Colorado Corvette Road Trip June 2014! (*LONG* and PICS!)
06-26-2014, 08:02 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Colorado Corvette Road Trip June 2014! (*LONG* and PICS!)
First thanks to the many great suggestions made through this forum and my friends at Rennlist (Porsche forum). Particualrly I wanted to thank b0xm0ns73r (Pagosa Springs) and Rky Mtn C6 (Colorado Springs) for the personal and local info!
The trip lasted seven days and my driving partner was my 20 year old son Christopher.
Observations from the road:
My brother, who has taken his Vette through the Rockies told me we would really stand out and not always in a good way...man was he right. In Dallas Corvette's are a dime a dozen yet through 2375 miles of travelling we only saw four(!) Corvettes on the road. Going through small towns we would have people hollering, "Nice f*&%in' car man!"...LOL. A lot of nice comments as well of course. However besides all the Ricky Racers who wanted to try on a Corvette the mini vans and more would inexpicably speed up once we passed them or came upon them.
Just out of Dallas and passing through Wichita Falls, toothless rednecks with a Nitrous Express sticker on the back of their Chevy truck kept jackin' with us. Surpisingly after many, many miles of ignoring them they finally became bored and moved on (my son was driving). Again the same area a woman was holding up the line of left lane traffic, we finally got by and then she comes flying by in her 4Runner (while I prayed for a trooper). When we caught her again (because she lowered her speed) she was flipping us off...we gave her our best Forest Gump big smiles and waves..haha.
Just past Wichita Falls a guy in a SRT8 392 Challenger (470hp) kept trying to get my son to roll with him. Finally I said just do it..drop him. Christopher was easy on him as he only downshifted to fourth and soon after showed tail lights to him. Personally I would have dropped it into third and really bruised his ego.
Somewhere in Colorado I came up on a little SRT-4 Nitro (of all things) who suddenly grew big boy pants. He kept me from passing and eventually I got around him though seriously that thing wasn't stock. After getting by the local brainiac saw fit to tailgate for miles until his next exit..idiocracy.
Another observation from the road whilst driving a Corvette...just driving into a local gas station, restaurant or hotel becomes exponentially more difficult compared to city driving in Dallas! Slow and a considerable angle...ALWAYS!
The Trip:
We chose to drive on a Sunday evening to Amarillo and sleep the night. Turned out perfect, anyone who has driven from Dallas to Amarillo (without committing suicide) knows that is one boring drive. Though I will say most of it is now 75mph which I didn't expect!
Monday we left bright and early and were quckly into pretty country. We stopped at a Route 66 travel stop and then headed North to Taos on a route suggested by b0xm0ns73r...really fun driving and great opportunities to stretch the legs...the Vette's legs that is! High desert and mountains and a LOT of input from the road. I soon became jealous and took over driving from my son!
Taos...meh, though we did get a good, no great(!) green chili burger and sweet potato fries there. Sorry I don't have all my notes with me for names. By then we were hot for Colorado so we barely touched the Enchanted Loop before heading towards Ouray via Pagosa Springs, Durango and Silverton. The trip just got great and then better and better as we drove the Million Dollar Highway!
We loved Ouray and stayed in a "resort" on the edge of town that had hot water springs and brand new Jeep Rubicons for rental. The accomadations were excellent and we had a number of great meals in town. We brought our darts and were able to throw a few games at a local Irish Pub afer a long and tiring hike. The cute local waitress slipped her name and phone number to my son...and he went out with her the next night! We liked Ouray so much we decided to stay for three nights. We rented a Rubicon and though I own a slightly built Cherokee all I've heard about the Rubicon's is true...BAD machine! We scrambled up Engineer Pass and back down without ever using 4LOW or locking in the diffs. Plus we crossed back over Cinammon Pass and Engineer Pass with hard blowing snow and then wet sleet and eventually rain coming down the "steps". Ghost towns, LOTs of tundra and 360 degree views of 14k peaks were all ours...amazing!
After Ouray we took a short drive further north to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison...my advice, DO IT! Very cool because the canyon is SO narrow AND deep! From there we went East on 50 then North up through Leadville.
