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...
Descents, ascents, and bees, oh my!
We're just starting our descent of Rabbit Ears Pass and heading towards Steamboat Springs. The r-dub-mobile is kinda low on gas, so I guess we better fix that in Steamboat.
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This whole fitness thing just makes me tired looking at it. This guy and his companion (who is just out of the picture on the right) just biked 6 miles of a 7% grade. Wow.
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Looking down the descent.
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Yeah, that's where we're going to be. See that road that goes diagonally through the valley, intersecting the road that goes straight to the lake? That's US 40.
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Still descending. My car is currently in gear "3" (damn automatics) and I'm still having to hit the brakes frequently.
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We've still got a long descent ahead of us.
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Approaching the truck ramp. This truck is not going to need the ramp: he's doing 15 down the pass.
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The truck ramp. This trucker was nice enough to pull far enough over for me to get past him.
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This is a pretty short ramp, but I bet it serves its purpose well.
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And we're still descending into that lush green valley.
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A tight curve. There's a few of these on the desecnt, each one having varying degrees of skidmarks upon the cement walls.
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Almost to the bottom!
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A grass fire?
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We're off the pass now, and the speed limit rises to reflect that.
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Another random rumble strip sign when there's no rumble strips around. Odd.
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End #15 straight ahead!
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The truck is on SH 131.
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Rolling down 131 looking for a reassuarance shield, we come across that fire we saw earlier. This is an intentionally set fire designed to clear out the weeds from the drainage canals. Or, as I like to call it, "Smokin' weed." :)
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Never did find a reassuarance shield within the first three miles, so we've turned back to 40. Again, there's no End sign present.
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Entering Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
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Another spot in Colorado that's rife with outdoor experiences.
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The world-famous Steamboat Ski Area. Or at least how to get to it.
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In order to better accomodate their world-class status, Steamboat signs speed limits on US 40 in MPH and KPH. Snazzy or egotistical? You be the judge.
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Slowing down to enter downtown Steamboat Springs.
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So here's the question: since the mph and kph speed limits don't exactly match, how do the cops know if you've been speeding?
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Downtown Steamboat Springs.
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Drove past Steamboat, turned around, and headed back in now.
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I drove by this guy in a line of cars that were all doing about 10 over the limit. He didn't budge, even though he caught all of our speeds with his radar gun.
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A more scenic shot of downtown Steamboat.
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Steamboat signs all of its attractions at every intersection just like this.
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Filling up with gas. Kum & Gos are just like 7-11s or Circle Ks, but with a lot cooler of a name. Their slogans have been "We go all out", "Always something special" and the like. It's too hard not to make a dirty joke at this place. And they sell lighters with the name and the slogan on it. There's one in my car now. BTW: first fill up of the trip: 285 miles on the trip meter, 7.5 gallons of gas in the car. I luuuuurve my car!
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Alright, headed back the way we came for a bit now. Next thing we see is the end we've already documented.
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The truck is on SH 131.
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Starting to head up Rabbit Ears Pass. Now can you see why there were all those truck warning signs?
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Here's where traffic gets stopped on days of inclement weather.
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So I'm driving up the pass with my window down when I hear a loud "POP" just to my left. I look over and find that I have gained a passenger. The bee was still alive and struggling to get free, but the wind wasn't letting him. Hmmm. Dilema. I know he's going to be pissed when I slow down enough to free him, so I better figure out a way to get him out before he decides to take it out on me. This, by the way, is a first for me.
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I was going to pull off here, but I think I had better not.
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This pulloff is too small for the speed I'm going, especially considering there's a crazy person in a SUV closing fast.
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Finally a place to pull over. I pick up my trusty map to use between me and the bee and slow to a stop. I hear him buzzing, but he's still stuck. Damn. Plan B. I open the door while waving the map frantically (which had to be quite amusing to passing drivers). That works: the bee's gone now. Back to our regularly scheduled roadgeeking.
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One of the two guide signs for the western pass'es trails.
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The other guide sign. I had to zoom in pretty tight on these signs just to make them legible, because ...
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... the amount of snow on the side of the road made it impossible to get close to the signs.
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Those trucks from the last pic left the parking area at the same time I did. Damnit. Well, at least I get to use the suicide lane to get past them. (No pics of that one: too busy white-knuckling it)
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Starting the descent from the east Rabbit Ears Pass.
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Coming up on SH 14 again.
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We'll turn here and take SH 14 to Walden now.
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Slapping together signs seems to be an art form around here.
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137 miles to the Front Range, give or take.
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Typical SH 14 from Muddy Pass to Walden. Old road that's disentegrating along the shoulders, busier traffic than I would have thought, and some great scenery.
- Where to next?
- Page 6
- This trip's Index
- Page 8
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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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