Scribe-ls

The best thing about driving is seeing what's going on, or has passed by.  Lately, though, the roadside tells sad stories and driving across town has become a study in heartbreak. 

I've seen more and more empty store fronts and box-store "closing events" advertised by kids with sandwich boards on street corners.  The box stores' closings are sad for the lost jobs and loss of choice.  The saddest, though, are the small-business closings and they always choke me up.  Not only are jobs lost, but someone's hopes and dreams have been reduced to blank space.  There's so much behind a small business' closing.  Many times, the owners lose their home and possessions as well because they'd sunk it all into trying to save a fading dream. 

As the wheels turn and I enjoy the fruits of recession - blowout sales and cheaper gas - it's hard to not feel a little guilty for my own good fortune to date.  It's also hard to not wonder when the blade is going to swing my way, or my family's.   If it does, what will I do?  I'm a survivor, but am I tough enough to take in family if needed?  Wow.  Staying home is looking better all the time.

Goco80401 can be credited or thunked for this one, with his pithy remark about some of our lovely on-off ramps around town (he asserts they had to have been designed by primates on hallucinogens).  Naturally, I thought about some of my "favorites" and it is probably a pretty fair guess that nearly everyone has at least one dreadful ramp that brings on that liquid-guts feeling when avoiding it is impossible.

There are a couple of ramps that have terrified me from my very first attempts at them as a young driver almost 30 years ago.  Yes, even then these were fear-inducing whirly-rides that required a steady putt-puttin' around the bend then a hallelujah of a foot-stomping leap of faith in your vehicle to enter the screaming flow of oncoming traffic on the target highway.  Slightly less terrifying now after numerous uses unscathed, if not unscared, is the ramps from south-bound Wadsworth onto either east-bound Sixth Avenue Freeway and the ramp from north-bound Ward Road/44th Avenue onto east-bound I70. 

Anyone who's driven around the west end of the Metro surely recognizes these.  The Wadsworth-Sixth one is part of an old modified cloverleaf interchange with a huge curve that make any speed over 35 a sure bet for an unsuccessful attempt at orbit.  After tootin' around this like old Mr. Magoo in his jalopy, you have about ten feet to reach traffic speed (speed limit 65, real speed at least 75), oh but wait!  There are vehicles trying to merge off right here, too, to get onto Wadsworth.  Their drivers barely dare to decelerate at all as no-one observes the spacing rules.  Yeeha!  Once you manage the weave here, you're faced with mergers-on, as well, while right-lane-riders gunning for the Sheridan exit are threatening to push.  On a good day, you might get lucky enough to have an opportunity to hop left a lane, otherwise it's a careful balancing act of braking, accelerating and hoping.  Once you're successfully on, you've definitely had your daily cardio workout.

Ward Road and I70 is enough to cause night-terrors.  There is no luxury of 10 feet to accelerate, it feels like six feet, and you've come up a bit of a hill on the ramp. The oncoming traffic on east-bound I70 has the advantage of a slight down-grade and amnesia of the fact that thte 75 miles per hour speed limit (85 real speed!) ended miles back.  Not to be overlooked is that the onslaught usually includes at least one semi, as not all of them take the break at the truck stop right there.  More often than not, you've also one sniffing up your tailpipe as you're straining up the ramp trying to achieve something close to a safe merging speed while simultaneously trying to gauge a jumping-in point.  Yiiiiikes!  Thank goodness there isn't the added spice of a forward off-ramp or another on-ramp.  You've got plenty of time to move it, move it, move it before the Kipling exiters scream across the interstate from the left lane.   

Welcome to the wild, wild west, newbies.  It takes grit to drive our highways.  Hope you've got some!

I have to grit my teeth every time some yuppie blathers about how everyone needs to be environmentally responsible and go get a more gas-efficient vehicle.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just up and be so selfless.  Last time I checked, most people are in hock up to their necks paying for their cars (I am) and the notion of suddenly hitting the local dealership to get a Yaris or SmartCar to conserve gas inspires hysterical giggles. 

I'm almost two years into my car, an Aztek, a cross-over by Pontiac.  That means I am most likely upside down in it, which is fine as I know it'll all catch up in the end.  I bought it to meet my transportation needs, not as an investment and am very pleased with it to date.  It's big enough to be comfortable (I'm not petite, but certainly not as big as they come either) for me and my dogs and all the gear to make a weekend in Hartsel pleasant, or a couple weeks' groceries and all the other Saturday errands-stuff.  It's not the hugest thing out there (I think that's the Tahoe or maybe a Humvee).  I've checked the gas mileage, which is about 22 mpg, mixed, and that is after resorting to "regular unleaded" with the recent price escalations. 