Another note from the road:
Sometimes when you pass people they too get the idea they can pass...though they are much lower powered and more (much more) importantly they have MUCH less brake power! Ask me how I know? OK, case in point, we pass a string of cars and then come up on sudden road construction. My son looks in the rearview and say's "Dad, why is that truck smoking?" I check the rearview and I see a Toyota truck PULLING a BOAT who also thought he could pass...he did though could barely stop. Smoke rolling off all four wheels.
I think it was the Rennlist forum who warned me to "just keep driving" when I came to Leadville. I ignored their warnigs of "Zombie Apocalypse" and stopped regardless. Uhh......they were right. The residents seemed to be on some sort of downer as they shuffled about with mouths slack and eyes hollow. Our waitress was in total Zombie mode as well and the sandwich was about the only poor meal we had for the trip. I guess we shouldn't have expected much from Zombies.
Hmm...I've went longer than expected here! We did find the names of the legal marijuana strip center shops throughout the state amusing. I wish we would have written them all down. the one that stands out to me was "Bud Depot"
I will say that we smelled the "bud" a number of times throughout our travels. We finally determined the "C" on the Colorado flag stands for "cannibus"...
As you might see we were making a horseshoe through the state. After Leadville we headed North further and then took Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park....oh wait that was the next day! After Zombieville aka Leadville we drove up Mt. Evans!!
Mt. Evans, highest paved road in the Northern Hemisphere! And scary as hell!! I used self talk most of the way up telling myself "it's OK, it's OK". My hands were sweating as I alternated wiping my palms on my pant leg. I don't think my son has ever seen me jerk the clutch as he looked suprised when I did it several times....my damn leg was locking up in terror! Haha. Seriously the road is narrow, NO guard rails and in poor repair. Plenty of frost heave to add another challenge for the low sprung sports car driver. And it was worth every mile! There was a test fleet of Ford F650 and F750's (!) at the summit driven by engineers. We saw one called "the Billy" on I-70 with a small pickup box on it. Thank GOD I didn't come up on one through one of the switchbacks.
OK..then RMNP, via Trail Ridge, gorgeous and the highest continual road in North America with over 11 miles above the treeline.
We also stopped at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park per many suggestion (The Shining was filmed there) plus it is a grand wooden hotel. Estes Park was busy and crammed with tourists so we continued on after a beer, soup and sandwich at the historic hotel bar. We then headed to Denver for a short visit with relatives.
One more note from the road:
I thought Texas drivers drove fast...I saw wheezing little Fiats pulling away from us as we drove 85mph! I'm guessing he was flat on the floor.
I used my Priceline mobile app to blind book a 3.5 star hotel in Colorado Springs...was pleasantly suprised to find it was the Marriot and the room and service were great plus another hostess flirting with my son. All...for $72!
The downtown area of Colorado Springs had a GREAT vibe and we had excellent food and local beers. The city realy shows great pride and is super clean and beautiful, VERY liveable!
Our last day concluded with a short trip to Garden of the Gods and then we took our time up and down Pikes Peak. I let my son take the Grand Sport all the way up and down...he's a very smooth driver. Through forests and valleys we typically closed the dual mode exhaust and then opened her up and let her cackle downhill! On the way down at the mandatory brake check the Ranger commented to my son, "Nicest car on the mountain today...and your brakes are cool". very nice.
Targa Top:
My son was perplexed that I took so much time planning how to pack the car so that we could stow the glass top...SO WORTH IT! We spent 75% of the trip top off.
Note from the road:
The only genuine scare (apart from fear of heights), New Mexico high desert with cruise at 85...son says "Dad, does that look like snow ahead". I look at the digital temp and it says 55, "maybe, but it won't be on the road"...famous last words. Pop up over a rise and the road is COVERED in sleet! It took me a couple hundred yards to haul her down...GULP! Then it gets so thick that everyone moved left and created two tracks through the sleet...which reached 3" deep! Now...ya'll do know how low a Grand Sport is right? Umm, 2" and a 3" pile in the middle track. I had a truck all up my *** end though couldn't go over 10 or 15 mph as it would throw sleet OVER the car! I thought for sure it was going to rip the plastic spoiler right off and pit the rest of the painted splitter (it didn't damage either!).
