paleololigo

Field Work Travelogue – Day twenty-four

All I can say is this: 586 miles to go. Then I’m home. My own bed.

Got through Iowa and Illinois today. Reconnected with I-90. Feel like I’m practically home.

I know I’m not home, but I will be soon.

In the meantime, last night I uploaded photos from the trip to Flickr, including this photo of the local ponies that roamed in the Uinta Basin.

Field Work Travelogue – Day twenty-three

It was a travel day. Day two of four from the Uinta Basin to Rochester.

Today I spent all day driving across Nebraska. 534 miles. That’s a respectable day’s drive. Only 1077 miles to go. Only.

Some Nebraska highlights:

I drove past the Archway again... — I drove past the Archway again…

I still am impressed with the skills of cropduster pilots!

Tomorrow’s goal: to get past Chicago. Think I can do it? Let’s see!

Field Work Travelogue – Day twenty-two

Erhmahgherd! I need to blergh!

Today we broke camp and began the long voyage home. No photos today. All driving:

Dinosaur, CO
Craig, CO
Steamboat Springs, CO
Rabbit Ears Pass
Winter Park, CO
Berthoud Pass
Realization we missed a turn
Two hours longer than expected and we finally arrived for the night in Wellington, CO.

Now for dinner, an adult beverage, and sleep.

Field Work Travelogue – Day twenty-one

Today was the last day of field work. Only a partial day, but a worthy one.

We got a little lost looking for a locality, so we decided to spend some time prospecting where we were.

I found another fine specimen of Bovisassist primaevus, though not as nice as the one found earlier in the trip.

I also found a lovely fossil turtle, that we later jacketed.

Now we’ve broken down most of camp and are ready to leave in the morning.

Tonight, we’re having dinner at Vernal’s finest dining establishment, Golden Corral.

Then to bed for an early start in the morning…

Field Work Travelogue – Day twenty

The last full day of field work. Tomorrow is a partial day, then we’ll break camp. It’s kind of sad.

The day started with some difficulty. Apparently I ran over something on the way in last night.

Luckily, my colleagues had a tire patch kit and my little power pack was able to pump things all up again.

It was clean up day at our most-visited locality. We filled in some holes from jackets we collected, and quickly trenched and jacketed a couple more things.

This trench was a booger to dig. The rock was hard, and naturally the specimen was on a steep slope.

It was a rather desolate place to work, but I’ll miss being there.

There are still a few things to find, nevertheless.

The evening was wrapped up with cataloging all of the specimens we have collected.

And then the work really begins…

Stink Bug – Chapter 19

V’x kept lagging back, heavily favoring her right side. I tried to stay with her, encouraging her to keep up. She would flutter her wings and hop to speed up, but would soon slow again. K’eel squawked angrily every time we fell too far behind. Her patience was wearing thin.

“You OK?” I asked of V’x when I thought K’eel might be out of earshot. V’x ignored me, and we continued on in silence. We rounded a corner and nearly crashed into K’eel, who stood with her wings raised and her hands on her hips.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 19”

Field Work Travelogue – Day nineteen

I’m suddenly acutely aware that the field season is nearly over. Tomorrow is our last full day afield, and it will be filled with wrapping up unfinished business.

Today was fun, however. We visited a locality I hadn’t been to before. I found a big mammal jaw.

This only part of it. The rest is in this pile, I hope.

Then I found a fossil of Bovisassist primaevus, a very primitive relative of the Hamburger Helper glove-guy.

Then it was back to the same locality we’ve been visiting all this time. Here’s where a turtle (black bits) is exposed lying right on the contact between the lower green muds and upper red sands.

Now it’s beer thirty, and nearly time for dinner. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Field Work Travelogue – Day eighteen

Success!

A nagging problem we have had is that we haven’t been able to figure out which layer in this broad locality is the productive layer for fossils. Fossils can be found all over on the surface, but they are almost always broken up and spread out due to processes of weathering.

It would be nice to know where the fossils are coming from so that we can collect complete, pristine specimens, rather than bagging up bits of bones that we hope all go together.

Today, we finally pinned it down. Though vertebrate fossils may be found anywhere in the rocks, they are concentrated on the surface between the greenish beds and the reddish beds.