New Camera Plains Tour
Alright, time to test my new camera. After taking a round of pictures for a recent COSMIX Update, I decided I needed to put my new camera through its paces. That, and I kinda wanted to get out of the Springs for a while. The camera gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from me, in case any of you were wondering...
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
We're still headed east on SH 86. We've passed through Castle Rock, Franktown, Elizabeth, and Kiowa. Next up is... well... not much until Limon.
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SH 86 dips into multiple small valleys out here, going over a small creek for the most part. These creeks are dry most of the year.
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From the top of a ridge. I think we're going to be seeing not much for a while.
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Another creek crossing followed by a rapid ascent.
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I've decided to call this hill "Nipple Bluff." How many hits do you think I'm going to get since I have the word nipple here, anyways? :)
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Normally only seen in the mountains, the double-height roadside reflectors are seen throughout this stretch of 86. Winds and snow get moving out here on a regular basis.
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Driving through a rare patch of pine trees.
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Another chance to head south to US 24.
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A well-advertised curve. Good thing, too, since this road is quite straight before this curve.
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An obvious old routing of the highway. Funny thing is I wasn't able to find any other evidence this road was on a previous alignment.
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Great shot of the rest of SH 86. See that yellow thing/truck just below the horizon? That truck is on I-70, which is where SH 86 ends.
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Alright, who stole the RR sign? Damn kids.
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Getting closer to I-70.
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Another END! w00t!
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Looking back down SH 86. Sun 1, camera 0.
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A close-up of the road closed barrier. I wasn't able to tell if the barrier can both swing out and up or if this was a retrofit of the assembly.
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Another shot. What's that in the grass?
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Why it's a very old barrier with an even older wooden sign attached to it!
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The Closed letters are right on the arm of the old barricade. The entire arm is white--no red stripes.
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One last shot of the barrier. The evil part of me really wanted to swing that arm across the road, but the good part of me won that fight.
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Back on the road now. Let's head to Limon. The batteries in my camera should be close to dying. And I need something to eat.
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The first distance sign we see once on 70.
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This is the only warning we get about this exit. Obviously it's not that important of an exit.
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Approaching Limon. The bridge to the right of the sign carries US 24 over the railroad tracks we bounced over on 86. One commercial part of the town can be seen between the sign supports.
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BL 70 through Limon goes by many names. Limon is quite an oasis on the plains: when 70 is closed, this is where most people end up.
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Exiting to Limon now. If you turn left here, you have no option but to head west on 70.
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I'm not sure why 40 and 287 are relegated to secondary signs through here: 287 is a quite important road here.
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Checking out a little bit of the old alignment of US 40. Coming back into Limon, I got a shot of more large font goodness.
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Looking at the quadriplex that is Limon's Main Street. We'll hit 71 in a bit.
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As promised, heeeeeeeeere's 71!
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At the intersection of BL 70/US 24/US 40/US 287 and SH 71.
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Taking a short side trip down 71. This is the first big sign we see. Not too encouraging, huh?
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Here's what I wanted to see. I drove through here late at night after taking pictures for another trip, and I've been wanting to get this sign since. Mission accomplished. Time to turn around.
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Headed back to Limon, we're greeted with the Weigh Station Warning.
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Approaching Main Street. Where'd BL 70 go?
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Just before Main Street. Note that the Weigh Station is to the right...
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...while all Hazardous Cargo trucks have to go to the left. Does this mean that HC vehicles don't have to hit the scales?
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Shields for everyone! Except for the BL 70 one, that is. Note that this sign (and the one before) says that North 71 continues on Main Street. This will be important in a bit.
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This makes sense since Main Street is a business loop of 70.
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Downtown Limon. Back in the late 80's (IIRC), Limon was wiped off the map by a quite large tornado. This town has come back quite well.
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So we're supposed to be on a quintupleplex, right? Every other sign says yes we are, but not this assembly (or the one for the opposite direction). My guess is since this road carries both a north route and a south route, SH 71 is given a TO banner in order to avoid a wrong-way multiplex issue.
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71 turns off Main Street after about 1 mile. This and an identical sign on the opposite side of the lanes are the only warnings you get about that.
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Looks like someone installed the wrong size support poles here. Again, where's BL 70?
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Back at 70 again. What's funny here is that 24/40/287 don't turn onto the interstate yet, nor does BL 70 end yet. They keep going straight.
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While BL 70 isn't marked this way, it is when headed westbound. Inconsistency, anyone?
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This was a test for my camera. This pic was taken through the windshield while the car was rolling using the zoom. I'm quite impressed. The top three lines are the bridge inventory numbers. The bottom line is the mileage of the road (Probably US 24: lowest numbered route). The mileage thing has just started appearing on these signs.
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And we're back at I-70. US 24 silently turns onto 70, while 40 and 287 head straight. As I said earlier, 287 is an important route here. This is where the Ports to Plains Corridor heads south on its journey to Laredo, TX and the Mexico border.
- Where to next?
- Page 1
- This trip's Index
- Page 3
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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