Roadside dinos of Yermo, California

{.size-large .wp-image-11758 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="11758" permalink="http://svpow.com/2015/04/27/roadside-dinos-of-yermo-california/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg" orig-size="2200,2933" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" image-title="Peggy Sue's Diner-saurs – London with sauropod" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=225" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=768" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=113 113w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=225 225w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-london-with-sauropod.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

A couple of weekends ago, London and I went camping and stargazing at Afton Canyon, a nice dark spot about 40 miles east of Barstow. On the way home, we took the exit off I-15 at Ghost Town Road, initially because we wanted to visit the old Calico Ghost Town. But then we saw big metal dinosaurs south of the highway, and that's how we came to Peggy Sue's Diner and in particular the Diner-saur Park.

{.size-large .wp-image-11753 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="11753" permalink="http://svpow.com/2015/04/27/roadside-dinos-of-yermo-california/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg" orig-size="2448,3264" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" image-title="Peggy Sue's Diner-saurs – spinosaur" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=225" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=768" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=113 113w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=225 225w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-spinosaur.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

The Diner-saur Park is out behind the diner and admission is free. There are pools with red-eared sliders, paved walkways, grass, trees, a small gift shop, and dinosaurs. Here's a Spinosaurus – curiously popular in the Mojave Desert, those spinosaurs.

{.size-large .wp-image-11755 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="11755" permalink="http://svpow.com/2015/04/27/roadside-dinos-of-yermo-california/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg" orig-size="2448,3264" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" image-title="Peggy Sue's Diner-saurs – stegosaur" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=225" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=768" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=113 113w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=225 225w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-stegosaur.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

Ornithischians are represented by two stegosaurs, this big metal one and a smaller concrete one under a tree.

{.size-large .wp-image-11756 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="11756" permalink="http://svpow.com/2015/04/27/roadside-dinos-of-yermo-california/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg" orig-size="1600,1200" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" image-title="Peggy Sue's Diner-saurs – turtles" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=300" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=150 150w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=300 300w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-turtles.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

The turtles are entertaining. They paddle around placidly and crawl out to bask on the banks of the pools, and on little islands in the centers.

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The gift shop is tiny and the selection of paleo paraphernalia is not going to blow away any hard-core dinophiles. But it is not without its charm. And, hey, when you find a dinosaur gift shop in the middle of nowhere, you don't quibble about size. London got some little plastic turtles and I got some cheap and horribly inaccurate plastic dinosaur skeletons to make a NecroDinoMechaLaser Squad for our Dinosaur Island D&D campaign.

Now, about that sauropod. The identification sign on the side of the gift shop notwithstanding, this is not a Brachiosaurus. With the short forelimbs and big back end, this is clearly a diplodocid. The neck is too skinny for Apatosaurus or the newly-resurrected Brontosaurus, and too long for Diplodocus. I lean toward Barosaurus, although I noticed in going back through these photos that with the mostly-straight, roughly-45-degree-angle neck, it is doing a good impression of the Supersaurus from my 2012 dinosaur nerve paper. Compare this:

{.size-large .wp-image-11752 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="11752" permalink="http://svpow.com/2015/04/27/roadside-dinos-of-yermo-california/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg" orig-size="3264,2448" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" image-title="Peggy Sue's Diner-saurs – sauropod 1" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=300" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=150 150w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=300 300w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/peggy-sues-diner-saurs-sauropod-1.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

to this:

{.size-large .wp-image-4117 .aligncenter loading="lazy" attachment-id="4117" permalink="http://svpow.com/2011/05/23/the-worlds-longest-cells-speculations-on-the-nervous-systems-of-sauropods/wedel-rln-fig1-revised/" orig-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png" orig-size="2688,2456" comments-opened="1" image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" image-title="Wedel RLN fig1 – revised" image-description="" image-caption="" medium-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=300" large-file="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=1024" srcset="https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=480 480w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=960 960w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=150 150w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=300 300w, https://svpow.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/wedel-rln-fig1-revised.png?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}

If I had noticed it sooner, I would have maneuvered for a better, more comparable shot.

Guess I'll just have to go back.

Reference

Wedel, M.J. 2012. A monument of inefficiency: the presumed course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in sauropod dinosaurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57(2):251-256.