1 year anniversary mega-trip
The r-dub site has been online one year as of 5/12/06, and I thought it best to celebrate with another roadtrip. I planned this one out before leaving home, and just kept going until the batteries in my camera were dead and the memory card in my camera almost full. What I was left with was a ton of pictures and a car with an additional 720 miles on it. Okay, maybe this trip was a little too long...
I thought we were in the mountains! Where's the passes and the curving roads?
Alrighty then. Still headed west, and we're about to remember that we're driving in the mountains, well, kinda.
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End #14! Woot!
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At the intersection of US 40 and SH 134. The orange sign in the background says "Alt US 40/134 - 131"
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The first reassuarance shiled on SH 134.
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Since this is an alternate route to Steamboat, CDOT gives you the distance to it, even though 134 doesn't ever come close.
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Obviously SH 134 isn't too high on the "must maintain" list.
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The last few feet of SH 134. Again, no End sign.
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Ominous sign on US 40 west. The stop sign turns to face traffic when ...
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... this gate is closed.
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A close-up of the signs on the gate.
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Another distance sign. We could probably make Craig on this trip, but I'm not going to push it.
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40 travels alongside a reservoir.
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A CDOT staging area. There's nothing here but what you see.
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A good distance shot.
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Another sign that these roads aren't too high on the "must maintain" list.
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A random reassuarance shield.
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We've seen a lot of these signs today.
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Good thing that guardrail is connected to solid ground on both sides.
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We've been slowly climbing since SH 134. Now we see what we're climbing to.
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Abandoned buildings alongside a very narrow US 40.
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A rare sighting of a lone Bike I-76 reassuarance shield.
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What's this? Another end? Yup. #14 today, to be exact.
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Approaching our next end. Walden lives in North Park.
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The car is turning onto SH 14.
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And so have we.
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Returning to US 40.
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The last few feet of SH 14.
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SH 14 has the capability of being closed in times of extreme weather, too. Although it seems to me to be counterproductive to close a state highway at a US highway that's probably already closed, too. After all ...
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... SH 14 does end at the summit of a pass. Hmmm... how many other state, US, or Interstate highways end at the top of a pass?
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I think this region of CDOT has a fear of End signs.
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Back on WB 40. Seems to me like all traffic better keep right ahead, wouldn't you think?
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In five more miles, we see the same sign. Then we see it again five miles after that. Why didn't they just say Open Range Next 15 Miles?
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Another damaged road site. As I drove by the crew, they stared at the new pavement. I think their thought was "Whew! It held! Let's go home."
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Rabbit Ears Pass is unique because it's two passes combined into one. The recreational facilities up here are extensive, so they came up with this naming scheme. Everything on the west pass has a blue diamond by its name, east pass gets orange diamonds.
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Climbing up to the east summit of Rabbit Ears Pass.
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A close-up of the pass summit sign.
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For the next four miles or so, we are in the saddle between the passes. The road climbs, descends, and intersects plenty of places to pull off and recreate. (Heads out of the gutter! :)
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Fair enough. But where were they? I never found one except for the ones lining the edge of the road, which I don't think is what this sign meant.
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It's spring! See how the creek is starting to show under the snow field in the foreground?
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A slight climb. We're still two miles away from the west summit.
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The descent from that last climb.
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Another parking area. I like how the text on the sign follows the arrow.
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Rolling right along.
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The snow on the sides of the road is hella deep.
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Approaching the west summit of Rabbit Ears Pass.
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Warnings to truckers.
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I have a strange feeling that this descent isn't going to be as gradual as our ascent was.
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Wow, they're not kidding around with the truckers.
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Yet another descent sign.
- Where to next?
- Page 5
- This trip's Index
- Page 7
Section Links
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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