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Re: Driving from Washington to Pennsylvania

To: Alan Dahl <alandahl@mac.com>
Subject: Re: Driving from Washington to Pennsylvania
From: Iain Mannix <mannix@rmsolo.org>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 09:57:12 -0700 (MST)
On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Alan Dahl wrote:

> On Thursday, December 19, 2002, at 12:45  AM, Mark J Bradakis wrote:
> > the race tracks in Colorado.  You come out on the western edge of The 
> > Great
> > Flat Spot, go through Fort Collins where you jump on I25 to Denver, 
> > then east
> > on I70.
> 
> If you do take this road beware that on the Colorado side this is a 
> *huge* speed trap. Bill Beutow and I got stopped and ticketed on this 
> stretch of road back in '93. When we went by the cop (traveling the 
> other way, no radar on according to my Passport and Bill's detector) we 
> were doing maybe 3-4 mph over. He did a U-turn and then followed us for 
> what was probably 10-15 miles until we came upon his buddy *sitting 
> sideways in the road* and both received tickets for 15 over! Nothing we 
> could do to talk our way out of it either, we were railroaded. Since 
> then not only have I avoided this stretch of highway, I've tried to 
> avoid Colorado altogether if their police are going to play games like 
> that.

Beyond the law enforcement issues on that stretch of road(never 
ticketed, but I've seen plenty of cops on it), I've found that 
it is actually faster (by 15-45 minutes, depending on time 
of day) to continue on 80 to Cheyanne, then south on 25.  
That road is nice, but it dumps you out on the NW side of 
Fort Collins, and unless it is late at night/*early* am, 
traffic slows progress through to 25 enough that the 
shorter distance does not pay off. 

IME, YMMV, etc - but I've driven from CO to Utah several 
times(for skiing more than carstuff), and the fastest way 
to SLC from Denver is 25-80 through Wyoming - the "shortcut" 
to Laramie would be a LOT better if you did not have to 
pick your way through Fort Collins.  I always plan on 
8 hours Denver ---> SLC, 9 hoursish to Wendover, with 
clear roads, that number can get smaller, but if Wyoming 
is windy and snowy, it can get a bunch bigger.

I'd skip it, if time is a concern.  It is a nice drive, though.

Additionally, weather could be an issue tomorrow night and 
into Saturday - 40 from Park City through Steamboat/Rabbit 
Ears Pass is likely to be largely snowpacked(yay!), and if 
you *do* choose 40, turn right on 9 in _______?  Forget 
the town - but taking 40 all the way through to 70 is 
a lot slower - it adds Berthoud Pass to the trip, and with 
any luck, that'll be snowpacked, too;).



Iain(ski season is upon us...)

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