A Chance Encounter

[bobcowan]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

You probably drove through Lyons on the way to Estes. We lived there for almost 20 years. They call it the "Gateway To The Rockies".

Nederland is a cool town too. Once the home of the world famous Caribou Ranch recording studio, made the town of Nederland and its bars and cafes hangouts for the artists of the 70s like Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, Elton John (his Caribou album recorded there) and frequented a small Mexican restaurant in Lyons.

Caribou Ranch was a working ranch. Boulder County bought most of it as open space a few years ago. The ranch's winter space was around Lyons between Hwy 36 and Longmont. The ranch crew in their unmistakable Caribou trucks were regulars at the Lyons watering holes.

Yes, we usually go through Boulder, and turn west at Lyons. One of my favorite routes.

The recording studio was used in a Stephen King story, "Revival". Although he called it something else.

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Cobras are like motorcycles - one rarely deliberately heads into the center of a thunderstorm But in Colorado they come very fast. My experience with the windshield is similar. Rain flows over your head but seems to weep over and then back down the inside. The defroster was useless. Back of my hand wiping rain drops off the inside.

That pretty much sums it up. In CO, it can rain very hard. Sleet, snow, and hail can move in very quickly and unexpectedly. But it rarely precipitates for very long. Keep driving, and you'll be out of it in a couple of minutes. Stop to put on rain gear (or a top) and you're soaked.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by bobcowan

Yes, we usually go through Boulder, and turn west at Lyons. One of my favorite routes.

There are two roads from Lyons. Highway 36 continues to the west and north. it was a really fun mountain drive full of twisty turns and several passing areas that cars like Cobras and Ford GTs can make more than adequate use of. Portions of the road were washed out during the flood and they widened and straightened out some portions, not as much fun any more.

Highway 7 turns left at the end of main and takes a twisty turny route to Allenspark and then to the Peak-to-Peak. The first portion is a good drive, but not many passing areas so if you get stuck behind a little old lady you're going to wait. The Peak-to-Peak is good with lots of scenery but the highway cops watch it pretty close so it's hard to wind things up on it.

I did an early morning trip one fall day in my Mustang. Started the GPS when I left, headed up 36, got behind another sporty driver to Estes and then headed back on 7 where I got behind someone in an Audi R8. At the end the GPS average speed was 58. That included the slow downs for the trips through towns and the touristy areas on P-P so there were intervals of "more than that". Fun drive.