Musing on Colorado

Back in 1996, I was headed to Montrose via I 70 and got a huge surprise when my 1990 Toyota 4 Runner could barely make it up the mountains. It had stick shift which helped a bit. I never researched why this happened but I traded the darn thing off ASAP!

In 1997 a friend and I were headed west on I 70 and got trapped on the highway since Bill Clinton decided to hold a big meeting in Denver. When all the poohbahs went to dinner the Secret Service ordered local LEOs to shutdown everything. What an insane mess.
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The oxygen gets thin high in the mountains and starves the engines. That is one reason a lot of people buy turbos here, they won't lose power.

That deal with Klinton was at The Fort restaurant which looks like an old adobe fort and is grossly over priced.
 
It must be you because the OP said he saw no sign of it during his visit. Nor have I in the three years I've been here.

I sure have. We stayed in the Hyatt House near the airport for six weeks prior to moving into our new house. We had our dog with us, and when I would take her out in the grassy area by the parking lot I found about a dozen pipes and lots and lots of empty marijuana canisters from the dispensaries. I guess people would partake of the legality while here, then just pitch the pipes and canisters prior to getting on the shuttle to the airport.
 
Thanks for the write up pharmer. The Colo. residents are understandably proud of their beautiful state, and most don't mind telling you some great places to see; that is, once they find out you are not planning to STAY ! I especially liked the San Juan mountains region.

I was at a rest stop/ information station in Rifle once and complimented the attendant on the spectacular scenery from Grand Junction to Denver, on a motorcycle.

Down her nose, at this lowly, crawling tourist she looked with utter distain, with the stated fact; "yes, it WOULD be GREAT, if there were not so many new residents moving here" !!

I worked for an international exporter, and with many years of hearing different accents and dialects, I have a hobby of picking up the regions where people are from.

When I detected a little "New Jersey" in her speech I nicely asked how long she had lived there. "Just under a year" did not surprise me.
Sometimes, those at the "LOCALS ONLY TABLE"... ain't !
 
I was at a rest stop/ information station in Rifle once and complimented the attendant on the spectacular scenery from Grand Junction to Denver, on a motorcycle.

Yes, even the rest stops are nice. This is Georgetown, around 8,000 ft elev.

We would have liked to raft down the Colorado but the river was angry, way above normal. Seemed like every morning news, another tourist or two drowned in the river. This is an hour before Georgetown and doesn't really capture the ferocity of the water.
Joe
 
Glad you enjoyed this place! Yes, avoid the raft trips right now, just lost 2 people from the angry waters: a friend of mine did CPR on one of the victims...

The State has turned into a commie place, for sure, but it's still beautiful, somewhat raw (in the right places) and needs to be respected.

Come on back sometime!
 
Back in 1996, I was headed to Montrose via I 70 and got a huge surprise when my 1990 Toyota 4 Runner could barely make it up the mountains. It had stick shift which helped a bit. I never researched why this happened but I traded the darn thing off ASAP!

In 1997 a friend and I were headed west on I 70 and got trapped on the highway since Bill Clinton decided to hold a big meeting in Denver. When all the poohbahs went to dinner the Secret Service ordered local LEOs to shutdown everything. What an insane mess.
QUOTE]

The oxygen gets thin high in the mountains and starves the engines. That is one reason a lot of people buy turbos here, they won't lose power.

That deal with Klinton was at The Fort restaurant which looks like an old adobe fort and is grossly over priced.


A bunch of use were riding back from the HOG ralley in CS that day, pulled into the Wedding venue next to the Fort to drop gear, we were out of the rain.

Between local LE on horseback, SS and scope flashes on the surrounding hills, you'd have thought we were an invading army.

What's going on ??? Clinton & Gorbachev are having dinner at the Fort, you best leave, NOW !

Wondered how many were scoping out the patches on my vest, glad they had good trigger discipline.
 
I absolutely fell in love with CO. My Son Terry and I drove his Jeep Rubicon from FL to NC to pick me up and then on to CO . We HAD to do the famous "Black Bear Pass". IT was a most beautiful scenic drive, but nothing like the off road challenge we were expecting. I could easily wear out a professional quality camera there! So many photo opportunities,so much beautiful country. For some reason Denver just rubbed me the wrong way and I didn`t like it at all- maybe too 'Liberal???
 

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I have driven a lot of the country with my family and in all honesty I have never been to any state that did NOT have some extradinary beauty to it. Everywhere I went I saw beautiful places that I could live in. I have not yet made it out west but I plan to. The next excursion will be flying in to Tampa and then road tripping down to Key west after a weekend at Universal studios. I next want to explore the gulf crook of Florida east of Appalachacola. After thatn I want to road trip up to Minnesota then over through the badlands. Maybe do that next summer. I don't bad mouth places except in jest. I loved Long Island the times I was thee. Marblehead is as pretty as it gets. The UP in michigan is wonderful just as is the gulf coast down around Port Aransas. Beauty comes in all different flavors. Hell, I even loved driving through the New Jersey Pine Barrens on the way to the coast to sail at Toms River. I really hope I don't run out of time before I see the west. Or Alaska. Or Tierra Del Fuego
 
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