Preface
Not too long ago, I asked in the comments what the commentariat’s favorite stretch of road is. The answers ranged from US 7 in the Massachusetts Berkshires to Highway 95 to Zzyzx in the Mojave Desert and everything in between. That post was a lead up to this article which I’ve been planning for some time. Most of my submissions to the site have been self-important, bloviating, pseudo-philosophical dreck best left to stoned college sophomores. For a change of pace, I thought I’d write a simple love letter to my favorite stretch of road, along with some purty pictures.
The Silver Thread
I speak, of course, of the article’s eponymous road, The Silver Thread, aka: CO-149, one of Colorado’s Scenic Byways.
Cute, likes you and never says “no”.
Beautiful when she lets down her hair.
I have been traveling this road to the Undisclosed Location since I was six months old and it will never be replaced in my heart as my favorite drive. While it’s most definitely beautiful, it’s more like the cute and comfortable girl-next-door. Not the popular cheerleader like US 550 from Durango to Ouray,
She’d rather be with the quarterback.
or the unattainable bombshell like the Richardson Highway from Delta Junction to Valdez.
Wouldn’t give you the time of day.
It’s not seductively dark and mysterious like the Redwood Highway,
Who knows what pleasures lie in those curves?
nor exotic and sensuous like US 1 from Miami to Key West.
¡Muy caliente!
Nevertheless, it is “my road” (not really, but I think of it that way), and I think it’s as beautiful as the day I met her.
This 117 mile stretch of road runs from South Fork to US 50 just west of Gunnison. In the process it goes over two passes: Spring Creek Pass, 10,898 feet where it crosses the Continental Divide,
Pee in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific simultaneously.
and Slumgullion Pass, 11,530 feet.
Before.
Slumgullion is in an area that has been hit the hardest by the spruce beetle epidemic and the picture above shows it before the epidemic hit. The following picture is after.
After.
This is what a good realtor would call “emerging views”. The road also passes through the charming old mining towns of Creede and Lake City.
Creede.
Lake City.
In my opinion, of the two, Lake City is the more scenic and has the bizarre story of Alferd Packer, the legendary cannibal and subject of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s first foray into writing (“Cannibal: The Musical”). It also sits at the base of five of Colorado’s Fouteeners; Uncompahgre Peak, Wetterhorn Peak, Handies Peak, Redcloud Peak and Mt. Sunshine.
L-R: Wetterhorn, Matterhorn, Unnamed, Uncompahgre.
Creede was the more productive mining town and has more Wild West heritage, counting Soapy Smith, Poker Alice, Bat Masterson and Robert Ford among its previous residents. Lake City gets its name from Lake San Cristobal, a natural lake formed when about 10,000 years ago a massive landslide, called the Slumgullion slide, broke off the mountain and dammed up the Gunnison River.
Lake San Cristobal.
Slumgullion Slide.
Lake City is also the gateway to the Alpine Loop, a great 4×4 trail that loops from Lake City to Ouray to Silverton and back to Lake City.
Top of Cinnamon Pass in the Alpine Loop.
Beginning of Engineer Pass in the Alpine Loop.
Fall colors on the Alpine Loop.
The Silver Thread represents my little slice of Heaven of hiking, shooting, fishing, offroading and drinking. Driving on it always means that I can look forward to what it’s all about.
Back to the Undisclosed Location.
Also what it’s all about.
where is the mutton stew with polenta? what if you get hungry?
Also I though all the roads in the US are crumbling.
Also big ass trees
No, Pie, the Bridges are crumbling.
Jeff looks hearty and hale, though.
You can stop here:
http://www.kipsgrill.com/
or here:
http://www.packersaloonandcannibalgrill.com/
I was worried you went all socialist with your road show, but your final picture saved the day.
It looks like he had some work done.
Your commitment to tits is strong, and admirable.
Got my tacoma over engineer.
I think the views at mosquito pass were the best.
Nice roads all over Colorado
“Nice roads all over Colorado”
Generally true, but I76 would like a word.
