglyphs over 1,000 years old.



As you can see, the Monument is sparsely populated by visitors, making it easy, quiet and pleasant to explore on one's own. The "dinosaur crowds" stay mainly at the entrance facilities while the rest of us explore a well-documented 10-mile road deep into the landscape.



Dinosaur Monument is an under-appreciated resource that especially appeals to the thinking person. It takes a lot to get your head around the geologic scope and timeframe. It takes a lot to look at petroglyphs and sort out who did what and when. I haven't even mentioned the ecosystem diversity of Montane forest, semi-desert, shrub-steppe, woodlands and wetlands.

If all that isn't enough to give your brain a workout, the area also offers an engaging array of history and heritage. Settled early in the pioneer days, there are numerous sites of interest. Because of it's proximity to three state borders, the region was popular with outlaws who were evading the law. Characters of all kinds left their mark here, just waiting to be explored.

One such character was a local legend named Josie Morris. Born and raised in the northeast corner of the state, as a young woman she moved to the area and settled in a small, idyllic plot that is now within the Monument. At the end of the road you can visit her homestead, complete with gardens, outbuildings and the last of several cabins she built for herself.



Her legend includes a colorful history as a gracious hostess, helpful neighbor and sometime cattle rustler and game poacher. Throw in some bootleg whiskey trade for good measure and you get the gist of it. The site's documentation is engagingly informative and ends with a poignant question: "Could you see yourself living here alone, without electricity, for 50 years?" My answer, frankly, is in the affirmative.

That wraps up the exploration I've done in the area for this visit. With so much besides dinosaurs to offer, you can bet I'll plan to spend more time here in the future, when I drive US40 which goes right through Vernal... Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Dinosaur Land — Part 1

Don't let the tacky dinosaur statue on the road leading into Vernal, UT, give you the wrong impression. It's actually a charming little town that's pleasant to be in for a couple of days.

Vernal is the largest town in the Uintah Basin of northeast Utah. Unlike many small towns I've been through on my road trips, it has a tidy, lively main street that's well appointed with greenery, flags, furnishings and a few thoughtful, tasteful memorials.

With a population of about 10,000 it merits a number of chain restaurants and box stores — including, of course, a Walmart — but it doesn't have that semi-urban spread that's often so sterile and depressing.

Vernal doesn't have much in the way of ethnic diversity, actually none that I could see. What it does have is plenty of kids, an average of 4.5 per family by my informal census. (Note: There may be a local reason for this statistic.)

Calling the area "Dinosaur Land" is a nice piece of marketing, but it fails to give credit to the area's other, equally significant attractions. The Uintah Basin is a truly remarkable -- even astonishing -- geological site, but it's hard to get people pumped up about rocks. Similarly, this is a very significant anthropological, historical and cultural area, but those topics just don't have the sizzle of dinosaurs.

Accordingly, the town's major attraction -- the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum -- is known far and wide simply as "The Dinosaur Museum."

It's atrium is dominated by a life-size dinosaur skeleton, clearly setting the tone of the facility.

There are ample displays, both large and small, with very good explanations of every aspect of dinosaur history and research.

They range from simple, fun, "kid-oriented" attractions to much more detailed, in-depth catalogs and comparisons for thinking people.

If it's about dinosaurs, it's there.

What's also present, thankfully, is some very useful contextual information about the area's geology. The only reason that the area's dinosaur fossils are so accessible is because of its geologic history.

Through an astonishing series of coincidences and events, the entire history of earth is observable at the surface within a very small radius around Vernal. Maps of rocks may not have the same appeal for many that dinosaur bones do, but for some the bigger picture is more interesting and rewarding. (Note: I'll share a lot more about the geology in my next, "Part 2" post!)



Nevertheless, it's the dinosaurs that rule the museum, both inside and outside in the gardens.

It's fun to wander around and wonder what it might have been like a hundred million years ago.

If you're especially lucky -- like I was -- you will be treated to a loud oration by a woman telling her kids to ignore all the nonsense about millions of years, because she has read that the earth cannot be more than ten thousand years old.

