Day 78 Mile 1286

Setting up my tent last night I was so distracted from reality by the awe inspiring milky-way sky with (sans city lights) that I did not think about where the sun would be rising from in the morning and as a result had zero shade and had to get out of the tent at like 6:30. Pulled out my sleeping pad and bag and found shade behind Toms house and half slumbered until JP also got up and started preparing for our days Dinosaur excursion. We were meeting Nolan and his son Zack at Stan’s Ranch where we would trounce all throughout the canyons and dried up river beds and hammer and brush into the ancient exposed layers of our Earth’s crust. JP (Jean Pierre) came out to Wyoming from Lexington Massachusetts and just fell in love with the wide open space, canyons, and the abundance of Dinosaur fossils. He is a Paleontologist and works at the college of Wyoming. He has been taking people out on digs for years. Nolan and Zack actually had their first dig with JP five years ago and decided to that on their summer vacation this year they would meet up with JP again and go on another adventure. We went way out into the middle of nowhere in north-eastern Wyoming. We could see the black hills of South Dakota off in the distance. We met Nolan and Zack from Milwaukee and headed off to our first of three dig sites. Zack goes to the University of Wisconsin where he plays trumpet in marching band and is hoping that UW’s football team will push on to the finals this year so that he can travel out to the Rose-bowl. The three of us tore up the back county roads and and arrived overlooking a canyon. JP gave us our chisels, hammers and brushes and off we went down into the gullies. We started chiseling into the layers from the late Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. This area was actually a coastal region back then as Nebraska was submerged in the sea and only as the middle country rose and the sea levels fell did Nebraska become dry land. The Triceratops and Tyrannosaur-Rex were the largest dinosaurs in this region and several have been found. We were also looking for the teeth of Hydrasaurs, and reptiles like Crocodiles. The most common dinosaur out here is the Chunk-o-saur... a chunk of unidentifiable dinosaur bone mass. up and down and in and out of the canyons we roamed occasionally stopping to work an area that we felt was promising. I found chunk-o-saur, and several teeth from hydrasaur. I also excavated prehistoric turtle shell and work very carefully to remove it from the rock bed with out it crumbling to dust. I would apply a special solution that would soften the soil around it and bond the bone together loosely so that I could brush away the sand stone and rocks from around it. Nolan and Zack were a great father son combo and got along so well and were just a joy to go trekking with. JP is very kind hearted and has a great sense of humor and can identify bones on site. Zack and I cut up and ate some of the Pear Cactus and struggled to pluck the little pricklys from our fingers. The Cactus is juicy and delicious with a great consistency... Zack had the idea of make a guacamole out of it and I think we should give it a try. All around on our trek I road rough rider all curled up on a burlap sack in the back of the suburban with all our gear around me as the truck bounced and rocked over the uneven terrain... yeeha! At out second dig site I climb up top a lone faithful sentinel stone and balance a stack of rocks. I started with the little ones at the bottom and put the big ones on top... counter-intuitive but it allows for more subtle adjustments to the balance and creates a more interesting and challenging project:-) As I explored I also studied the different kinds of dessert vegetation. I found five different varieties of sage and I would feel the texture, smell the leaves, and examine the visual attributes of each, as I got in touch with this most sacred of native plants. The Native Americans knew of the healing and guiding wisdom which is the nature of sage. I just read the book Sacred Sage Spirit Medicine by Silver Wolf which I highly recommend. At the third site, I found a perfect natural rock chair and sat overlooking the canyon and my friends excavating below. Cleared my mind and sat bewildered by the silence. Absolute silence... so silent that your brain hears an imaginary hum or perhaps that is the sound of silence and stillness in the eardrum at its natural un-stimulated frequency. Water... I never drank so much water in one day... the air was so very dry... the next time I blew my nose there was dried blood. Buffalo were the primary livestock on Stan’s farm and we were sharing their pasture. We drove threw their herd on our way out. On the way back to Lusk JP filled me in on the culture, attitudes, lifestyle, economy, and politics of Wyoming. The Ranchers are the cultural heirs of Wyoming and are no non-sense firm decent folks... The younger generation however... what do they stand for and strive for? JP says that their only concern is raising enough money to buy their next big truck. Casper Wyoming is also the first Town to be afflicted by the nationwide epidemic which is Meth. We all were over-ready for food by the time we got to the Lusk Truck Stop Cafe. Zack however, almost forgot to eat as he was so into cataloging his bones, teeth, and scales:-) I enjoyed the Garden omelet with lots of hashbrowns and a side salad. We all exchanged our contact info, JP took me back to my campsite and we bid farewell. Thank you so much JP for your kind invitation and the wonderful experience.