Ah, the Aroma of fresh bread

The first loaf from Cliff's hand ground wheat. This is differently whole wheat and very tasty. 

Making Progress

Serenity is went to A-1 Body Shop in Reno yesterday. They will try to have repairs completed by next Wednesday. A very nice turn around time.
It is great to be able to visit with my buddy Cliff while she is being fixed. Cliff is into baking bread and has bought a grain mill to grind his own whole wheat flour. It took him 15 minutes to produce 3 cups of flour.  I think it is more of an exercise machine.

Carson City, NV

I am at my friend Cliff's place.  The new tires, spark plugs and plug wires purchased in Laramie enabled me get here. Two of the plug wire were cracked, causing the missing.  I will take Serenity into Reno tomorrow for estimates on repairs. I have found 3 shops that do RVs. I am not the only one tired of break downs. Greg and Marilyn are also having a tough time.

It's not all sunshine and cool breezes on the road

The day started with a little vibration when pulling hills. I thinks Serenity's engine is missing. : (
Then the generator decides it does not want to run again. I am soooo frustrated with this intermittent problem. I call Cummins in Denver and make an appointment. First available spot the 30th.
Then last evening headed for Laramie the engine is missing big time. : ((
Then it happens, the dreaded blow out. Two left rear tire gone. The side of Serenity torn up. : (((((
I am out sitting on the side of I 80 in the dark. Luckily I have a cell signal on my phone and call road side service. An hour and a half later service arrives and puts on my spare and another tire they brought. I limp into Laramie 11 pm.
To Do List
Buying 6 new tires today
Get the engine fixed.
Find a body shop for repairs
HOPE that Cummins can find out what is wrong with the generator.

Buffalo, WY

Bills its self as "one of top 10 western towns" in the west. Art work around town depicts the western theme.

Jenkins family home built in 1916

Headed up to Crazy Woman Canyon in the Big Horn National Forest. 

Many businesses and geographical features in Wyoming are name Crazy Woman this and Crazy Woman that. Legend is that an indian woman was the soul surviver when her village was raided. She continued to live along the creek, now named Crazy Woman Creek, where her village was located and slowly went crazy. It further said that even today during a full moon you can see her ghost leaping back and forth across the creek.

Crazy Woman Canyon is a beautiful deep narrow canyon running down the east side of the Big Horn Nation Forest. (44.17968, -106.8822)

Powder River pass, looking west. 9666 feet.

Down the the west side along Tensleep Creek.

Nice spot to camp. (44.09409, -107.28932) There is a million dollar view out my windows. I love to camp on USFS land, its beautiful and usually free.

Generator Repair, Not

While on the dig the generator again had problems running the AC. Cummins in Gillette, WY spent all day Friday trying to recreate the problem I had. They removed the gen and bench tested it. They reinstalled it and test it further. They spent all day on it and could not make it fail. It seems to only fails when I am in the middle of nowhere and really need it. On the positive side, Cummins did not charge me for all the testing. A very pleasant surprise.
Heading down the road toward Buffalo with my fingers crossed. Headed for Crazy Woman Canyon in the Big Horn National Forest.

Triceratops Dig II

Pat is an expert fossil collector and camp cook for all of Barbara's digs

This is Pat's truck. Pat has attitude in spades

These are macro fossils that Pat collected from ant hills. These fossils tell you what the paleo-environment was 65 million years ago. In this case there are turtle & amphibian bones/teeth and fish scales. This was a coastal environment much like the Louisiana coast of today. Pat has a very trained eye to be able to pick these fossils out all the small rocks on the ant hill

Mike is creating a site map

After the bones are exposed, you dig down around the bones leaving about 4 fingers width of matrix around the bones. 

Next comes the toilet paper. Lots of TP. You put is on wet and push it into all the nooks and carnies. The TP make it easy to separate the bones from the plaster jacket.

All TPed and ready for plaster

Burlap soaked in plaster is next applied to the top and sides.

Identification comes next 

Some of the bones with their top jackets

Next the bones are under cut so you get a mushroom type shape. Then you roll it and hope the bones don't fall out the bottom.

Rock is removed from the bottom until you reach bone.

Then the bottom is jacketed. 

The large and fragile frill gets extra attention and support from 2x2 lumber added to the jacket. 

All hands on deck for the flip. A complete success

This Triceratops horn, not from our dino, was found a short distance away.  

Very carefully exposing the horn

This is the tip of the horn and about a 1/4 of the full length.

A great time was had by all. 

Triceratops Dig

Dig site is located in the Thunder Basin National Grassland of Wyoming. The fossil is deposited in the Hell Creek formation and is 65 to 70 million years old.

Dig site

In the center, humerus on left and scapula on right

Humerus on left, scapula on right

Everybody looking for bones

Yeah, I found a bone the first day. It was never determined which bone it was.

My bone was cracked, but no problem. We glue them together with Paleo Glue.

Mike, USFS paleontologist, applies the glue. Also all the bones get covered with a solution of plastic dissolved in acetone. The liquid seeps into the bones, acetone evaporates and the plastic helps hold the fragments together

And presto, it is whole again

Day three part of the frill was uncovered. Very exciting. This is about a 1/4 of the entire frill. Part of it had been recovered last year. 

Barbara, USFS paleontologist and leader of the dig working around the scapula. 

Barbara uncovered the Triceotops' horn. 

A tooth from a Theropod dinosaur, probably feeding the the Triceratops. 

These are Triceratops teeth. They have hundreds of teeth set several rows deep. As teeth wear out, new ones move forward to replace them. Much like a shark

To be continued