Texas Jim Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Here we go again. THIS TIME I will take a few pictures. Left Ft. Worth TX Sat morn about 10 am. Came thru Ft. Worth on I-35W then took 287 to Amarillo and on to Dumas, up in the Texas Panhandle. Then took 87 and 64 thru Dalhart and over to Raton where I picked up I-25 and headed north to Colorado. First 350 miles were pretty uneventful, except stopping about every hour for Darling Wife to make pit stops. Shouldn't have let her start drinking Dr Pepper so early in the morning. Between Dalhart and Texline, we ran thru a bad storm. Rain, high wind and HAIL. I was getting worried that it was gonna bust the windshield. Some of the hail stones sounded like exactly that...STONES. Checked the car today...it is ok. No dents or dings that I have noticed. Came up I-25 to Trinidad Colorado, where I had planned to stop for the night. Went to 5 different motels (NO VACANCY) starting with Holiday Inn and worked my way down to a local no name place. I asked if they had internet access. (Of course) I was assured that they did. They didn't. Got my money back...and went on up the road to Colorado City. QUICKLY. I had been poking around all day...I had told Darling Wife that we were not going to try to cover as much ground as we usually do. Days Inn...the only place that had a room. The guy was upfront about their internet was down. There were a couple of guys working on it, but he told me that it may or may not get fixed in time for me to use it. I could accept THAT...he was honest and up front about it. Plus I was getting tired by that time. It still wasn't working this morning. You could CONNECT to the WI FI...but you couldn't DO ANYTHING after that. It was something EXTERNAL to the building. To be continued.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted July 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Day 2... Ate a light breakfast and left Colorado City about 9 am. decided to just take the back roads and just see where we ended up at the end of the day. Headed out on Hwy 165. Right up thru the middle of the mountains. Real nice, pretty drive. About 35 miles or so, the hwy dead ends into hwy 96. Took Hwy 96 west to Westcliffe. I have an Uncle and his wife that live there. Called the home number to see if they wanted to meet for lunch, and found out that my Uncle was in Ft. Worth for my Great Aunts funereal that had been on Friday. He has a son that lives a little ways from Ft. Worth. He was flying back to Colorado today. (Sunday) If I had known THAT...I could have waited a day...and he could have rode up here with me and saved the cost of the plane ticket. Anyway...left Westcliffe and headed up Hwy 69 to where it intersects Hwy 50. Headed west on 50, going to Gunnison. Decided to eat lunch in Salido. Got there just as church was letting out. Thats not a good time to eat in a small town. There are not many restaurants in Salido. A couple of them had people standing around outside the door ... waiting to get in. We`found one with no line out the door. We soon found out why. The prices were sky high. We sat down...looked at the menu...got up and walked out. Almost 20 bucks for a darn chicken fried steak. And the prices went up from there. Manager came running out to the aprking lot as we were getting in the car...wanting to know why we left without eating. I told him. We went down the street to KFC/Taco Bell. I had chicken, baked beans, potato wedges a buttered bisquit and a large Dr Pepper. Darling Wife had a Burrito Supreme and a large Dr Pepper. Total bill...$10.15 Headed out west again on Hwy 50. Came across Monarch pass....elevation 11, 312 feet. It was 64 degrees on top of the pass. That was so nice...it has been well over 100 degrees at home for the last three weeks. Coming down the west side of the pass there is about 20 miles. or maybe a llittle more of really sharp curves and it is almost all DOWNHILL. It amazes me how many people DON'T HAVE A CLUE on how to drive in the mountains. All the way down that 20 miles or more...all I saw was BRAKELIGHTS. Seemed like none of the idiots that I was behind, had ever heard that you could actually put the shiftlever in something OTHER than DRIVE. I passed them as soon and as often as it was safe. As we got to the bottom of the pass and got back on more or less normal roads... still hilly and curvy, but not like going up or coming down Mnarch, Darling Wife needed a pit stop again. It was about 30 miles from there to Gunnison. From previous trips here...I knew there was NOTHING till you got to Gunnison. So for that 30 miles...had to kinda STEP ON IT a bit. I love the sound of a N* in full song at 6,800 RPM. Stopped at McD's for a snack and pit stops. Went to a Quality Inn...their internet was down. Crossed the street to a Days Inn. Couldn't get anyone to come to the front desk. Down to the next corner...local Mom and Pop place. No internet. He was areal nice guy...he called his friend that runs Rodeway inn and internet works here. PLUS I got a good discount for being referred from the other place. It worked out well. Great big room...nice work area...king bed...a sitting area at one end with two nice recliners, a fridge, microwave and about a 30 inch tv (that has not been turned on) Thats about it for today. DTS has been flawless...as usual. Hope it stays that way. To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Have a safe trip Jim, enjoy Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Olsson Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 First 350 miles were pretty uneventful, except stopping about every hour for Darling Wife to make pit stops. Shouldn't have let her start drinking Dr Pepper so early in the morning. Thought my wife was the only one that worked that way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Olsson Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Manager