Is it lifted?
It was! I had old man emu one. It was that or Bilstein 5100, but I found a sale for ome.
Mine was a 2005, saw your post the other day late.
I was looking at toytec & OME. Do you have a preference?
Both are good, from what I’ve seen. I liked my ome a lot, never owned toytec. I think you could pick either and be more than happy.
Awesome. Thanks.
I don’t know of the newer tacos still have a lean, but having ome let me correct that. It’s just a little shim on one side. Toytec might do the same, but I don’t know. Some trucks had it worse than others. Mine wasn’t really noticable to me until I measured.
I was watching an OME install video last night and it showed the front driver shim. Good tip.
Ugh, let me tell you about my drive over Berthoud Pass and Rabbit Ears on New Years Eve during a heavy snowstorm in a claped out Oldsmobile with four bald tires…
Was it a 70’ 442?
No, sadly. I used to have a ’67 with the 400/4bbl and holy shit, that was a rocket. But when we were driving through CO (this would have been in ’79 or so), we only had a rickety Cutlass inherited from my elderly aunt. And I was too broke for getting new tires. This trip made my knuckles permanently white.
I don’t know why Oldsmobile lost their soul and ultimately company. We had a 90 cutlass Sierra when I was a kid with a 3.3 V6. My mom loved that car, but even as a kid I thought it was just so bland.
In the early ’80’s, my grandfather and step-dad flat-towed a ’29 Model A with a ’68 Buick Le Sabre (a $400 car) and on crossing Loveland (I think) the brakes started going and it started snowing.
My step-dad had to get out and run along side and get into the Model A to use it’s brakes to stop their forward progress. If he’d missed, he’d probably still be there.
Last time I did it this summer, there had been a week solid of major rain. The road was seriously washed out exposing tons of fun rock crawling. I had to use my lockers quite a bit.
I’m eyeing a front air locker for my fj this winter. I have to pull the front end apart again anyway.
Go for it. I can think of no upgrade that will improve your performance more, not just for rock crawling when your tires are up in the air, but just for the traction improvement alone.
I have a center locker. Is that enough?
Did the bully lock you up in it in Jr. High?
I didn’t, to my knowledge, have a car then.
You left off the most important question – what was the most common roadkill? It was something I noticed during this year’s road trip. In PY/PA you got whitetail almost exclusively. Maryland/Virginia added turtles and turkeys. Turkeys and whitetail showed up less into North carolina. By the time I reached texas, it was largely armadillo.
Squirtle
Weird topic, but ok. I have never seen a turtle or turkey roadkill in MD.
I was in the western end, so there wasn’t a lot of MD around either.
I’ve never seen them on the pennensula end either. On the topic of turkeys, there was one in that same area (can’t remember if it was MD, WV or VA) that tried to kamikaze the front of my car. Luckily I managed to avoid splatting it (I don’t want to have to repair a radiator at the start of a road trip) The turtles got heavier the further into VA/NC I went.
Ah, yeah I only ever see the typical roadkill, squirrels, cats, and deer.
During the right time of year here in my neck of the woods (NoVa), the turtles are more common than anything else on the road. 2 or 3 a day isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Turkeys are usually smart enough to get out of the way, but I’ve nearly nailed one or two. Deer are ever-present. Skunk, coon, rabbit, and Canadian geese round out the rest.
Mule deer, skunks and coyote.
Every day I drive in to work I see dead white tail deer. The clean-up is left to turkey vultures, once in while one of them gets clipped too.
In the Spring I’ll see a few dead black bear as well.
The crows here are brilliant. They drop nuts into the middle of the street, the squirrels go get them, and then they get run over. Then the crows move in and drag the bodies away.
Florida panhandle is armadillo city. I used to joke that there’s no evidence of any living armadillos, only dead ones, because you’d see armadillo roadkill constantly but almost never see a live one.
So you postulate that Armadillos migrate to the panhandle to die?
The Armadillo’s Graveyard?
I actually had a mother with a litter under my deck. There were 3 mini-dillos. Which are not any cuter, just 1/3rd scale. Every damn one of them got hit by a car in front of my house over six moths.
In North Dakota it’s generally whitetails, raccoons and skunks.
Mountains get boring. Give me the endless fields of corn and soybeans of Iowa.
how many acres do you want?
expanses of flat land make me uncomfortable. how are you supposed to navigate with no landmarks? everything looks the same!
how are you supposed to navigate with no landmarks?
A clock and the sun perhaps.
Sextant might be useful.
No need.
The gravel roads go east, north, west, or south. All you care about is whether the sun is on your right or left; or is blinding you straight ahead; or is blinding you in your rear view mirror.
sounds suspiciously like sailing
Hence . . . prairie schooner
Roads get boring.. I am an ocean or sky guy.
I’m from Iowa, but mountains are great, too, and my favorite vacation spot.
Beautiful post, Q! Thank you.
Thanks for putting up with me.
Well the ending of your post was just eye popping..
“I have seen the top of the mountain. And it is good.”
I don’t know if I want to live in a country – nay, a world! – where a man can’t fuck his anatomically correct child robot doll and smoke some weed in peace.
Also, apparently there is a real bill in Congress right now titled the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act.
Are those Nazis at the FBI suggesting there are anatomically incorrect females?
Psst… The girl from Total Recall isn’t real.
If you add tentacles to the robot, does that make it more or less legal?
I always found it very unsettling that a person could potentially create something at home, like a drawing or a sculpture or a robot, involving no other human being, and then get arrested for it.
Robot kid face sold separately.
All these
beersyears later I can’t recall which route I took from Albuquerque to Denver—it may just have been 25—but I remember some vistas being quite fetching. (On the Colorado side, of course.)And San Antonio by way of 84-83 was effing awful
should I even ask if you took a left at Albuquerque or is it too cliche ?
I’m so extreme I make three rights instead of a left.
You used to work for UPS?
Or lived in New Jersey?
I really hate that “Turn right to go left” setup they’ve got there.
Have you not encountered the Michigan Left yet?
Is that anything like a hook turn?
Both of those are retarded.
I ran into a Michigan Left in Wisconsin. It was just as stupid there as it would have been in Michigan.
Negative commodius, although that looks pretty special as well.
And Playa, I mean, it has Michigan right in the name, that should give you a hint.
The ‘Jersey Jug-Handle’ is fucked up but not that fucked up.
That looks like some lovely country. I’m going through Colorado next week (new grandchild being blessed in SLC), and I looked at a map to see if I could detour over to see this, but since I have to go Dallas to CO Spgs, and then over to SLC, it won’t work.
Can confirm. All of the above.
even the bit about Iowa?
Yup. I grew up in Iowa. There’s a hell of a lot more there than corn and bean fields. Allamakee County is beautiful, all hills, hardwood timber and trout streams.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VpocuKiEyKk/Vh2V8cwa6nI/AAAAAAAAAvk/xE_LtkI3X9k/s400/iowa.jpg
That’s good corn-fed woman there.
https://archive.is/mDZdV/69b83719dcce472aa24d1210e27da2ef6e235a45
https://archive.is/mDZdV/91bc4254524a76144ec001f8cbf7d3063a63216e
https://archive.is/mDZdV/b27646a540ddd828aaab2e4ac6df2e6ac8d13950
https://archive.is/mDZdV/0e92f836ad73adb6d5b2fb0f045ebf7db28cf803
Some girls make me regret being an unsocial shut-in. She makes me relieved.
Probability there’s another attempted assassination if the vote goes for Kavanaugh? Hell, before? The left has worked itself into such a state, I don’t see them coming down without bloodshed.
Okay, I refreshed and scrolled to the bottom and it posted here. WTF?
I’ve had that happen before too.
#MeToo
Is she culturally appropriating the Mjolnir? Who cares, it fits just fine.
This should of the been the first post.
US-1 to key west is a nice drive. My wife really fell in love with the blue ridge parkway and wants to do a camping trip through there. Nice post.
Very cool pics. Thanks.
Lovely post. My mother would absolutely love this trip, as she has always had a love affair with the Rocky Mountains.
Big Bend has a ton of cool roads…..hard to pick.
Stop in Lajitas and buy the mayor (a goat) a beer.
https://www.solsalute.com/river-road-scenic-drive-texas/
Except the speed limits in the park are too low. I got stopped by a park ranger for doing 50 in a 40. She was worried that I would run over a javelina with my motorcycle. First off, lady, your exhibit at the visitor’s center just taught me that javelinas are nocturnal. Second, you had to be doing 80-90 mph in your Chevy Suburban to catch up to me. Who is the more dangerous driver from a javelina point of view?
She didn’t give me a ticket. But I was still mad and showed my displeasure by laying a nice black patch of rubber on her park road.
In her defense, only the pig dies when she hits it. You and the pig die when you hit it.
funny is funny no matter whose side you’re on
Senator Graham’s old medicine
that’s not how it’s done. you need to weigh him against a duck.
Dammit Lindsey, I don’t want to like you.
I wonder if this new spine is permanent, since he seems to be getting a lot of respect .
John McCain dies and Lindsey Graham becomes much cooler.
Coincidence?
You know Bill, I was thinking that just the other day….
Someone put a clip in the comments that led me to this longer version. First time I’ve seen it. Awesome. Like Scruffy says, I don’t want to like him…
The Blue Ridge parkway is incredible. The roads are winding, well maintained, and the views are stunning. Most of my favorite rides are shorter. Sections of PA state roads that have little to no traffic and change elevation by 1000ft along the way.
I always enjoyed route 6, once you’re west of Tunkhannok anyway. 154 by World’s End state park is really nice as well, and any random road that’s not a major highway through the Poconos.
PA 87, 220, and 487, parts of 29. There are plenty of good looking roads. They suffer from poor conditions as of late.
220, I forgot about that one. Not sure how, I went to Lock Haven.
Potholes are a state symbol in Pennsylvania. We even have a state park dedicated to one.
Beautiful area Q. Haven’t been that way before (From north of Grand Junction myself,) but have you taken the drive from Frisco through Hoosier Pass through Fairplay to Colorado Springs? Really enjoyed that drive.
Also, on Montana drives (that’s where I am,) the drive from Drummond through Phillipsburg through Anaconda is really pretty as well. Beautiful valley area.
“have you taken the drive from Frisco through Hoosier Pass through Fairplay to Colorado Springs”
Yes I have. I hope you stopped at Al-Mart in Alma.
Didn’t unfortunately. Too busy gawking at the ranches on the side of the road.
https://almartcolorado.com/
I love the area right around Fairplay. It would be great to have some land there, but that town is COLD. All the cold air sinks down into the valley and it’s windy.
I spend most of my weekends just outside of Fairplay. Wonderful, flee-bit sort of place.
Burro Days for the win. We got caught up in the Burro race traffic this summer driving through there on vacation.
For years I’ve been meaning to rent a burro (a thing you can actually do), train, and run in that race. I haven’t secured the time or energy yet. I did walk the route a few years ago. 29 miles, 3.200 feet of elevation gain.
Man, I drove from Kalispell to Boise via the Bitteroot one time. Stunning.
Beto vs Rafael
I was just on this road twice in the past month or so.
When I was a teenager Dad wanted to take the family on a fishing trip to Colorado. It rained on us every single day and Dad finally had enough. We were in Lake City Colorado and he spotted a road on the map that was a shortcut to Silverton. We discovered that this was the above-mentioned Cinnamon Pass. So over we went, 5 of us in a 2WD GMC pickup with a 3-speed. I recall several switchbacks where Dad would have to pop the clutch to get the rear wheels spinning so he could spin around the curve. He met several people on the road who told him, “You can’t make it in this!” and his reply was “I can’t turn around!”.
So looking for a 4×4 road trip I decided to try it myself. I went over in July and it was so much fun that I repeated the trip a few weeks later with Mrs. Hobbit.
https://imgur.com/a/noSycli
… Hobbit
I will never forget seeing a VW Bug on the road leading up to Carson Ghost town in Wager Gulch (another Lake City 4×4 trail). I asked the guy how he expected to survive and his response was “I have bus axles”. OK. It’s an out and back trail, so on the way back down I saw it high centered and abandoned; I can only assume they had to hike back to town to get a tow truck.
I was shocked, being a east coaster, at how dry and brown the Rockies were under the trees. I was so used to green and lush mountains I assumed the Rockys were the same.
Depends on how high up you are. If you’re talking about under the canopy, the Rockies’ forests are mostly coniferous, whereas East Coast forests are more mixed. Fallen needles make the ground very inhospitable for most ground cover. Outside the canopy, it’s all in the weather and the season. Late August and September when most of the snow has melted and there’s not much rain, it can get pretty dry.
I haven’t been out and about in much of the Appalachians besides the VA Blue Ridge, but in my experience they tilt pretty hard towards deciduous.
New York has mixed forests. some areas are largely evergreen, others not.
The Appalachians have much higher biodiversity than the Rockies. In fact, outside of central China they are the most biodiverse temperate region in the world. Granted, given China’s attitude towards environmental preservation, the Appalachians might surpass them in the future.
Mountains get boring. Give me the endless fields of corn and soybeans of Iowa.
*reflexively touches butt of pistol, inventories cover and exits*
Favorite Rides:
You wouldn’t think Kansas has any hills, but it does. I used to enjoy a nice motorcycle ride in the Gypsum Hills a few times a year.
Highway 61 (aka North Shore) of Minnesota is also a nice ride
Someday before I die I want to ride the dragon (Deals Gap Pass in North Carolina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgWE1yvD9s8
It is a good ride, but try and hit it on a weekday, it is pretty squidly on the weekends.
https://imgur.com/a/mTOhJ0D
Also do the Cherohala Skyway over to Telilco plains. That is a nice sweeping ride, not as intense and technical.
The Blue Ridge is a good ride on a MC, but skip Skyline Drive.
+1 for North Shore Drive.
A similarly nice drive is M-26 in the Keweena Peninsula.
+1 on the 61 drive. This time of year is crazy beautiful.
“This time of year is crazy beautiful”
…and tourists.
I really hate it when the vendor support tech doesn’t pay attention to the information in the ticket. It doesn’t help when you point me to a documentation to a component that isn’t even used in the install and has no relevence to the issue – and I already said as much.
I’m comvinced that “Basic Troubleshooting” is a skill as rare as “Common Sense”.
People with those two skills overlap greatly on the Venn Diagram.
Heh… I had to point out an issue to a Cisco TAC guy yesterday who was trying to troubleshoot the wrong problem. In a shocking turn of events, he realized it when I said it, apologized, and we got the problem fixed. I was expecting some pushback to step through a process that would have no impact on the systems in question.
And Common Sense isn’t.
I just get frustrated when I have to reiterate technical information that is already written down for them.
I get more annoyed at the techs who ignore the preferred contact method (e-mail) and proceed to call my cell phone (!) first, then my desk phone, leaving no messages, then e-mail me that they tried to call me and ask me to call them back. Dude, I’m just looking for some clarification on something from your data dictionary, it’s low priority, and I would rather have it written down then need to transcribe it over the phone.
Confession: as a dev at Cisco, I was pulled into a support case where I needed to send the customer a patch to fix some corner case. The issue was obvious when I looked at the logs, and I fixed it immediately. I sent them the patch, and they got back to me the next day to say it wasn’t fixed.
Turns out my code hasn’t saved when I compiled, and I sent them back the binary they were already running with a fancy new patch version attached. That was an embarrassing mea culpa.
(given the lack of proofreading that went into this comment, I’m sure you can tell exactly how such a mistake would’ve been made)
That’s not so bad, you could at least spin it that the first patch just wasn’t the correct fix, but patch number 2 would fix it for good! Worst Cisco issue I’ve ever caused is one that is amazingly common. Clicking the Remove All Associated button instead of Save Selected/Changes in the Device Association for Application Users. The team I’m currently on all laughed when I told that story, as every single one of us had done it once in our career.
For those who have never worked in Call Manager, the two buttons are next to each other, and there is no “Are you sure” prompt that comes up when you click the Remove All. That breaks everyone’s phone that needed to be linked to that application user. No undo button, so you get to track down all the phones and manually add them back to the application user.
I’m surprised that hasn’t been fixed. I knew some of the UI devs for call manager, and while they weren’t the best engineers, they were good enough at their job to fix that kind of stuff.
What version is CM on now? A lot of my code was in version 9 before we started a new project that didn’t yet have a version number when I left in 2014.
This was in versions 10.x and 11.x, it looks like the most recent version is 12.0 But I have no idea if that fun learning experience has been fixed yet.
Yes. The ability to conceptualize how something works, where the fault might lie, and how to narrow down to the actual fault seems to be getting rarer. I used to work with giants, now I was accused the other day of making baseless accusations because I outlined what was done, what needed to be done next, and what tools could be used.
Mostly unrelated- part of a dog & pony show this morning to try and get energy rebates from the local power company. Phone interview (hiree side) this afternoon. I hate hate hate interviewing as I suck at it. If SMOD hit the house overnight, I would have been happier.
The very best thing about CO is the Dead Guy event in Nederland.
Hard to argue with that.
I always enjoyed coming out of the woods into this sight. A great winding road in the woods to a beautify hollow with farm fields.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/32/96/e232962626023f73a7a6fad800cbd5f2.jpg
There is also the PA Grand Canyon. No real comparison to the actual one, more of a prickly pear to pine cone comparison.
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.psu.edu/dist/9/1420/files/2012/10/cfiles208761.jpg
In fairness, the entirety of the endless mountains are actually a dissected plateau, a massive network of small canyons and ravines steep enough to give the appearance of a mountain chain. Not as immediately impressive as the Grand Canyon, sure, but fun in its own right.
Flying over PA is interesting – that’s one weird landscape.
It’s even weirder on the ground when you start interacting with the Pennsylvanians.
I remember about 15 years ago a group of us were driving to DC for a LARPing event (don’t judge… fine judge all you want bitches), and the route is mainly the PA turnpike. The turnpike was closed for an accident for 3 exits or so, which meant we got detoured through access roads and country roads through central PA. There were some… interesting sights. Highlights included:
1) The guy who put up three crosses that were covered in bicycle reflectors just after the crest of a hill. So your car goes over the hill at night, and wham! Three glowing crosses on the side of the road.
2) The time we passed a rusted out truck on the side, followed by another, then several dozen more, all ending at a small little bar. We made several Dusk ’til Dawn references after that.
3) When the driver wanted to double check we were going the right way (this was before smart phones and GPS were common), and wanted me (the long haired punk looking guy) to go into the neighborhood bar to ask for directions because, “You like beer, you should fit in here.”
In Central PA near the turnpike you were likely deep in the heart of Amish and Meth country.
Definitely more meth then Amish. Power lines, gas stations, bars, etc. We’ve got our share of Amish and Mennonites here in Ohio.
They warn you now, at least. If you shut off your engine and strain your ears you can barely make out the faint banjo notes when you see that sign. I suggest you don’t, however.
Wow. I bet the Amish are psyched about being used to attract tourists.
Or would be, if they were on the Internet.
Yes! I used to be able to take back roads like that home from work. Since my office moved, I get to sit in a traffic jam by the NJ Meadowlands now.
Beautiful post, Q. There is nothing like those blue line roads in the country for driving / riding to take the mind off things.
Highway 89 in Arizona is pretty awesome
Gorgeous, Q! Those pics? Wood.
How often are you able to sneak off to the Undisclosed Location?
I went 3 times this year. It’s only accessible from May – October, so I’m done for the year. I’d love to spend a whole summer there, but alas, work et. al. so far have prevented it.
Really cool!
Looks like there might be some trout down yonder.
Many, many. My great-grandfather bought the Undisclosed Location in the ’40s mostly as a spot to fly fish. I’m more the lake fisherman type (which you can do there too) due to the fact that lake fishing involves sitting in a lawn chair and dozing while getting lit on Keystone Ice.
Amazing that it has stayed in the family that long.
Must not be Italian.
So, how do I get to the Undisclosed Location?
The blind guy in the Subaru commercial is the only one that knows.
Q took him there once, but first had one of his girls poke the dudes eyeballs out. It was cold that day.
Billionares don’t bluff.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-diplomacy-treaty/u-s-reviewing-agreements-that-expose-it-to-world-court-bolton-idUSKCN1MD2CP
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Wednesday pulled out of two international agreements after Iran and the Palestinians complained to the International Court of Justice about U.S. policies, the latest withdrawal by Washington from multilateral accords.
The U.S. national security adviser John Bolton slammed the highest United Nations tribunal as “politicized and ineffective” as he announced that the United States would review all international agreements that could expose it to binding decisions by the ICJ.
Earlier on Wednesday the ICJ handed a victory to Tehran, ordering the United States to ensure that sanctions against Iran, due to be tightened next month, do not affect humanitarian aid or civil aviation safety.
I am happy to see us being pulled out of these global shit shows that make Americans liable to the whim of some of the planet’s biggest scumbags not members of our own political and government classes.
Golden rule, motherfuckers.
M-26 in the Keweena Peninsula in Michigan’s UP has some spectacular views. And I was there in the summer, I bet right about now it’s jaw dropping.
There are some beautiful rides through the parks here in the Cleveland area. You’ve got the Emerald Necklace all around the city with roads and multi-use trails, and some beautiful paths you can ride right along the lake. The paths can get treacherous this time of year though, while the fall foliage can be beautiful, people underestimate how slippery wet leaves on asphalt can be.
Two years ago my in laws and I drove to this glass blowing place in Chagrin Falls from Cleveland Heights and the ride there was just beautiful. Who would have thought Northeast Ohio had a lot of hills?
I felt the same way the one time I drove through Wisconsin, both the girlfriend and I were shocked by the amount of hills (and detours). The drive through the UP on the way to Wisconsin was pretty, though the girlfriend did not like it, she said it was too “naturey”. *sigh*
Not as good as a pearl necklace, but we’ll allow it.
If it makes you feel better, it would be more like a pearl necklace when it’s covered in snow and ice.
“A 2014 post on his Facebook page said he celebrated his 70th birthday at a shooting range by repeatedly firing his M-14, set up exactly like the one he used in Vietnam.”
Probably not exactly, but I’m totes okay with it if he did.
Suthen proved correct re M14
your head could fall off
affordable Chinese design isn’t as good as timeless wooden handle installation method
But I’m not done.
Nothing better than a good piece of hickory?
$8 retail, may fail and kill you
vs
$140, made by descendants of Vikings
http://cspforestry.com/products/gransfors-bruks-hand-hatchet-413.html?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8cmV97ft3QIVRkGGCh1FpwfkEAYYAyABEgKCYPD_BwE
I like the 415 even more.
i like how their mauls have the metal sleeve just below the head for when i miss.
I actually bought that thing. We were on a camping trip and forgot our good one at home, so we bought that to get us by. And now we get our money back. Sweet.
Thanks for the article Q. The cabin pic made me realize that I need to start making time this Fall to go fishing. I have a stocked fishpond that hasn’t been touched in years, except by poachers.
I’m going to get my cooler and not do shit but fish and drink for a few hours, hopefully this weekend.
Now I am jealous.
“Not too long ago, I asked in the comments what the commentariat’s favorite stretch of road is.”
Gotta go with East Colfax.
And US 550 over Red Mountain Pass…. don’t look down.
