{"id":2594,"date":"2017-06-16T23:14:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T05:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.grunschev.com\/wordpress\/?p=2594"},"modified":"2018-08-09T07:26:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T13:26:15","slug":"cota-blitz-the-road-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/2017\/06\/cota-blitz-the-road-home\/","title":{"rendered":"COTA Blitz: The Road Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, June 11<\/h2>\n

In general, I don’t like going the same way, to and from. I prefer a loop. A loop for this trip would be impractical. What I ended up with, though, was nearly as good: a dumbbell. Different routes for about two hundred miles on the Austin end and between home and Amarillo on the Denver end.<\/p>\n

It was sunset when I approached the wind farm near Sweetwater. The windmills were in silhouette in darkening amber. There’s a red light on top of each turbine. The light flashes on and off; a few seconds on, a few seconds off. That rhythm gets interrupted depending on which way the wind blows. If the blades are facing you, they pass in front of the light.<\/p>\n

These things are laid out in rows. Generally, due to the route the road takes, it just looks like a random assortment of the things. But every now and then you get to look down a row of five or six of them. Groups of thirty or forty had their lights synchronized such that they\u2019d all go off and on at the same time.<\/p>\n

Arrived at the motel and went to check in. No reservation. Hmmm. They asked if I had the right motel. I have gone to the wrong place before but pretty sure I got the right place this time. I checked my phone. Here\u2019s the record of my phone call: I called this number last night. \u201cYes, that\u2019s us.\u201d How is it I can make reservations two different ways and still not have a reservation? I’m glad they weren’t booked up.<\/p>\n

Monday, June 12<\/h2>\n

Just out of Snyder they\u2019re erecting a windmill just a couple hundred yards off the highway. Shortly after I passed the site, I passed two blades on transporters. Probably not for the same site, as they only had a short section of the pylon completed. Near Lubbock I saw another piece of pylon heading the same way. Makes me wonder how many they\u2019re still building. I also can\u2019t help but wonder why they\u2019re all white. I\u2019m guessing they\u2019re not painted, as that would seem to be a big maintenance nightmare. Is it a law that they\u2019re white, or a result of an engineering issue?<\/p>\n

North of Lubbock on I-27 I think a train honked at me. It was going the other way on a line with no grade crossings for miles. One quick blast of the horn and done.<\/p>\n

I stopped at Boise City for lunch. When I got back on the highway, a sign indicated it was 287 miles to Denver. That was the only sign with mileage to Denver the entire trip until I got on I-70 at Limon.<\/p>\n

I didn’t like the road in Oklahoma. The expansion strips were wide and drummed the car with a staccato beat.<\/p>\n

I think this is the first time I’ve ever changed time zones by traveling north.<\/p>\n

On the map, the road is arrow straight though there are some small variations. But it does rise and fall, and the horizon is no longer razor sharp. We\u2019re crossing grassland, prairie. Not farmland, and doesn\u2019t appear to be ranching, either.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived in Colorado for about forty years. I\u2019ve never been to about a quarter of the state \u2013 everything east of I-25 and south of I-70. Kit Carson, Eads, and Lamar were just names in weather reports. They’re still pretty much just names in weather reports to me, but I’ve driven through them!<\/p>\n

There was a lot of truck traffic. It looked like most of it was going the other way, as I caught and passed only a few tractor trailer rigs. But southbound it was not uncommon to see trains of five, six, seven rigs.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get rush hour traffic until Northfield, which was better than I expected. Only six or seven miles of it; much less unpleasant than ninety miles of I-25.<\/p>\n

I’m happy to be home. Now it’s time to get the bugs off the car.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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