Hi All,
I am currently in Colorado.
In the past few days I have been driving mountain roads around Durango and I also visited Mesa Verde, which is fabulous. Although I drove the Highway 550 between Durango and Ouray last year, I did it again, as these are some of the most interesting road trips I have done.
Yesterday I drove the Wolf Creek Pass (10,857ft) and Red Mountain Pass (11,018ft), in the San Juan Mountains. Today, on my way into Colorado Springs, I did the drive up to Pikes Peak (14,100 ft), and that is an amazing drive, with some of the most spectacular views I have seen. It isn't a drive for the faint-hearted. The car in front of me decided to turn around half way up. Maybe they didn't like the huge drop off's so close to the edge.
The mountains look spectacular with snow capped peaks.
I would never physically climb a mountain, too much like hard work, so it is nice to be able to drive, in comfort, to the top of the mountain.
The people who do the hill climb up to the top of Pikes Peak, at speed, must be suicidal. One miscalculation, and they are going to have a very bad day, like as in dead! It is considered one of the scariest races on the planet, and after the drive there today, I can see why. It has 156 turns, in 12 miles, and some of those turns are very tight, more than 180 degrees, with steep decent.
Tomorrow I am off to Denver, where I will visit JMI Telescopes, before catching the train to Cleveland, my final destination, which is the reason for this trip. The mountains were just a side trip.
Cheers Pete
