Douglas Pass, Colorado
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Time | Event | Range Remaining |
9:37 am | Departed Grand Junction | 233 |
11:47 am | Arrived Dinosaur National Monument Canyon Entrance | 109 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.11
Conditions: Hot
We drove from Grand Junction north on highway 139 through Douglas Pass,
a windy road through
the Green River formation, to reach
our first stop this day at Dinosaur National Monument.
We stopped by the Visitors Center at the Canyon entrance first
to pick up Junior Ranger books for my children.
The Canyon entrance leads to many views and adventures, but because of limited time today
our focus was to get to the Fossil Quarry.
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But before we go this was a good time for lunch, so we went to
Dinosaur, Colorado, just two miles away to enjoy the one diner it had.
My children began some of the Junior Ranger activities here while we waited for our food.
After lunch we continued west, crossing into Utah.
This National Monument straddles two states.
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Dinosaur National Monument, Fossil Bone Quarry
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Time | Event | Range Remaining |
1:51 pm | Departed Dinosaur, Colorado | 106 |
2:35 pm | Arrived Fossil Bone Quarry Visitors Center | 86 |
Range/Distance ratio: 0.74
Conditions: Downhill, 97°F
Now that we were on the Utah side, we entered the Fossil Bone Quarry of
Dinosaur National Monument.
Here the park provides a tram up to the actual quarry, otherwise
we would have to hike up in the heat.
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This region has long been a treasure trove of fossils, but
the presentation of these fossils is unique here in that the hillside itself is
enclosed in a huge air-conditioned building
specifically design to allow anyone to view these fossils up close
and see them the way paleontologists might discover them, except for the heat.
This is what we really came for today.
My children, especially my son, diligently and enthusiastically completed their Junior Ranger books here.
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Vernal, Utah
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Time | Event | Range Remaining |
3:34 pm | Departed Dinosaur National Monument | 79 |
4:51 pm | Arrived Vernal | 55 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.14
Conditions: 103°F
We checked into the Springhill Suites in Vernal, Utah.
However this is the first place on this trip that
is not on the Tesla Destination network.
I first found on PlugShare the
Fossil Valley RV Park
offers to charge electric cars in Vernal.
The PlugShare description of this site showed it was common
for travelers like ourselves to book a night at the nearby Springhill Suites and charge here.
Cost to Charge: $10
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I can confirm in the PlugShare description that the operator of the Fossil Valley RV Park is
very knowledgeable about the needs of electric cars.
It was certainly the best place to charge for hundreds of miles
and made possible our visit to Dinosaur National Monument.
I'm glad they provide this service, and they've got a good thing going
at least until a few enterprising hotel operators in Vernal join the Tesla Destination Network.
While the car charged at the RV park,
the children and I enjoyed the pool and had
dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant
before turning in for the night.
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Dean E. Dauger holds a Ph. D. in physics from UCLA, where his group
created the first Mac cluster in 1998. Dr. Dauger is the award-winning
author in multiple American Institute of Physics' Software Contests and
co-authored the original, award-winning Kai's Power Tools
image-processing package for Adobe Photoshop.
After founding his company,
Dauger Research, Inc., its debut product,
Pooch, derived from Dr. Dauger's experience using clusters for his
physics research, was soon awarded as "most innovative" by IEEE Cluster
and continues to revolutionize parallel computing and clusters worldwide
with its patented technology.
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