Last note from the road:
The Troopers in Texas seem to like scaring the living s%&t out of motorists and truckers by parking on the side of the road JUST OVER A RISE! Very dangerous just trying to catch a speeder.
Oh...use the Waze app on your smart phone..serious. No tickets, no real problems other than the scare in the high desert.
Favorite part of the trip...hands down Ouray. I could see flying into Durango and renting a Jeep for a three day weekend!
I'm thinking Ozarks road trip this fall
Hope you enjoyed the read.
The trip lasted seven days and my driving partner was my 20 year old son Christopher.
Observations from the road:
My brother, who has taken his Vette through the Rockies told me we would really stand out and not always in a good way...man was he right. In Dallas Corvette's are a dime a dozen yet through 2375 miles of travelling we only saw four(!) Corvettes on the road. Going through small towns we would have people hollering, "Nice f*&%in' car man!"...LOL. A lot of nice comments as well of course. However besides all the Ricky Racers who wanted to try on a Corvette the mini vans and more would inexpicably speed up once we passed them or came upon them.
Just out of Dallas and passing through Wichita Falls, toothless rednecks with a Nitrous Express sticker on the back of their Chevy truck kept jackin' with us. Surpisingly after many, many miles of ignoring them they finally became bored and moved on (my son was driving). Again the same area a woman was holding up the line of left lane traffic, we finally got by and then she comes flying by in her 4Runner (while I prayed for a trooper). When we caught her again (because she lowered her speed) she was flipping us off...we gave her our best Forest Gump big smiles and waves..haha.
Just past Wichita Falls a guy in a SRT8 392 Challenger (470hp) kept trying to get my son to roll with him. Finally I said just do it..drop him. Christopher was easy on him as he only downshifted to fourth and soon after showed tail lights to him. Personally I would have dropped it into third and really bruised his ego.
Somewhere in Colorado I came up on a little SRT-4 Nitro (of all things) who suddenly grew big boy pants. He kept me from passing and eventually I got around him though seriously that thing wasn't stock. After getting by the local brainiac saw fit to tailgate for miles until his next exit..idiocracy.
Another observation from the road whilst driving a Corvette...just driving into a local gas station, restaurant or hotel becomes exponentially more difficult compared to city driving in Dallas! Slow and a considerable angle...ALWAYS!
The Trip:
We chose to drive on a Sunday evening to Amarillo and sleep the night. Turned out perfect, anyone who has driven from Dallas to Amarillo (without committing suicide) knows that is one boring drive. Though I will say most of it is now 75mph which I didn't expect!
Monday we left bright and early and were quckly into pretty country. We stopped at a Route 66 travel stop and then headed North to Taos on a route suggested by b0xm0ns73r...really fun driving and great opportunities to stretch the legs...the Vette's legs that is! High desert and mountains and a LOT of input from the road. I soon became jealous and took over driving from my son!
Taos...meh, though we did get a good, no great(!) green chili burger and sweet potato fries there. Sorry I don't have all my notes with me for names. By then we were hot for Colorado so we barely touched the Enchanted Loop before heading towards Ouray via Pagosa Springs, Durango and Silverton. The trip just got great and then better and better as we drove the Million Dollar Highway!
We loved Ouray and stayed in a "resort" on the edge of town that had hot water springs and brand new Jeep Rubicons for rental. The accomadations were excellent and we had a number of great meals in town. We brought our darts and were able to throw a few games at a local Irish Pub afer a long and tiring hike. The cute local waitress slipped her name and phone number to my son...and he went out with her the next night! We liked Ouray so much we decided to stay for three nights. We rented a Rubicon and though I own a slightly built Cherokee all I've heard about the Rubicon's is true...BAD machine! We scrambled up Engineer Pass and back down without ever using 4LOW or locking in the diffs. Plus we crossed back over Cinammon Pass and Engineer Pass with hard blowing snow and then wet sleet and eventually rain coming down the "steps". Ghost towns, LOTs of tundra and 360 degree views of 14k peaks were all ours...amazing!