Essentially, buying a new gas-miser car is going to cost me lots more than simply keeping what I've got and being even more thoughtful of how much I drive.  The payments will be higher than what I've got now, if I could scratch up the ridiculous cash they want for a down payment.  Additionally, insurance will likely be more because while the Aztek is a sturdy vehicle with no pretensions of zippiness, therefore a lesser risk profile, these little Minis, Yarises and SmartCars crumple if you sneeze at them and inspire traffic-darting (uh huh, I've seen it!).  Would I like a car that gets 40 mpg?  Sure, if I can keep my Aztek for real stuff and use the littly for the 10-mile daily commute (round trip) and maybe zippadeedoos down to Texas or up to Wyoming to satisfy the gadabout urge.  Realistically, though, with our budget, one car each is it, and we're grateful for that, so it isn't going to happen. 

At any rate, the trust-fund-fed utopianists can make their suggestions all they want, but I'll keep on keeping on without guilt.  I have a good car kept in good tune, I manage my driving carefully and once in a while enjoy a little outing.  How far do THEY drive to and from their plastic offices each day? 

Driving up to Estes Park via the "scenic route" of Highway 287 all the way up to Highway 34 and then west, I was taken aback by the wild and crazy growth up north.  Gone is the two-lane toodle up from Arvada to Loveland.  Highway 287 is four lanes all the way with speed limits up to 65 miles per hour.  Zoiks!  The only saving grace is that exorbitant gas prices have greatly reduced leisure traffic up there for the time being.  Also, much farmland has been supplanted by shopping centers and subdivisions, and I really miss the cows and crop dusters. 

I know...growth happens and most of it is okay in that inevitable sort of way except the neo-urban garbage plunked down in southern Broomfield and (I think) northern Lafayette (Prospect).  While I understand we've a whole crop of suburban-raised younguns who want to have the look and feel of hip urbanism without the icky things like bums and genuinely old warehouses (and the cost), it just blows me away that these phony-baloney warehouse-y looking, densely packed structures of condos, apartments and business are dropped right out in Green Acres.  They don't fit the surrounds at all and stick out like sore thumbs.  They're so trendy and dense I've taken to thinking of them as "future blight."  These younguns are going to soon tire of living in fake urbanity and take their money and return to more traditional suburban styles. 

Anyway, there were still cows and crops here and there, which was nice to see.  We've got to raise the food somewhere.  Up Highway 34 the cute little Cherry Store is still there, selling cherry everything in a perky red-and-white setup.  Most of the funky old motels and cabin outfits remain, although many new log palaces perch on the canyon walls.  While not a member of the Flat Earth Society, I have to admit that it's reassuring some good things remain the same. 

Coming up from the southernmost part of the State on December 15th was a rare and pleasant driving experience.  Although traffic was heavy from about Walsenburg on, most drivers were observing the speed limits and left-lane law meticulously.  There were no games of in-and-out-the-window, no road rage, no hair-raising near-misses.  If you've driven the south artery much you can appreciate how special that is, given that it's usually a fright fest from Pueblo north.  A drive that usually requires at least one stop just to give the nerves a break was feasible non-stop!  Three hours!  That has to be a record for me. 

Thanks to all my fellow travelers that day.  It was a pleasure.  To those setting out for the holidays:  driving nicely can actually save time, so what do you say?  Give it a try and arrive alive on-time.

Didya see the sign advertising the "buger" on north Wadsworth last week?  It was a classic!  I just had to take a picture of it.  It's in my album and I think they might have seen it because it's been corrected.  Awwww

Another one I really get a good giggle from is the huge pink neon cat on a local chain of veterinary clinics.  It's best observed at night when you're in a giddy mood.  : )  

Years ago a vacuum shop on Mississippi and Sheridan had a cute sign:  "our vacuums really suck."  Simple funnies sure do lighten the drive.  Have you seen some gassers recently or long ago?  Do tell! 

Some years back I signed a petition supporting the return of Guanella Pass to a dirt road, which state of its being really predates me.  Even as a kid when we'd go camping up at Clear Lake, the road was paved and quite nicely so.  So, the thought was that pavement would be torn up and maybe macadam put down to reduce traffic.  Sounded reasonable.  The day I signed, the road was like a parade.   

