Vernal,
July 26, Wednesday:
We had planned to stay another day or two, but left today for Vernal,
We drove north over the pass to Dinosaur, CO and stopped at the town’s visitor center to get more information about the area. We disconnected the car, left the RV in their parking lot, and drove the car over to 
We returned to the RV later afternoon and hooked up the car so we could continue on to Vernal, but the RV wouldn’t start. We called Good Sam and arranged for a tow truck to take us either to a campground or a shop. The tow truck operator was very good and took us directly to a shop in an industrial park just outside of Vernal. He towed the RV right to the parking lot in front of the shop where they gave us a 20 amp hookup so we could spend the night. The amperage was good for lights, microwave, TV, etc., but not enough for our air conditioner. It was warm, but we survived. We went to the only nice restaurant we could find in downtown Vernal to celebrate my birthday.
July 27, Thursday: Vernal, UT
The shop guy showed up late, but he really seemed to know his stuff. While they performed diagnostics, we drove over to the 
We started to take the 11 mile auto tour, but after a couple of miles, we decided we needed to talk to the shop guys, but our cell phone had no service. We abandoned the auto tour and returned to the shop. They found that the problem was a bad ignition switch – pretty much the same problem we had in the Great Sand Dunes and supposedly fixed in
After lunch, we toured the Vernal Dinosaur museum in town – brand new building and an excellent display. Lots of hands-on exhibits and life-size dinosaur replicas. 
July 28, Friday: Vernal, UT
Hooray, the RV part is in and the guys will see if it will work without having to replace the entire harness. We left them installing the part to do finish the auto tour we started in Dinosaur monument. At the end of the auto tour, we walked a couple of miles to petroglyphs and a cabin where a woman lived a secluded, totally self-sufficient life. She raised her own beef, crops, and everything else she needed, but she fell and broke her hip at age 90 and had to abandon the cabin.
When we returned, the RV was fixed and ready to go. We had lunch and drove over to the Vernal RV campground where we had a standing reservation. We did some grocery shopping and laundry.
After lunch, we drove the scenic route north to Flaming Gorge (reservoir) and then west to the 
The drive takes you through geologic time with road markers explaining the rock formations; past the 
The barren rock country gives way to pine and aspen forests near the gorge – dramatic changes in a relatively short drive.
After dinner, we went to the movies to see Pirates of the