After Ouray we took a short drive further north to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison...my advice, DO IT! Very cool because the canyon is SO narrow AND deep! From there we went East on 50 then North up through Leadville.
Another note from the road:
Sometimes when you pass people they too get the idea they can pass...though they are much lower powered and more (much more) importantly they have MUCH less brake power! Ask me how I know? OK, case in point, we pass a string of cars and then come up on sudden road construction. My son looks in the rearview and say's "Dad, why is that truck smoking?" I check the rearview and I see a Toyota truck PULLING a BOAT who also thought he could pass...he did though could barely stop. Smoke rolling off all four wheels.
I think it was the Rennlist forum who warned me to "just keep driving" when I came to Leadville. I ignored their warnigs of "Zombie Apocalypse" and stopped regardless. Uhh......they were right. The residents seemed to be on some sort of downer as they shuffled about with mouths slack and eyes hollow. Our waitress was in total Zombie mode as well and the sandwich was about the only poor meal we had for the trip. I guess we shouldn't have expected much from Zombies.
Hmm...I've went longer than expected here! We did find the names of the legal marijuana strip center shops throughout the state amusing. I wish we would have written them all down. the one that stands out to me was "Bud Depot"
I will say that we smelled the "bud" a number of times throughout our travels. We finally determined the "C" on the Colorado flag stands for "cannibus"...
As you might see we were making a horseshoe through the state. After Leadville we headed North further and then took Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park....oh wait that was the next day! After Zombieville aka Leadville we drove up Mt. Evans!!
Mt. Evans, highest paved road in the Northern Hemisphere! And scary as hell!! I used self talk most of the way up telling myself "it's OK, it's OK". My hands were sweating as I alternated wiping my palms on my pant leg. I don't think my son has ever seen me jerk the clutch as he looked suprised when I did it several times....my damn leg was locking up in terror! Haha. Seriously the road is narrow, NO guard rails and in poor repair. Plenty of frost heave to add another challenge for the low sprung sports car driver. And it was worth every mile! There was a test fleet of Ford F650 and F750's (!) at the summit driven by engineers. We saw one called "the Billy" on I-70 with a small pickup box on it. Thank GOD I didn't come up on one through one of the switchbacks.
OK..then RMNP, via Trail Ridge, gorgeous and the highest continual road in North America with over 11 miles above the treeline.
We also stopped at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park per many suggestion (The Shining was filmed there) plus it is a grand wooden hotel. Estes Park was busy and crammed with tourists so we continued on after a beer, soup and sandwich at the historic hotel bar. We then headed to Denver for a short visit with relatives.
One more note from the road:
I thought Texas drivers drove fast...I saw wheezing little Fiats pulling away from us as we drove 85mph! I'm guessing he was flat on the floor.
I used my Priceline mobile app to blind book a 3.5 star hotel in Colorado Springs...was pleasantly suprised to find it was the Marriot and the room and service were great plus another hostess flirting with my son. All...for $72!
The downtown area of Colorado Springs had a GREAT vibe and we had excellent food and local beers. The city realy shows great pride and is super clean and beautiful, VERY liveable!
Our last day concluded with a short trip to Garden of the Gods and then we took our time up and down Pikes Peak. I let my son take the Grand Sport all the way up and down...he's a very smooth driver. Through forests and valleys we typically closed the dual mode exhaust and then opened her up and let her cackle downhill! On the way down at the mandatory brake check the Ranger commented to my son, "Nicest car on the mountain today...and your brakes are cool". very nice.
Targa Top:
My son was perplexed that I took so much time planning how to pack the car so that we could stow the glass top...SO WORTH IT! We spent 75% of the trip top off.