There's a lot more to report from my local exploration… Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Out Of The Desert

North of Moab, UT, US191 is a benign but unattractive roadway. It could just be that I was tired of the desert scenery, but I don't think so. About 30 miles north, US191 joins I-70 going west for a 20 mile stint. This isn't a very attractive piece of road either, but it had a touch of nostalgia because it is also shared by my old friend US50 through this stretch. Been here, done this!



Turning north again when US191 splits from I-70, the scenery improves a bit, but not a lot. What was a very pleasant surprise was an outside temperature in the mid 60's!



For about 70 miles, US191 is co-signed with US6, another great old highway that's on my someday list. Just past the town of Price, UT, the two routes deviate and US191 starts a very long, very steep uphill slog to a pass over 9,100 feet. As usual, the photo doesn't do justice to how steep it was!



I continue to be impressed with how my little F-150 and its EcoBoost engine pull my camper. We held our own quite well in a line of trucks and were rewarded with a pretty fantastic view at the pass.



What goes up must come down, so over the next 20 miles we gave back most of our gain. That doesn't take long on an 8% grade, but the views were nice and gave hope of greenery in our future.



We then cruised into the Uintah Basin. The combination of cool temps — topping out at a delightful 66 degrees! — and relatively lush greenery made it a very pleasant and welcomed sight.



I've stopped in the town of Vernal, UT, where a few points of interest are on my exploration list for tomorrow… Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Arches National Park, Moab, UT

Arches National Park is a stunningly beautiful place, a battlefield between geology and meteorology. The result is immense, stellar formations of sandstone, once thrust up from below by deep geologic forces only to be perpetually beaten and carved from above by wind and rain.

The land is constructive, the sky is destructive. Mother earth creates, father sky molds and shapes. The allegory practically writes itself.

The park is named for its iconic arches, of which it is by far the largest collection in the world.



Far more numerous — and no less beauteous — are thousands of monoliths, easily seen from afar or inspected more closely from roadside turnouts. To a few, walking paths give direct access.




I was here 32 years ago during a road trip with my friend Ken. We camped and hiked extensively throughout the park, and I was blessed to be the beneficiary of his vast geological knowledge.

The rock formations may be ever changing on a geologic time scale, but they look the same to me. That's undeniable evidence of temporal relativity. Time is different for vistas and visitors.



What does look very different to me is the park itself. When once we were two of a handful of people in the park, today there were hundreds, maybe thousands. Where once we had the access road to ourselves, today it was impossible to find a parking place in many of the viewpoint and trailhead lots.



Nevertheless, I enjoyed my return visit. Seeing what I'd already seen and knowing what I already knew, it was less of an exploration and more of a reunion. Like most reunions, it was less about observing how the rocks had changed and more about recognizing how I have changed. In that sense, it was a visit more internal than external, more meta-physical than physical.

Fresh off my reunion in Arches, I'm going to skip making a similar return visit to nearby Canyonlands. It's a good park, but my sense is that it would be anti-climactic to double-dip the nostalgia.

Instead, I'm going to bum around a bit in touristy Moab and do a few chores -- like try to get some of the wind-blown dust from the past few days out of my camper -- before continuing north tomorrow… Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Into Utah

You're still on the Navajo Indian Reservation when US191 north crosses into Utah. The view remains the same and you start to wonder -- at least I started to wonder -- if you'll ever get out of the desert.



About 30 miles north of the border, US191 crosses the San Juan River which marks the boundary of the reservation. Immediately on the other side, you're inspired by the prospect of better views.



For the next 100 miles north, the drive is a succession of ascents and descents -- some of them 6% grades or better -- amongst attractive geological surroundings with proper mountains in the distance.





I've stopped in the town of Moab, UT, a very popular tourist spot with two national parks -- Arches and Canyonlands -- to the east and west. I plan to stay here for a couple of days to check it out... Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191 — Detour: Four Corners USA

Approaching the Arizona-Utah border on US191 north, I noticed that "Four Corners USA" -- where AZ-UT-CO-NM meet at a geographical point -- was only 30 miles to the east. I couldn't remember if I'd actually been there before on one of my many cross-country trips, but I knew that Happy certainly hadn't and thought it could be a fun photo-op for her story. So, I decided to make the detour.

