I tried again to set the Wayback Machine to 2024, but once again I was thwarted. I wasn’t sure exactly where or when I was, but I soon heard stomping through the underbrush, and then this critter emerged:

It’s not a very good picture, but it’s obviously a Corythosaurus! A sort of duck-billed dino that lived 75-77 million years ago in what is now (or will be — time travel is tricky with words) 2024 western North America. He came tootling along, air making odd noises through the strange crest on its head. I knew it was a vegetarian critter, but as it approached I was still terrified! I ran for a tree and climbed up, which is from where I took this picture.

It approached closer and closer, and I thought I was doomed for sure when I heard a strange whirring and chopping noise below me. A flash of light, and then my pal George appeared in his Victorian time machine!

“Hop in!” he cried. “It’s an emergency!”

“I can’t!” I replied. “I have to get the Wayback Machine to Mr. Peabody and Sherman!”

“There’s no time! We much leave at once!”

George was always a bit dramatic.

The corythosaurus was wandering away at that point, probably startled by George’s sudden arrival, and I came back down the tree. George’s machine only had one seat, and I am not a small person, so when George started it up, it was a tight squeeze.

One more push of the lever and George’s time machine whirred into action, and we were on our way home.

Or so I hoped…

…to be continued in tomorrow’s Holidailies…