Posted on 03/17/2018 7:43:51 PM PDT by Voption
That’s a beautiful drive. I haven’t done it in about 10 years but I enjoyed it every time I did it.
The Eisenhower Tunnel was the first of the two tunnels, the Johnson bore was second and opened several years later.
Sounds like my daughter. She spent a semester in Colorado Springs and texted one day that she drove her car up Pikes Peak. I love challenging and unusual drives so she knew I’d be proud of her.
Her next text said something about blowing the transmission.
I haven’t been on the Texas one, but most of Montana is 80.
A very pleasant encounter with a state troop reminded me that 93 is not 80 though.
He said something about it being dusk so I assume they begin to enforce it more then.
It was June in 1973 and I left my apartment in San Diego about two in the afternoon headed for the family farm in Montgomery County, PA, west of Philly. I was driving my ‘71 BMW 2002 loaded with my belongings moving back home for awhile. I drove straight through the night and around down was following the Colorado which was a meandering creek for miles. The road turned into the interstate and soon I was climbing towards the Eisenhower Tunnel. The little BMW was running good but a few miles from the top, the altitude was eating it up. When fourth gear was dying, I downshifted into third. When third was not pulling, down into second where I was able to do about 20 and passing almost all the cars including several Corvettes that sounded like they were choking. I was almost to the top but the temp needle went into the red and I pulled off on the shoulder and shut her down. Took a two hour much needed nap, felt the engine block had cooled enough, and did a U-turn back to the first exit for Dillon. Rolled into a Gulf station just off the exit and noticed a sign that read “NO GAS” and a couple o geezers sitting on lawn chairs in the shade near the empty pumps. I told the owner about the overheating and he had his guy fill my radiator and flush the thermostat. After running it a couple of minutes, the owner assured me that I should be able to make Denver (where I would spend the night with an aunt and cousins) safely. I asked about the gas situation and he told me that there was a shortage in the west and they were getting very limited supplies. I thought this was strange since I had read nothing about it in the California newspapers I read and seen nothing on the TV news. Of course six months later the entire country was jonesing for more motion lotion. Footnote: that nice old guy who owned the Gulf station admired my German sedan and told me that he had the fastest car around at that altitude. A 1964 Porsche 356C with a 1600 cc four cylinder motor. He jetted the carbs for optimum breathing which was the key to local performance prior to modern fuel injection.
Not to mention the "Seven Sisters" avalanche chutes on Loveland Pass.
There's a toll road 140 that splits off I-35 at Georgetown and runs east of it and meets up again with I-35 in San Marcos, south of Austin. The problem with it is it doesn't relieve traffic on I-35 as designed and you'll arrive in San Marcos in less time usually if you stay on the free interstate than the toll road, so why pay the toll when it doesn't save any time? They need to figure out a way to get all the trucks off I-35 and taking 140 that are not looking to stop in Austin and, unfortunately, this doesn't do it.
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