the big three-oh tour
The date: July 3, 1976. The place: Northwest Community Hospital in Rolling Meadows, IL. The event: r-dub's entrance to this world of ours. Flashing forward thirty years, we find r-dub wandering yet again, enjoying not only his birthday but a rare day off from work as well. He's heading to the southwest part of the state, heretofor unconquered by him. Let's tag along, shall we?
This trip is making me happy.
Already at this point in this trip, I'm a happy boy. I really wasn't caring if the pitcures came out or not, I was just happy to be back on the road exploring new roads. What a great birthday present!
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The next truck ramp. Methinks the sign got moved, not the ramp.
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I like these walls, but this picture does not do the beefiness justice.
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At the next runaway ramp.
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We're about to drop like a rock, aren't we?
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Over look? I'm used to seeing it as overlook. Weird.
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Dropping rapidly. This is just after that switchback.
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The shot out of the right side of the car. Ignore the reflection.
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The closure point of the western side of the pass.
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Ending the slower speeds for truckers. We must be getting close to the base of the pass.
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Exiting the San Juan National Forest, which took over for the Rio Grande National Forest at the summit of the pass.
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Definitely off the pass. Resume warp speeds!
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This is what it looks like to Durango now. Definitely not as flat as the San Luis Valley, but nowhere near as steep as Wolf Creek Pass.
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Permanent advertisement of road damage. If it's bad enough to warrant a permanent sign, shouldn't the advisory speed limit sign be a little bigger?
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Using brushed aluminum for the sign, we see that motorcyclists have to pay attention.
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More advertisements. For all this warning, the road better be gone ahead.
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That's it? Bah.
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How 'bout that? We're still on 160.
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Distance shots make me happy.
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Entering Pagosa Springs.
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Hey! An END! of a US Highway! Neat-o!
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At the intersection of US 84 and US 160.
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After a quick curve to climb up away from 160, this is the scene you're greeted with on US 84.
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Heading back to 160 on 84. This is quite a nice view.
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The last few yards of US 84.
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Sad. There's no end sign.
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At the end of 84.
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Not the correct use for the chevrons, but terribly useful.
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How CDOT Region 5 marks all their patrol zones. I wish other regions would do this.
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Downtown Pagosa Springs. I always pictured this town as a sleepy mountain town. I was not correct. This is a booming town with tons of traffic. Maybe the traffic was because it was a holiday weekend, but this is still a booming town.
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Where I thought Pagosa Springs ends lies this distance sign. In reality, we're only at about the mid-point of the town.
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Hilly town, this is.
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The yellow poles haven't been used for quite some time, so it seems that this is the construction site that never ends. Ugh.
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Approaching the permaconstruction site.
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Just as this golfer swung, I hit my horn. Luckily, the guy didn't have enough arm strength to hit my car with his driver. I'm so evil.
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ALIEN! They're taking over the signs!
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What's all you can eat pide? Nevermind, I don't want to know.
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Smile! We're going to screw you with gas prices because it's a holiday weekend and you're in a mountain town! :D
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Random Colorado Information Presenter 4000 on the side of the road.
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CDOT has always used the purple color for their adopt-a-highway program. I guess the reserved magenta is used now, too.
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Remember, there's two seasons in Colorado: winter and construction.
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There's a lot of elk in this area of the state, I guess.
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Tooling along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden ...
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... an END! jumped out and scared us. Seriously, this is the only warning of the end of SH 151 we get.
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Looking down SH 151. Well, kinda. I was a little too quick on the draw.
- Where to next?
- Page 4
- This trip's Index
- Page 6
Section Links
- Trip Index
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
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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