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?
Hanging off the side of a mountain never felt so good.
Okay, boys and girls, we're about to see why this road is called the Million Dollar Highway. According to what I've found online, it's because it took a million dollars per mile to build this road from Siverton to Ouray. See if you can see why as we travel it. The pictures on this page don't do this highway justice. I highly recommend driving this road yourself whenever you can, provided you're not afraid of heights.
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This valley is ending just ahead, and we'll switchback out of it. All this from this shot. Not to shabby!
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I wanted to catch up and pass that truck ahead, but he floored it on this stretch. I was doing 65, and I was losing ground to him.
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Anyone need some logs?
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Nice.
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As you can see, someone did get between me and the truck. At least I won't be staring at the truck's bumper ahead.
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About to start our major ascent of Red Mountain Pass.
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Going up!
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Considering we're all barely staying on the road as it is, this is a pretty ominous sign.
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Looking back down at where we were once more. Brought to you by Dr. Pepper.
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As predicted, we're now stuck behind a slow-moving semi with no hammer lane in sight.
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I know a couple of friends that would have told me to turn around by this point because of their fear of heights.
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See why? This is looking back over my right shoulder.
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Lemme check something. Yup, still climbing. And still going about 15.
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Gonna make it... gonna make it.... gonna make it...
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Mr Truck pulls over ...
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... at the summit of Red Mountain Pass.
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Starting our descent.
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A little lake next to the road. At this altitude, I'd bet that water is still only barely above freezing.
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A quick shot of the mountains to our left.
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Looks like the switchbacks are a little tighter on this side of the pass.
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Yeah, a lot tighter.
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How much tighter? That's the road just above the line of traffic there. The previous pic was taken just out of the range of this shot.
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You've heard my definitions of Suck. This is my definition of Does Not Suck.
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Coming up on another switchback that takes us around an old mine.
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Sorry about all the huge pictures on this page. I felt it necessary to fully show you the scenery out here.
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Yikes. Now this is a switchback.
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Just below where the last pic was taken.
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Just after the switchback lies a point to get out and take in the scenery. I did just that.
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This pic was taken exactly at 1:08 pm Mountain Standard Time. At the time this pic was taken, I've officially been on this earth 30 years. Happy birthday r-dub! The roadgeek in me can't think of a better way to spend this bday than traveling on this beautiful of a trip.
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I'm definitely not the only one partaking in the scenery up here.
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Now for some of the historical information about the area. Here's panel 1.
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Panel 2.
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Panel 3.
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And panel 4.
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Back on the road passing by The Idarado Mine, as we now know.
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Second verse, same as the first: it's a long way down.
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These are the same houses we saw in the distance 12 pics back on this page. (The one where I apologize for the size of the pics)
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The switchback sign has been used and abused so many times on this highway that he's waving the white flag at us here.
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A great shot of the difference in colors of the mountains.
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In the middle of the switchback lies an intersection with a county road.
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Is that it to the pass? Naaaaahhhhh.
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The bump that this sign warns us about was nothing more than your garden variety pot hole. I was a little disappointed.
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Don't be fooled: we're not out of the pass area yet.
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Just in case you were wondering what the view looked like out the left side of the car.
- Where to next?
- Page 9
- This trip's Index
- Page 11
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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