Roadtrippin' Colorado Style

This section of 83 is being widened by private contractors for the housing developments and is being overseen by CDOT.

It's just a jump to the left...

These guys are off to a Village People audition.

The skeleton of a new monument to sprawl. This intersection is brand new and serves a new development of grey rooftops.

Approaching Black Forest. That really tall tree thing on the horizon isn't a mutant tree: it's a cell phone tower at a costume party.

Workers walking. I wanted to make a joke here, but I really can't. Gotta refill my coffee.

Back to normalcy on SH 83.

A recent oops. This is actually Old North Gate Road now. North Gate Road is at that intersection with the monument to sprawl.

Entering Black Forest. How do I know that? Well, I live here! NURR!

In the famous word os Bill the Cat, "ACKPBBBBTH!" Brush Script sighting on a road sign!

Curving through the trees. Are we in Maine or Colorado now?

This dump truck driver swung the truck into my lane so he could back down this driveway. Oddly enough, he didn't wait for me. That was scary.

Random aspen tree grove in the middle of the pine trees.

Scenery and signs all rolled into one.

And just like that, we're spit out of the forest. El Paso County has started specific truck routes now. Here's where they can turn. I still can't get used to this style arrow. I'm used to the ones that don't have the bottom stem to the arrow.

That truck route is also known as SH 105.

At the intersection of SH 83 and SH 105. It's a whole lotta nothing until you hit a town no matter which way you go from here. We're going north still, by the way.

Did I mention that this is the eastern END! of 105? No? Well, it is. Here's proof.

Distance sign of DOOM! (I dunno. I got nothing.)

And then there was nothing. Hang on, time to go fast.

Southwest "Style"? What happened to pure Southwest homes? I'm confused.

Ever hear of the term McMansion? 'Cause here's a picture of them.

Why yes, I do have a large drainage culvert. Thanks for asking.

At the intersection of Palmer Divide Road. This is also the county line. All the new sprawling development happens south of this point. El Paso County Commissioners are a greedy bunch.

Right now, all I hear on that station is static. Is that a good or bad thing?

I see the art of having roads with multiple personalities isn't limited to Colorado Springs.

This is about the point where I start to miss having my Rio Karma. The radio signals get spotty around the bluffs. The Karma died through the well-documented "Bulging Battery Syndrome." That's where the battery expands and compresses the hard drive, causing it to crash. And the $$'s not there to replace it right now.

Out here, we don't have call boxes, we have Help Lines. I used it to ask for help on finding my lost pair of gloves. They hung up on me.

Don't tell me that ths road wasn't built for speed! Check out this banking!

And this bank!

For those of us that have an overabundance of air, there's a spot for you to park it out here.

Another case of those country kids being able to run a lot faster than us city folk.

Random Qworst -- err -- Qwest truck parked at the side of the road.

83 dips into quite a few creek valleys through here.

Douglas county uses non-standard colors on their CR signs.

The call box is about 1/8 mile off the road. That's an eternity if you're hiking.

CDOT provides concrete shoulders for stopping traffic here. Good a spot as any, I guess.

Impressive pulloff site. There's even a passing lane on the shoulder.

Next recreation stop is Castlewood Canyon State Park.

About to cross the canyon.

Looking at one of the overlooks. Castlewood Canyon has a bunch of polished rocks in it. Think river rocks on steroids.

Even through we just traverssed a canyon, we're still on a ridge. Time to fix that.

This trip is really heading downhill. HA!