Day 98 - Colorado Backroads in Pictures

There's the old adage, "you just had to be there." That's so true! We all experience life so differently; I suppose that's why there are Jeeps, Porsches, Ferraris and Chevys. Different flames light our respective fires and at much different intensities. The scene below says a lot about what turns Lenny and Lizzy on:

Click the pic for a bigger, better view!

Riding the backroads across this great land is like slowly turning the pages in a famous photographers coffee table book of his/her best shots. While I love photography, I certainly don't pretend to compete with "mother nature." In fact, more often that not I'm caught completely off-guard; I never seem to have brought along the proper equipment which would be the most helpful. Today was another of those days...

After being couped up with an aching back for most of a week, it was time to hit the backroads once again. We're anticipating the arrival of Pete and Willie for a few days, and thought we'd scout out some nifty sights for them to see. We headed for Stagecoach State Park just a few miles south of "The Boat" for a day of backroads voyeurism. It was a great day and a route we'll recommend highly to P&W.

Anyone can run down Hwy 131 from Steamboat and be at the park in 45 minutes; but. where's the fun in that? It's far more satisfying to crawl along Cr-14 and Cr-18 and see the sights!

Now here's something you don't see everyday!

The valley just east of Stagecoach State Park

While County Road-18 is far from an expert off-road challenge, it's not a road we could have handled in the Mazda MX-5. We did, however, ride it last year on the BMW GSA! These pictures are certainly not my best effort as I was squeezing everything possible out of my Panasonic Lumix. Don't get me wrong; it's a brilliant camera and far more capable than I; but hand holding it while in full zoom doesn't capture the feeling of watching a Bald Eagle in flight nor resting casually in a tree some 150 yards away.

Where's Wildlife Willie and his monster lens when you need him???

The day was splendid indeed and awarded us with some incredible vistas. Many of our favorite scenes include the creative way that mankind contrasts himself against natures splendid backdrop. I hope you enjoy these simple images, but again...you just had to be there!!

Backroad vista

Hay there!!

Aging beauty...

Accenting nature!

Pastoral scene

Turns out some of the pluses of Jeeps are also their Achilles Heels. The view from a Jeep is awesome; Why? Well...the front windshield is close to vertical which puts driver and passenger much closer than with a more slanted front glass barrier. That said, the vertical surface makes a much more inviting target and affords a solid contact for  passing rocks and gravel. Thus, in our first 8K of travel in the new Wrangler we collected a nice 3/4 inch hickey on our windscreen. Upon returning to "The Boat" we headed for Nesta Glass to have that bad boy repaired before it spread across the entire surface of the glass. The guys there were great! They accommodated us immediately and made the repair all for the nominal fee of $25. 

So what's the big deal, here? Just this...recall we had been blissfully basking in the beauty of the backroads all morning. So the repair dude says, "you can stay in your vehicle...or...you can go out back to our lovely patio and enjoy the view." So what do you think we did? Exactly! And here's that view (I enhanced it every way possible in Photoshop).

As I said...we all see the world differently. Ain't that a breath-taking view?!

Enjoy! and please let us hear from you...we miss you guys!