I should have known better the moment I pulled up to the entrance gate. But, you can't always judge a book by its cover, and the many people on site who paid $5 to get in couldn't all be wrong, right?



I parked my rig, woke up my dog and we walked to the monument. Right away I knew my plan was shredded. Happy's photo op at the four-corners point in space became a photo in front of the sign prohibiting dogs. In her lexicon of facial expressions, this one means "You woke me up for this?"



Simply for purposes of journalistic thoroughness, I took a photo of the point while an anonymous family -- one of dozens waiting in line for their turn -- posed to be photographed. Simply for purposes of exploration thoroughness, I looked around and realized the whole thing is really just a trinket bazaar, with literally dozens of stalls -- all with the same stuff -- arranged around all four corners.



The crown jewel of the establishment is the closed restroom, with emphasis on the word "still" in the explanation. Come back in a year -- or a decade -- and I'll bet nothing will have changed.

I can't say that "Four Corners USA" is the worst tourist trap I've ever been to -- I've been to so many around the world -- but I can report it is at least in the top ten. Still, it's a unique geographic point in the country, and probably can make a claim to be somehow unique in the world.

Something I've learned in all my exploration: If you don't go in, you can't find out. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't… Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Off The Reservation

Heading out of Canyon de Chelley this morning, I stopped at the Burger King to use their wi-fi internet and to get some grub for what I expected would be a long, desolate day on the road. As soon as I parked, I was "greeted" by a handful of middle-aged men who inspected my rig with somewhat discomforting interest, then told me they were hungry, asked me to buy them some food and offered to "watch" my rig for me.

I honestly couldn't tell if this was just a routine hustle or some kind of petty extortion, so I said I would then took care of my business in short order, bought a bag of sandwiches and handed it over on my out. Not another word was spoken as they took their booty and moved away. I'd like to think it was just a benign tourist hustle, but I'm still not sure. Better safe than sorry.

US191 north from there is a pretty rough road, poorly maintained and patched virtually everywhere. I set the cruise control for 45mph and made slow but reasonably low impact and steady progress. The greenery that I had enjoyed on the previous driving stint seemed to have substantially disappeared, but was replaced by some geological formations that looked to be right out of a western movie.







The route remained virtually the same for 100 miles going north, but changed abruptly -- and dramatically -- the moment I got off the reservation... Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Canyon De Chelly

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is a stunningly beautiful and significantly historic place. It's actually a complex of several latitudinally converging canyons, with the eponymous Canyon de Chelly being the largest. (Note: The panorama photo setting on my iPhone is my favorite!)



People have been farming the fertile valley and living among the cliffs here for over 5,000 years, from the ancient Anasazi through the Pueblo and Hopi to the modern Navajo.



In the early 1880's, consequences of manifest destiny resulted in "The Long Walk" relocation of thousands of Navajo. In 1868, a treaty was signed which allowed them to return to their original land.

North and south canyon rim drives — each about 20 miles long — offer numerous places to park and walk to stunning overlooks. We spent the morning on the north rim circuit, during which Happy greatly enjoyed many new smells but didn't think much of the constant wind or sheer cliff drop-offs.



At midday, the overhead sun really washed out the details of the rocks, plus the heat and wind were at their worst. So, we retreated to our tidy little campsite for some quality time and dueling naps.



Late afternoon we took full advantage of the sights along the south rim drive. It's virtually impossible to capture the spectacular views with my multi-purpose, all-in-one camera, but this shot of the crown jewel — Spider Rock — probably gives you a pretty good feel for what's to be seen.



It's been a good day, and we're looking forward to another quiet night in our primitive campground before continuing north in the morning… Stay tuned!

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US Hwy 191: Pioneer Mothers (And Others)

There's a nice little monument in Springerville, AZ, inscribed "Madonna of the Trail."

It claims to be a memorial to the pioneer mothers of the covered wagon days.

Looking more closely, one side panel claims it's a tribute to pioneers more generally who trod this ground and braved indian warrior tribes.

The other side panel seems to be an homage to Coronado who passed through in 1540.

So, while pioneer mothers have gotten top billing, others have horned in on the fun. No sense wasting valuable ad space, right?

You just never know what you'll find "out there" on the road… Stay tuned!

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