Day 12....the long story.

Day 12. May 31st.

This was my slower day. I was south of where I needed to be so I took my time.

The town I ended up staying at the night before, Manila, Utah, was
right on the edge of the Flaming Gorge reservoir. I stopped at the
Exxon for fuel and asked the lady at the counter and her husband about
where to get breakfast in this sleepy little town. They said there
wasn't anything other than a lodge about 3 miles away down towards the
lake in the 'park'. That didn't sound that fun but I headed that way.
Not 3 blocks down the road was the Villa Cafe. I guess the owners of
the Exxon own the Lodge so they send everyone there. The owners of the
Villa Cafe where not amused! You have to love small town politics!

After a great breakfast I headed south over the mountains toward Vernal, Utah.

I took the side trip down off the mountain down to the dam in the
bottom of the canyon. Highway 191 actually crosses the top of the dam
wall! I stopped off at the visitors center but was sadly informed that
the damn dam tours didn't start until tomorrow! ARG! I wasn't the only
unhappy person. A group of kids from local schools on a camping trip
didn't know that either. I did get to read all the stuff in the
vistors center and look at a lot of old pictures of the construction.
I will have to go back some day for the damn dam tour! The engineering
was pretty amazing. They diverted the entire river through an 1100
foot long tunnel that was 25' or so in diameter when they where
building the dam. Neat stuff.

Off over the mountains I went.

Vernal had fuel and I checked the levels on the transmission and
transfer case again just to make sure since it was getting hotter out
and I was pushing it a little harder on the highways. All was good.

I made a stop at the Dinosaur National monument. Neat stuff! The main
quarry is pretty dang amazing.

Shortly after getting into Colorado I found another section of road I
just flat didn't like. Highway 139 from Rangely to Fruita, Colorado
was just terrible. Its like the highway had 30 years of patches on top
of a road base that was the profile of a 'W'. The deep ruts tossed the
Willys around. The wheelbase didn't match up with anything. Neither
did the track width. Douglass Pass was tight, steep, and 3rd gear all
the way. I did find a HUGE boulder that had caved off the side of the
mountain in the road. Luckily there was a route around on the
shoulder. I think some of the motorhomes and semi's I passed on the
other side where going to have a hard time getting through...

I ended up camping up in the Colorado National Monument just outside
Fruita, Colorado after finding some great Mexican food. The road up
into the park is really cool. I tried to shoot a video of the drive
up. I will have to see if I can get it posted soon.

The camp spots where large but a little expensive. They did have
running water in the bathrooms with flush toilets. It was still WAY
cheaper than a hotel for the night! The weather was great. A clear
starry night. I couldn't complain. I even had cell service!