Captain’s Blog
Monday
August 31, 2009
Wow, we can hardly believe we h
ave been on the road for 90 days. It has flown by and we have been having a blast. It is great fun to get up in the morning and not always know where you will be sleeping that night. We have been to some great places and have seen so much that we’re in overload.
Today we continued toward Laramie, Wyoming and made a stop at the Fossil Butte National Monument.
“Three ancient great lakes existed in the region of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado 50 million years ago – Lake Gosiute, Lake Uinta and Fossil Lake, the smallest. All are gone today, but they left behind a wealth of fossils in lake sediments that turned into rocks known as the Green River Formation, made up of laminated limestone, mudstone and volcanic ash. The fossils are among the most perfectly preserved remains of ancient plant and animal life in the world.-----Fossil Butte National Monument preserves the butte and its invaluable, fascinating record of the past.”
The fossils on display were magnificent and without a doubt the best we have seen. They are so detailed that you can see entire skeletal structures, eye sockets and even the impressions of feathers. We were totally amazed.
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After watching a brief film on how the fossils are excavated we decided to take the 2.5 mile Historic Loop Trail hike that rises 600 feet to the site of a fossil quarry in the Green River Formation that was worked in the late 1960’s. 
Since dogs were allowed on the trail we decided to take Jewel with us. Unfortunately, about half the way up the Butte, Jewel developed problems breathing. She was really struggling and despite stopping and giving her lots of water she refused to climb another foot. It wasn’t hot but I think she dehydrated quickly due to her small body size despite us giving her water frequently on the trail. Ron carried her partway back down the trail and after about 15 minutes she was able to continue on her own. She really scared us and for a few terrible moments we though she might die.
Back at the MH she continued to breathe extremely hard for about one hour. Finally with rest and water she cooled and was back to normal. We never did get to the quarry but that was ok as long as Jewel was OK.
We drove for another two hours and spent the night at a rest stop along the highway out in the middle of nowhere. There was not another person there and it made us a little nervous. Ron had considered going down the road but there was nothing for at least another one-hundred miles. Finally some truckers and another camper pulled in for the night, so we had some company.
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