Fooled me, they did!  What we've got, starting from the Grant (285) side is deteriorating (but not yet horrid) pavement leading to brand-new asphalt up near the Subaru-driving-hiker mecca of Mts. Evans and Bierstadt then rapidly degrading into a pitted mess that gives way to some nice macadam toward Georgetown (I70).  Some of the potholes as you pass the transformer station and head toward Clear Lake have to be big enough to swallow up a deer - or a Yaris.  Driving becomes dodging and is a real challenge when you meet - oh my gosh - traffic coming the other way!  It's like the showdown at the OK Corral over who gets the solid patches of road versus who gets to bounce every bone in their body loose - and a few car parts, too.   

It's ridiculous.  A bad road has NOT reduced traffic, it's still a parade at choice times, but now the drive is more hazardous because of the need to dodge serious potholes while spinning hairpin curves and avoiding legendary drop-offs.  If macadam is going to cover most of the road, even though it's less dust-producing than plain old dirt, we're still going to have dust-coated everything up there and how good can that be for that environment?  Lucky Georgetownies will get to have it settle all over them.  Oh yeah, and hey, welcome to Colorado, all!  Chair donuts are available at the next megastore.

I take back my signature and apologize to the gasping deer.

Anyone who's ever driven the interstates around here, has surely experienced Spontaneous Slowdown.  I say "around here" because I have not seen nearly as much of it in other metro areas. 

You know, you're zipping along minding your own business and all the traffic laws when, whoa-nelly, brake lights cover all lanes for as far as you can see.  It wouldn't be so bad if whatever it was cured and we all got back to happily zipping, but no.  Any time a sudden brakelight blanket happens you can expect a half-hour or better delay.  The weird part is:  when you get to where traffic opens up again, you see...nothing.  That's right.  No wreck, no spectacle of a goof out of gas on the shoulder, no radar-jockey freaking everyone out.  HUH?

I'd enjoy hearing from cops and highway experts who might know what causes this schedule-smashing phenomenon. 

More than once I've noticed this just plain dumb roadside oddity:  signs pasted over defaced signs asking the viewer to help stop the illegal posting of...signs.  The replacement signs provide a website and of course ask for donations.  Is this a "two wrongs make a right" deal? 

Even if the re-signers have obtained permits, they make a foolish statement because a) the cluttersome original sign is left there in a defaced form and b) the new sign consists of a wrinkly-after-rainfall piece of paper pasted over the original sign, usually uglier than the original sign by far.  Ugly plus ugly equals ugly.

Check it out:  Kipling northbound just north of I70 and Wadsworth near 38th.  I'm sure there are more...

As I sat on north Wadsworth watching a very long freight train roll by this rush hour, the wonder of those machines overtook me.  It's like a line of wrapped gifts rolling by - what's inside?  Where did it come from?  Where is it going?  Why aren't we using more of these to move people?

Even the graffiti on the boxcars and tankers held an element of mystery.  Much of it is just plain old scrawling, arltessly placed and even less so rendered.  Then there are the true artworks.  I noticed these kind are usually placed so as not to interfere with the vessel's markings.  They're obviously very carefully painted, too, with shading, tone subleties and use of light.  Not landscapes or scenes, although I did notice a particular one that made an upward pointing arrow look like a grey house with flapping shutters on a Judy Berlin day, these works are usually crafty renditions of interesting nicknames. 

I found myself wanting to photograph these strange markings as they move across the land.   I'm curious how often and in what places I'd find the same names, having recognized "Stain," very beautifully done on one boxcar and scrawled on a tanker, from a trip to Texas. 

Just idle thoughts formed while mesmerized by commerce on wheels...

Too many people are risking serious accidents running red lights in the near north area during the rush hours.  I drive through the Wadsworth/I70 interchange every day and almost without fail 5 or six cars per lane will push through the red coming off the westbound ramp onto Wadsworth.  Luckily, there hasn't yet been a convergence of those having the right of way with those who steal it, but it's only a matter of time before some unwary soul innocently enjoys the green and ends up dead.  I have yet to see any jurisdiction monitoring the interchange.

Two other bad spots are 38th and 32nd eastbound crossing Wadsworth.  Three or four cars fly through the red fairly regularly.  It's breathtaking in a bad way.

 How and why is it that some people are so self-absorbed that they boldly disregard the "other people's" lives, endangering them as they use their vehicles like weapons?  There is no difference between indifference behind the wheel and indifference behind a gun.  The fact that you were rushing to get to work/school/daycare/church doesn't make it any less heinous. 

SLOW DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION.