Another Road Trip!!!!
 

Once a year, The Mile High Cobra Club in Colorado gathers together for a 3 day week end. I also wrote about last years trip on this forum. It's not exactly the last event of the year, but it's our last big event. I don't know how many years the club has been doing this, but this is probably the 5th or 6th for Michele and I.

This is not a "huge" or "exciting" event, I suppose. But this is the one I look foreward to the most. We usually get about 20 cars, more or less. We go to the same small town, Grand Lake, CO. We stay in the same hotel. We eat in the same restaurants, and have the same catered BBQ on Saturday night.

Sounds pretty boring, right? NOT! This week end is mostly about friends and family. We talk, laugh, tell jokes, laugh, bench race, laugh, drive really fast, drink a little too much, and laugh some more. Did I mention we laugh a lot?

This is a week end about friendship and the simple joy of spending time with people you love. And, it just so happens that we all like Cobra's! What a coincidence!

We start by gathering together on Friday morning. We gather at the same gas station - coffee, donuts, gasoline, now that's a darned good combo.

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We then took a nice drive through the mountains, and ended up at our little hotel on the lake.

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Susan, I gotta tell ya, that pole thing was fabulous! I'm still laughing about that.

On saturday, about half the group drove down to Eagle, CO, for the car and aircraft show. The show is interesting because of the great variety of vehicles that are there. From old street rods to jet aircraft. Pretty interesting stuff.

If you read Street Rodder, you've seen this car before
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Our club got a special reserved spot at the show
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I like this picture because it has a little bit of everything - old street rod, Astin Martin, Ferreri, Jet, helicopter. I didn't plan it, but it came out well.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...12/small15.jpg

Some cool aircraft flying around, too.
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We also came across this unrestored beauty. IIRC, this was a barn find, and came up at the Meecum auction not long ago?????
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I like to get up early when we're there. The lake at dawn is very unique - although cold.

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The trip back from the car show was a little quicker than the drive out. We didn't do anything stupid, but did drive a little faster than was recommended. You dop have to be carefull, and share the road a little
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When you see a long straight empty stretch of roadway, the skinny pedal tends to get closer to the floor.
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Now, this guy in Audi SUV was a real jerk. He worked really hard at blocking us from passing. He didn't want to go very fast, but he certainly wanted to be first. Apparently, he believed all that BS the Audi salesman was feeding him about buying this new hot rod SUV. We showed him otherwise.
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And, there was those other horses asses we got stuck behind at Becker canyon. And I'm not talking about the driver.

Yes, we did drive a bit fast going over Gore Pass. More than once we were in the triple digits. No close calls, no scary moments. Just pure joy. When you're driving a visceral car like this at speed through the mountains of Colorado, you can't help but smile all the way to your toes. This is the reason you build a car like this. We were excited and talking about it the next day. It was truly awesome. This is what I live for. Just typing this makes me smile, and makes my pulse go up. :)

Unfortunatly, all good things must come to an end. This morning - Sunday - it was time to head home. Heavy sigh. We all gravitate to the parking lot, and get things ready to go. Check out time is 10 AM, and we don't leave early. We all say we have things to do, places to be, people to see, and a long drive ahead. But we are all reluctant to fire up and head out. Nobody wants to be the first to go.

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So, we're all home now. The week end is over. Back to our dull, drab, boring, work-a-day lives. But, I have my hotel reservations for next year!

Once again, I want to extend a big Thanx to Mike and Jane. They set this whole thing up, every year. They spend a lot of time and effort making contacts and phone calls. Setting up good things for us to do, and planning a fun route. They make it all possible, and we appreciate it.

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You can see a few more pictures here: Grand Lake 2011 pictures by bobcowan - Photobucket

Hopefully, others will post more. Especially pictures and stories about the boat tour in Saturday. A 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour.......

Bob:
Thanks for posting the travelogue. Keeps me looking forward to CC2013 and a chance to enjoy you folks' back yard again.
Way to keep us flat-landers jealous.
DonC

Thanks Bob!

It's the cars that get us here (and got us together) but the people that make the trip and we have some of the best!

Till next year,
Mike

Thanks for posting Bob. Good report and great photos!
I grew up in Colorado and I do miss it.