Note from the road:
The only genuine scare (apart from fear of heights), New Mexico high desert with cruise at 85...son says "Dad, does that look like snow ahead". I look at the digital temp and it says 55, "maybe, but it won't be on the road"...famous last words. Pop up over a rise and the road is COVERED in sleet! It took me a couple hundred yards to haul her down...GULP! Then it gets so thick that everyone moved left and created two tracks through the sleet...which reached 3" deep! Now...ya'll do know how low a Grand Sport is right? Umm, 2" and a 3" pile in the middle track. I had a truck all up my *** end though couldn't go over 10 or 15 mph as it would throw sleet OVER the car! I thought for sure it was going to rip the plastic spoiler right off and pit the rest of the painted splitter (it didn't damage either!).
Last note from the road:
The Troopers in Texas seem to like scaring the living s%&t out of motorists and truckers by parking on the side of the road JUST OVER A RISE! Very dangerous just trying to catch a speeder.
Oh...use the Waze app on your smart phone..serious. No tickets, no real problems other than the scare in the high desert.
Favorite part of the trip...hands down Ouray. I could see flying into Durango and renting a Jeep for a three day weekend!
I'm thinking Ozarks road trip this fall
Hope you enjoyed the read.
06-26-2014, 08:50 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Jun 2013
Location: Colorado
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2024 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
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Very cool and thanks for sharing. Glad I was able to contribute.
Awesome and nice GS
06-27-2014, 08:56 AM
#13
Race Director
Member Since: Dec 2007
Location: Maumelle Arkansas
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St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15-'16-'17
You call that a road trip. Heck Texas is practically connected to Colorado, it's just a short drive.
WJ and I spent 12 days going 3600 miles including Bad Lands, Black Hills, Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone and turning back at Bozeman MT.
Yellowstone Lake
The Vette is great to travel in.
LJ
WJ and I spent 12 days going 3600 miles including Bad Lands, Black Hills, Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone and turning back at Bozeman MT.
Yellowstone Lake
The Vette is great to travel in.
LJ
06-27-2014, 11:29 AM
#16
Burning Brakes
Great Story and road trip, I want to do Pikes Peak!
you turned back at Bozeman? should have gone farther west hit 93 north out of Missoula, went to Flathead Lake/Kalispell then head east to West Glacier and take Going-To-The-Sun Rd. There so many great places in the USA and get to see them in a Corvette ..... wow!
You call that a road trip. Heck Texas is practically connected to Colorado, it's just a short drive.
WJ and I spent 12 days going 3600 miles including Bad Lands, Black Hills, Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone and turning back at Bozeman MT.
The Vette is great to travel in.
LJ
WJ and I spent 12 days going 3600 miles including Bad Lands, Black Hills, Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone and turning back at Bozeman MT.
The Vette is great to travel in.
LJ
06-27-2014, 12:12 PM
#17
Instructor
Rick - Thanks for the excellent write up. It's almost like we all went along for the ride with your son and you. What a great journey to do with your son. It's something the both of you will probably remember for the rest of your lives. I hope to do the same with my son and/or daughter some day. Some of those places I've visited way back in the 80's, great pics that seem to bring it all back from the depths of lost memories. Thank you for that.
06-27-2014, 12:22 PM
#18
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St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15-'16-'17
Fortunately I noticed how bad mine were before I had a flat and could still run 75 to get the tires. I can't imagine limping 100 plus miles on runflats to buy a tire.
If I ever go back it will be in my SUV with 2 spares on board.
LJ
06-27-2014, 09:08 PM
#19
After just returning I wouldn't recommend it in a Vette. Tires are almost impossible to get out west. My fronts got so worn I had to detour up to Billings where a chevy dealer managed to get a couple overnighted in. Cost us a couple days in Yellowstone.
Fortunately I noticed how bad mine were before I had a flat and could still run 75 to get the tires. I can't imagine limping 100 plus miles on runflats to buy a tire.
If I ever go back it will be in my SUV with 2 spares on board.
LJ
Fortunately I noticed how bad mine were before I had a flat and could still run 75 to get the tires. I can't imagine limping 100 plus miles on runflats to buy a tire.
If I ever go back it will be in my SUV with 2 spares on board.
LJ