came running out to the aprking lot as we were getting in the car...wanting to know why we left without eating. I told him. I hate when they do that. If they can't figure out why there are no customers then they shouldn't have to ask, instead they should take another job. Lousy service and/or high prices are usually followed by an equally stupid and rude staff So for that 30 miles...had to kinda STEP ON IT a bit. I love the sound of a N* in full song at 6,800 RPM. Hmm, how long did it take to drive the 30 miles? Sounds like you're driving like the gentleman to the right Sounds like you're having a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted July 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 So for that 30 miles...had to kinda STEP ON IT a bit. I love the sound of a N* in full song at 6,800 RPM. Hmm, how long did it take to drive the 30 miles? Sounds like you're driving like the gentleman to the right Sounds like you're having a great time! Yep, we are having a pretty good time. Just driving around seeing the beautiful country. As to your question about the 30 miles...it took about 20 minutes. Would have done it quicker, but there was quite a bit of slow traffic on a 2 lane road. Passing them at WOT, was where I could hear the NorthStar singing to me. My DTS does run pretty good. (At least I think so) It is VIN 9 with Mag Ride and I have had the ECM and TCM custom tuned. Now I have bought the tools to do the tuning myself, and am tweaking it some. Shift points, Torque Management, removing speed limiter, raising the Rev Limiter, adjusting where Power Enrichment kick in, Tip In and Tip Out of the throttle....stuff like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Olsson Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Shift points, Torque Management, removing speed limiter, raising the Rev Limiter, adjusting where Power Enrichment kick in, Tip In and Tip Out of the throttle....stuff like that It is nice to know that there still are people who actually enjoy driving Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Ok...a little update on the trip. Day 3... An apology is in order. I said I would be taking pictures...but... I borrowed a nice DSLR and lenses from my son before I left. It is not working right. All the pictures are REAL DARK. Most of them...you can hardly tell what they are supposed to be. So looks like there won't be many...if any, pics posted for THIS trip. Sorry about that, guys and gals. I really wanted to post pics of the trip. The DTS is running great. Have not had any problem with it at all. Left Gunnison Co at about 9am after breakfast. Went a little ways west and picked up Hwy 149 and headed south to eventually come out on hwy 160 which crosses "Wolf Creek Pass" and goes west towards Durango Co. (There is an old song about the pass...by C.W. McCall) It is a real pretty scenic drive down hwy 149. It is a little unusual, in that the landscape varies from mile to mile. It is on the western edge of where the rainfall changes from mile to mile based on the mountains configuration which affects airflow and of course rainfall. You can be driving along with forest on both sides of the road, top a hill and start down the other side, and it is real arid and dry. Just a few cedar trees and sagebrush. No forest. Some areas are real fertile, but a mile or two farther and you are almost in a desert. Then back in good land again. It is different from your usual drive where you see the same thing ...mile after mile. Anyway...we went down 149 to Lake City. Saw a TOURIST INFO site and stopped to ask about a road that runs from Lake City to Ouray Co. I had saw it on the map, but looking at it using GOOGLE EARTH...it looked to be a good road out of Lake City, but NOT GOOD at the other end over by Ouray. Talked to this lovely young lady, about 18 years old, with a pretty voice and an absolutly beautiful smile, that was real knowledgeable about the area. She said it was a nice drive for about 10 or 12 miles or so, past a lot of old mines, with a small river running right along side the road. after that, it wasn't maintained very well for about 5 miles, then wasn't maintained AT ALL, for the last several miles to Ouray. She said that the last several miles to Ouray was a 4x4 road only. She asked what kind of 4x4 I had. When I told her that I was in a Cadillac, she smiled real nice and told me that it was "NOT" a Cadillac road on the other end. She said the first 10 miles or so would be fine for a Cadillac, but not much more. She was right, it was a nice drive...dirt road with sheer cliffs on both sides of the road...probably WELL OVER 500 feet high in places. Then the road would widen into a valley, and there were old abondoned mines and buildings sitting around everywhere. Then it would narrow again...etc..etc. On the way back to Lake City, I did get one picture that turned out halfway decent. Was driving along pretty slow, and saw a big mule deer in the woods, just a few feet off the road. I eased the car to a stop...grebbed the camera and slowly stepped out of the car. I fully expected him to BOLT as the car stopped, but he also stopped walking and was watching "ME". I eased to the back of the car and slowly brought the camera up and focused on him. When the camera "CLICKED"...he was "GONE." Back out to the main road and continued on to South Fork where we headed west on Hwy 160. Going across Wolf Creek Pass is easy now...compared to 40 years ago when I crossed it for the first time. There used to be a sign...I have an old picture of it somewhere at home.... It was an ordeal back then to get across to Pagosa Springs and points west. Now you just drive up the road and go down the other side. They have made bigger tunnels, straightened out some of the curves and switcbacks and widened the road. They have been working on it for the last 20 years or so. It amazes me how many people don't know how to drive in the mountains. They HAUL A$$ up one side...and then RIDE THE BRAKES down the other side. They never seem to DOWNSHIFT the transmission to a lower gear. I sometimes go for miles following them, watching them ride the brakes, just coasting along (in a lower gear of course) and never touching my brakes. Went on thru Durango and ended up in Cortez Co. Pretty uneventful day, except for meeting the pretty girl in Lake City and taking the picture of the deer. To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Shift points, Torque Management, removing speed limiter, raising the Rev Limiter, adjusting where Power Enrichment kick in, Tip In and Tip Out of the throttle....stuff like that It is nice to know that there still are people who actually enjoy driving Yep... I do enjoy driving. Especially in a well running Cadillac... I have had it about 2.5 years and have 64,000 miles on it. I have a 2 year old Chevy van that I use for work. It has almost 70,000 on it. I do drive a little bit. I am in the process of tuning it to make it run better, just like I am doing with the Cadillac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted July 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 Day 4... Another update...sorry to be so late. Left Cortez Co. and started N towards Grand Junction Co. Again, I decided to take "The Road Less Traveled." Took Hwy 145 n thru Delores, Rico, Sawpit, Placerville and up to Vancorum. That was really a neat highway. Most of it, you were driving within 50 yards of the Delores river, down in a canyon. It was all green and the river was pretty well tree lined, except where there were little farms or a house real close to the river. Not far north of Placerville, you climb out of the valley and are now up on a plateau. The plateau goes for about 50 miles or so. It is real fertile up on the plateau, and everything is planted in crops or the land is used for grazing cattle. Stopped at Vancurum for another pit stop and to get snacks at the grocery store. People at the store were SO NICE and friendly. The restrooms were in the storeroom in the back of the store. While waiting for Darling Wife, I was just standing there looking around, and noticed some SKINS on the wall. One was a fairly large Bobcat, another was a VERY LARGE Mountain Lion. One of the ladies came into the storeroom to get something, and I asked her about them. She said they were all killed just outside of town. Then she took me back out in the store and showed me about the biggest ELK head with an absolutely HUGE set of antlers. I don't believe I have EVER seen a bigger set of antlers. Darling Wife came out about that time and we gather up 3 kinds of chips, some cheese/peanut butter crackers, some Snickers and an apple and headed on down the road. The lady at the store told me to be sure to stop at Gateway...a little ways down the road. Shortly after that, we went OFF the plateau and back down in another valley beside a river. It is about 100 miles thru that area till you join Hwy 50 and are back to civilization. Literally. This canyon and river was in a very different landscape from the first river. This was very arid land...basically a desert. Over hundreds of thousands of years the river has cut a huge canyon across the landscape. There were times that the cliff walls are probably at least 1000 to 1500 feet above your head. For about 40 miles, you are in the canyon. There were times that we drove for at least 10 to 15 minutes and DID NOT SEE ANOTHER CAR. Makes you think about how bad it could be if your car broke down. After about 40 miles, we came out of the canyon, sorta, into a big WIDE valley. The town of Gateway is there. The guy that owns the Discovery Channel owns the town. He bought the old ghost town and tore it down and built a whole new town, such as it is. There is a nice motel, a store, a gas station, and a TOTALLY GREAT Car Museum. The whole town is built in the old Southwest adobe style. It looks real nice. We spent a couple of HOURS going thru the car museum. They had a nice wheelchair and I pushed Darling Wife around while we looked at the cars. Darling Wife can walk and stand, but for a VERY LIMITED time. Just a few minutes and thats all. All of the cars in the museum actually RUN and are street drivable. There are all kinda of cars there. A 1930 Model "J" Dusenburg...a Pierce Arrow...a Model T...a Hemi Cuda...a 1967 Shelby Mustand GT 500...oh, I almost forgot... and several Cadillacs. A 1928 Series 341 Dual Cowl Phaeton A 1938 V-16 Town Sedan... a 1947 Series 82 Convertible... a 1953 El Dorado Convertible, and a 1955 El Dorado Convertible. and a whole bunch of other cars. Packards, 1953 Buick Roadmaster Canvertible a 1948 Indian Chief motorcycle..etc etc etc etc. It was a really neat museum...they probably don't get many visitors, because it is stuck way out in the middle of NOWHERE. Anyway...after the museum, we headed on up the road towards Grand Junction Co. Had trouble finding a room...most places were booked up. Went to seven different places...gradually woring up in price before going to Holiday Inn. (paying a LOT MORE than I wanted to) Darling Wife fell and skinned her knee and left palm pretty bad coming out of a restaurant and getting back in the car. When we finally got her settled in, I then went to the drug store. Got gauze bandages, non hurtful tape, alcohol pads, NeoSporin and assorted other stuff to fix her skinned places. Except for her falling, and us having trouble finding a place to stay...it was a great day. Real interesting sites to see, great car museum, and a comfortable room to stay in... even if it was way over priced. DTS was again...flawless. More later... Any and all comments welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.