In mid-september I spent a week up near Creede, it’s a beautiful place, and that was perfect timing. (and I shot Bullwinkle!)
US 395 past Mt Whitney.
Nice article
“Not too long ago, I asked in the comments what the commentariat’s favorite stretch of road is.”
What is that one in Somalia all libertarians are supposed to love called again?
There are no ROADZ in Somalia!
Offroading.
i hear it’s paved with bad intentions.
Looks like the birds in Minnessoda went to school with that Kavenaugh groper
The best part is the public notice.
The patriarchy is burying the real story – the epidemic of male birds sexually assaulting the intoxicated female birds.
Looks like since she is gonna lose the midterm anyway, Heidi is a no on Kavanaugh.
If Kavanaugh doesn’t get the nod, one day they will talk about him like they do Duke.
And no one will have learned a damn thing.
That Mangum chick is still doing her thing. Duke never really was hammered for letting that shit show go on. And the poor kids that had their lives destroyed are still living with that. Why would the people that condone and push this shit feel any need to stop doing what they do?
And the coach too. Apparently he had to go to smaller school for less pay.
I hope all those people who played their part in this travesty get cancer.
Collins and Murkowski said the FBI report was “very thorough”.
I suspect that is not enough however for people that need to obstruct this nomination…
she’s padding her resume for an analyst or lobbyist job now.
The last two polls that came out have her 10+ points down after being single digits down all summer. So yeah, she figured if she’s losing anyway, may as well make her future employers happy and vote “no”.
She’s had a long career in NoDak politics playing the “bipartisan” while her surrogates, most notably her radio-host brother, act as her attack dogs so as to keep her hands clean. It’ll be nice to see her go. I really hope she gets a cushy job in DC so we don’t ever have to hear from her again.
Incompetence, evil, and criminal get promoted up?
Flake and Snow are signalling that the FBI report met their demands, so I would expect them to vote to confirm. If so, its game over (finally).
Oh, and fuck Flake.
Did my esteemed colleagues here at Glibs already see and discuss the revelation that DNC lawyers met with FBI on Russia allegations before surveillance warrant?
Cause while I suspect the dnc operatives with bylines will try their best to ignore this story, it now leaves no doubt that democrats in the Obama admin decided to try and fuck over a political opponent. Not good for them. Not good for Obama and his people. Not good for the FBI. And definitely not good for the American people that feel the socialist utopia the left keeps promising us will look more like the old USSR or communist China than the beautiful vistas the prog utopia brochure promises.
Ok. So what is anyone gonna do about it?
Hillary or Obama don’t look to worried.
Why would they worry when they are counting on a corrupt FBI, a neutered DOJ where Sessions is basically never-Trumping for them, and democrat dreams of winning the midterms so they can then quickly stop any and all investigations into the corruption that prevailed in the Obama admin? It is not like America can get another lucky break – like it did when Trump won the election these crooks had rigged for Hillary – and the midterms end up leaving the democrats with their heads up their own asses and an emboldened team red now gunning to take them all down. Team red isn’t referred to as team stupid for no reason, and even with some of them finally realizing they better fight back, I suspect they will not want to investigate in the mistaken hopes the favor will be returned to them someday (which is why they are called stupid party).
Too bad. Hillary and Obama would look good in orange.
I would like the opportunity to get a license plat made by the two of them for my car. Not sure what the name on it would be however.
I saw a report (reliability? who knows?) that the FBI general counsel during the end of Obama’s administration has turned state’s evidence for a grand jury looking into criminal charges against Strzok, Page, etc.
If so, then the delayed conversation between Rosenstein and Trump may be different than we think. It may not be Rosenstein getting fired/resigning. It may be about what Rosenstein needs to do stay out of the grand jury.
Aaron Judge’s double last night was a foul ball. Just say’n.
Great pics! Don’t think I’ve hit CO 149 yet. I’ll add it to the list for the next cross-country drive…given it’s placement….a little further South of my usual routes 🙁 Maybe if I wind up back on that side of the country long term, it’ll be easier.