Day 10: June 22, 2019 Vistas Galore Comment via blog

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I'd read about an old style diner that serves breakfast so I headed there after checking out of the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't read the part about being closed on weekends. I drove by one other potential breakfast spot, wasn't impressed, and rolled on out of town. I soon realized that my chosen route, US-191, was not a good place to find breakfast -- or much of any sort of commercial enterprise -- but it was scenic and wiggly which made everything alright. That is indeed frost on the ground in the second picture. And not only did the road have frost, curves, and great views, today it had wildlife and snow although you have to look pretty hard to see the snow in the last picture.

I had been on the road about an hour and a half and crossed one state line before seeing my first business on US-191. Now in Utah, I entered the door with my sights set on coffee only to discover a row of empty dispensers. Apparently the word "restaurant" on the building is mostly decorative. The young folks ahead of me, who I took to be campers, were purchasing breakfast burritos kept warm by a heat lamp. I bought a prepackaged muffin which I washed down with some bottled water I had in the car after hurrying past the mud snail station.

There was another gas station and store right around the corner and I thought about checking for coffee but didn't. The Flaming Gorge Dam is right around another corner and I'm guessing that's why the first two gas stations I'd seen in more than fifty miles were almost on top of each other. After driving over the dam, I parked at the visitor center at its west end. Inside, I watched a short video about the dam and looked over displays about te dam, the reservoir, and the surrounding area. I was surprised to run into Bob Ausperger when I exited the building. I'd last seen him the night before at that informal final dinner. He and wife Joyce were on their way to Dinosaur, Colorado.

About half a mile later, I crossed over the arch bridge I had seen far below when approaching the dam. Before long I had a view of it from this side similar to what I'd glimpsed from the other. The extra informative yellow sign appeared a dozen miles beyond.

US-191 now passed through a few towns such as Vernal and Duchesne and even joined up with US-40 for fifty or so miles. These two cabins are about a mile and a half apart a little south of Duchesne. The second one is part of a small cluster of log structures.

I drove this section of US-6 eastbound back in 2009 and am happy to report that it is just as cool when traveling west. I really do need to drive the whole thing someday. Incidentally, the tunnels shown in the last picture are not the ones piercing the big outcropping in the next to last picture.

I would probably have stayed on US-6, if I'd given it some thought. Fortunately, I didn't and followed the GPS down I-15 and across UT-132 past a couple of cool surprises. Surprise number one was this set of charcoal furnaces at the north edge of Fishlake National Forest.

Surprise number two was, depending on your point of view, a used car lot, an overloaded repair facility, or an open air car museum.

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