Cobweb Express
A Road Trip
by Mel McFarland
 It never amazes me like when someone talks about driving conditions, or their cars. When I am up on Pike's Peak and someone asks me about the weather, "Is it always like this?" That happens all the time, no matter what the weather is. The answer is a definite no, it changes all the time. People have the idea that the weather, driving conditions, and these things are fairly consistent. The only place I ever saw anything like that was Hawaii, but even there winter is different from summer.
When I did the history of our roads I pointed out how different the route and the roads are. Even in the 1960's when the interstate was built it barely looked like it does today. The two lanes have become wider, and here and there more lanes added. Even the road through Fountain, Widefield and Security has lost the way it looked when it was used before 1-25. The two lane narrow strip of concrete is still visible in spots down by Pinon. That was a great improvement over the dirt roads of the 1920's.
One of my uncles drove from Coffeyville, Kansas to Denver in the very early 1930's with a buddy from high school. The two kept a diary of the event, and one of them even wrote it up for his grandchildren. The trip today would take about a long day. At the time it took them over a week! The biggest problem, in addition to very few paved roads, was what it did to their tires. The had to stop almost every day to fix a flat. In those days everyone carried a patch kit and sometimes extra inner tubes. Now and then parts on the motor broke and they often did the repairs themselves. Garages were rare, and often what they found was a blacksmith! The car itself was a touring car, like a four door convertible, with no top or windows except the windshield. The wiper was about as useless as the gas gauge! They had to dip a stick in the tank to see how much gas they had! A time or two every day they added water to the radiator from streams. They carried a couple cans of oil for that constant drip. Reliability has come a long way, and my car forty years ago also had extra oil and antifreeze in the trunk.
Cars and roads have come a long way. But, nothing ever stays the same, who knows what driving around here might be like in 2018!
CONTACT THE WRITER • MCMIDLAND@YAHOO.COM
MEL'S ARCHIVES
4-11-07 | 4-18-07 | 4-25-07 | 5-2-07 | 5-9-07 | 5-16-07 | 5-23-07 |
5-30-07 | 6-6-07 | 6-13-07 | 6-20-07 | 6-27-07 | 7-4-07 | 7-11-07 | 7-18-07
7-25-07 | 8-1-07 | 8-8-07 | 10-24-07 | 11-1-07 | 11-5-07 | 11-12-07 | 11-26-07 | 12-5-07
12-12-07 | 12-26-07 | 1-2-08 | 1-9-08 | 1-16-08 | 1-23-08 | 1-30-08 | 2-6-08 |
