Day 8 - The Official S2KCA Meet Drive

At 8:00 AM, approximately 45 S2000's, in groups of 8 or so, rolled out of the Holiday Inn parking lot for our initial destination, the Purgatory Ski Area parking lot for our group photo. Somehow, we managed to get the cars into some sort of order, and here are a couple pics:

A couple of the members had their drones taking aerial pictures, and if I can get a copy later, I will post it.

In a moment of weakness, I had volunteered to lead a group of 8 cars in a drive over the "Million Dollar Highway" through Silverton to Ouray and beyond. We had 3 groups: Slow, Not so Slow, and mine, Really, Really Not so Slow. Needless to say, it was exciting at times, especially on stretches of this road with stone cliffs on one side and sheer drops of thousands of feet on the other with no guard rails. Fortunately, we survived with our group intact, and since I was pretty busy driving, only took a couple pics:

However, we did stop at a couple of scenic overlooks, so here are a couple pics from them:

I thought I had taken some pictures in Silverton, but apparently I didn't. Sorry...

After lunch, 6 of us decided to make a long loop drive through Ouray to Telluride then continue on back to Durango. Stopping in Telluride was probably the highlight of the trip for us, as it was completely unplanned. First of all, I had heard not to drive into the town, but to go to the nearby town of Mountain Village and take the free gondola into Telluride, which we did.

Telluride is definitely a town for the "rich and famous," though there were sure a bunch of us tourists there as well. We all wanted some ice cream, and soon found a small ice-cream shop on a side-street and so had an enjoyable visit.

Tonight is our banquet, and tomorrow we all go on our separate ways. There is a group of about 6 or 7 of us who will be heading into Utah, for at least one day, into Capital Reef National Park. Hope to have some more "Travels" to report then!

I did have a great lunch of Fish 'n Chips once again today at the Irish Embassy Pub in downtown Durango. If you ever get there, I recommend you stop in and have lunch and a brew!

Days 6 and 7- Durango, Colorado

First of all, let me start off by saying this:

I LOVE COLORADO!!!

So now it's time to catch up on my blog, since today, Wednesday, is a day with no planned activities at our car meet and I am using the time to sleep in, do laundry, and catch up on the blog.

So, Sunday at 8:00 AM I boarded the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway for the 3 1/2 hour trip to the old mining town of Silverton. This trip passed through some spectacular scenery, and I could not have asked for a better day. I will just include a few of the many pictures I took on the trip. The return trip was by bus, about 1 1/2 hours. Here are the pictures:

 Here is the train parked in the street in Silverton:

 Pictures just do not do justice to the spectacular scenery here!

After I returned to Durango, I drove the 20 or so miles to my friend's "cabin" (his vacation home-he lives in Houston, Texas) where I spent Sunday night:

 Around 5:30 or so, we drove another 50 miles east to the Pagosa Springs home of one of the meet organizers, for a social hour. Just was able to capture a spectacular sunset from his deck:

 So, this wraps up Day 6.

Day 7 was the official opening day of the meet, and only included a social hour at the hotel, so there are no pictures, as this was a time to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. The common interest all 75 of us share, of course is the Honda S2000.

Oh, I did wash the car and got all the bugs off the grille!

Day 5 - La Junta, Colorado to Durango, Colorado

Finally! Arrived at my primary intermediate destination, tired, but happy. Today was a short day, distance wise, but still took about 7 hours or so due to the one stop I made. First, here is the beginning GPS screen, whose guidance, for once, I took:

Before I left La Junta, I had to add a quart of oil, as this little 4-banger uses a quart about every 3,000 miles, as it was designed. As an aside, I have over 127,000 miles on this 15 year-old car, and have not one issue with taking it on this trip.Honda did it right! I also took a look at the grille, and discovered that I had apparently massacred a good portion of the grass-hoppers on the prairies of Kansas and Colorado:

What were not on the grille were on the windshield!

Then, it was time to hit the road. In this part of Colorado, there are long, long stretches of straight road with little to no traffic, and also no gas stations, so it is wise to make sure you have a full tank when you leave civilization. It looked like this for about 70 miles with only the occasional cow to keep me company: (Yes, Bea, I mooed at them to get them to look at me!)

Soon, however, I spotted the edge of the Rockies in the distance. Finally!

I mentioned earlier about hidden gems. Well, I happened upon another one today. I spotted a sign on US 160 that intrigued me enough to make a 16 mile detour, and it led me to this:

This is the largest sand dune in the US, reaching over 650 feet tall. More pictures follow. Although you are allowed to climb it (I'm sure Bruce would,) I was happy just to take a short hike and take some pictures. The pictures do not do justice to the sheer size and breadth of the dune.

What's a sand dune without a beach, you ask? Well, there is a beach. I waded across the stream to get these pics:

Again, these pictures do not do justice to the sheer magnitude of the dune. Driving up to it on the road, it was in view a good 15 miles before I entered the park.

Ended the day in a 50's motel, slightly refurbished, with a nice meal of fish-n-chips at an Irish Pub in downtown Durango. 

The day's ending GPS photo is here. Guess I really have to complain to Garmin about the max speed error that keeps increasing daily!