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...
Sun's gettin' low: this could be interesting.
Time to head back to the Denver metro area. And since there's a certified (certifiable?) roadgeek at the wheel, don't think we're going to be sticking to the interstate the whole way... ;)
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Since we're on the east side of Limon, we have to pass through it to head back. This is the second exit to Limon headed westbound. It's just labeled as the Limon exit, as is the western exit.
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An interesting thing here. SH 71 doesn't actually have an interchange with 70. This is 71's bridge over 70. That truck is in a decel lane for the weigh station that's just ahead.
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Follow the STOP!!! sign. This weigh station is accessable from WB 70 and NB 71. All trucks passing through Limon are supposed to stop, though.
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After Limon, we encounter this distance sign.
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Hey! Were'nt we just here?
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A shot of the BEGIN!ning of the road we just got the END!ing shots of. Confused?
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Don't get your hopes up, roller coaster fans. This isn't the Cedar Point you're thinking of. But, if you're in the Sandusky, OH area, I highly recommend stopping by that Cedar Point.
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After that temptation of roller coaster goodness, 70's median grows--by a lot.
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There's a lot of minor exits out here and not a lot of services, so CDOT thought it helpful to post when there's rest stops.
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As hinted at earlier, we're not staying on I-70. Now to exit at Deer Trail, turn south for a few blocks...
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...and end up on SH 40. This, and SH 36, are the only two Colorado state routes that exist whose numbers are duplicated by a US or Interstate route. All other numbers that matched were purged.
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That's a helluva front porch for the second floor. And don't think of using the telephone pole as a fire pole: think of the splinters! Ow.
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SH 40 is quite a ways away from the interstate for this stretch west of Deer Trail.
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(insert generic pastoral two lane road description here)
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SH 40 meets back up with 70 a few miles down the road. This stays as 70's southern frontage road until its terminus in Byers.
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A minor interchange on 70.
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SH 40 continues. So why did SH's 36 and 40 survive when other similarily-named state highways didn't? My guess: people were so used to driving on these roads before I-70 came in that CDOT wanted to make sure those roads stayed maintained.
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Arriving at the western END! of SH 40. We're about to start traveling on SH 36. Technically, we're not intersecting US 36 here: it turned onto 70 at its interchange.
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I caught this rare sign on a cross street in Byers. While this sign was correct quite a few years ago, now we're traveling on SH 36.
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SH 36 carries more traffic than SH 40 (not that that's saying a lot), so the bridges on this stretch are more modern: no more wooden railings on this trip.
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SH 36 zigs under I-70 on its approach to its next town...
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... which is called Strausburg. Sorry about the sun. We'll head north as soon as we can.
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The first reassurance shield I've seen on this highway.
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SH 36 makes another zig outside Strausburg. There's also a TO SH 79 shield at this intersection.
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Alright, I'm tired of the sun. We're heading north on 79.
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This is one version of the Adopt A Road signs Colorado uses. If you have spare time, this section is available.
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While we are due east of Denver International Airport here, I know we're not that close to it. Must be a private airport.
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Another plains shot. This shot is repeated countless times in the Midwest.
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With land this flat, there's not many places for water to go when the ground is saturated. Hope you have oars in the car if you drive through some of the "puddles" that appear out here.
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Heading back west towards Brighton. Good silhouette shot, complete with a contrail.
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A thought to close out this trip. (Personally, I think sunsets are orange and that really dark blue because God's a Chicago Bears fan, but to each his own...
Obviously, I ran out of daylight at this point. But, I kept wandering around and found a lot of little things that I wanted to get on film. So I came back to continue this drive. Check out my Jonesin' for a Roadtrip 2 page for the continuation of this trip.
- Where to next?
- Page 2
- This trip's Index
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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