Mountains?.. You Call Those MOUNTAINS?

Many years ago, in 1976, Joe and I went to Vermont and passed by MT. Snow. 2,500 ft. I still laugh about that to this day.

Today, I drove across two MOUNTAIN passes in Colorado. One was 10,660 and the other, Eisenhower Pass, was 11,198 ft. Two miles high. I found out that I DO have a 3rd gear and I AIN'T AFRAID TO USE IT! Hoo boy... I talked to a biker at the rest area who had done the drive on the 'off' road and hit a pass that was 13,000 ft high. I told him about my van not liking the altitude, and he laughed and pointed at his 'hog' and said, "this thing is all carburetor " ha!

Not THAT'S a mountain. Or two...

Western Colorado is an extremely beautiful place. The road you see above is route 70 as it goes through the pass cut by the Colorado River. The mighty Colora... no wait, that's already taken... the CONSIDERABLE Colorado. The first time I went to Boulder Colorado, I was 21 years old (I've been doing this longer than I think) and there was no Highway 70. If you notice, the West bound lanes are slightly above and occasionally OVER the East bound lanes. This is only because of the depth of the gorge.. and the severity of the mountains. It must have been a helluva task. I wanted to take video of part of this, because to my right is the Colorado and mountains and to my left is the other side of the highway .. and mountains. It's a beautiful drive, but I needed all my attention skills to watch out for the Cookoo Coloradians going way too fast.



The Colorado River. It's amazing what a massive river can do for a state. Five miles after the border, there were trees and green and a totally different landscape. The red of the Colorado cliffs makes the Utah ones look slightly orange in comparison.

I drove by most some of the ski places... Breckenridge, Vail... beautiful little outposts in the middle of the Rockies. Each one modern and quaint (not an easy conjuncture). Then swooped down out of the clouds to Denver...

Puke..

Every time I take these trips, I am astounded once again at how HUGE is the U.S. Why is it we all live in 50 cities? I get it, but I don't get it.

East of Denver I'm in the plains states.. starting with eastern Colorado. Flat featureless Plains. So tonight I'm in the Strasburg (?) KOA on the road, of course with cicadas and traffic...

OH...

and the train..

sigh..



Aspen trees in amongst the green.

I'm sorry there aren't more mountain pictures, but there are not a lot of places to stop and it's not good to mess with the camera in the tight spots..

P.S. Just went outside and it's a warmish wind.... nicest weather yet, except the KOA person saw lightning in the clouds off to the east...

Works for me...

I think...