Day 6: October 7, 2024 The PPOO's PP Comment via blog

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Here's a change of pace from those wonderfully restored gas stations I photographed yesterday. This one is a prime candidate for restoration and so too are the contents of the outbuilding.

And just a couple of blocks up the street is a loy overflowing with candidates for restoration. Although many are shells only, without engine or interior, I counted at least thirty full bodies in the lot plus some on the street and some odd parts. Note in the last picture that, while rust is responsible for many of the holes, it isn't their only source.

Something that was first pointed out to me in Nebraska, also occurs in Kansas. Just about the time that a passed grain elevator slips out of view behind you, a new one pops up in front of you. The phenomenon continues into Colorado although in Colorado as well as far western Kansas, those elevators might be visible only from the top of a rise.

The motel did not offer breakfast and nothing in Goodland had tempted me so I was ready for breakfast by the time I reached McCaffee's I-70 Diner. It has a stack of mileage signs out front and a row of EV chargers with a retired gas-guzzler-on-a-stick just beyond. I ate my breakfast at the counter with a fully decorated Halloween tree at the end.

Mountains soon appeared in the distance and they kept getting closer until I was at the Pike's Peak Highway toll booth. How could I claim to have driven the Pike's Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway if I didn't drive up Pike's Peak?

I made it to the top in 55 minutes which is barely 47 minutes off of Romain Dumas' record and he had a 6 mile head start.

There were a lot more people than cars at the summit. Some had ridden up on shuttle buses some had ridden on the cog railroad and, incredibly, some had hiked up. I believe the temperature was somewhere around 80°F when I started the climb. It was 44°F when I recorded evidence of my visit.

Rangers clear the summit at 4:00 and all cars must be off of the highway by 5:00. I stayed until closing time and started downhill about the same time as the cog railroad train. Brake temperatures are checked about halfway down and a reading above 300 or so gets a timeout. I passed at 190 completed the downhill drive in 45 minutes.

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