Castle in the Sky: Colorado Road Trip Part 3

[Previously on the Thinkware Colorado Road Trip: I took a giant detour driving from Colorado Springs to Denver. It should've taken me about 2 and a half hours. I took 12.] 

After 2 days of exploration and (new-found) experience with extreme altitude, I felt considerably more prepared to drive up Mount Evans -- which cradles North America's highest paved road at 14,130 feet. Yes, it is higher than Pikes Peak.

I didn't do so well at Pikes Peak.

Before my trip to Mount Evans, I stocked up supplies in Denver to best prepare me for the drive up. I got snacks, plenty of water, and sunscreen (you are a lot easily sunburnt at 14,000 feet than at sea level, which is also one of the reasons why people get dehydrated easily, which leads to altitude sickness).

Interestingly, the local shops in Denver also offered pressurized oxygen canisters for an instant kick when you need it the most. I didn't think I needed it.

Alas, half way through my drive towards Mount Evans, I realized that I forgot one of my most important gear -- my trusty DSLR. So, most of the images on this blog will be pictures taken on my trusty iPhone 6.

So, off to the highest paved road in North America we go.

Top of the World: Colorado Road Trip Part 2

[Previously on the Thinkware Colorado Road Trip: I flew to Denver, CO so I can drive to Colorado Springs, CO so I can drive up Pikes Peak, CO in a soccer-family-special Ford Explorer. I also got altitude sickness.] 

After recovering from said altitude sickness, I looked at the map and pondered my options. I knew that I wanted to go to the Rockies, because a) it's the Rockies; and I knew that I wanted to spend my last portion of the trip driving up Mount Evans as well. However, the portion between Colorado Springs and the Rockies were very much still up in the air.

As far as I was concerned, I had two options:

1. I could either take the I-25 through Denver to the Rockies, which would be about 2 hours and 40 minutes of driving. We will call this the "boring" way;
2. Or, I could take a "slight" detour through the state highways, taking in the scenery, through Aspen, a world-class ski resort town, and eventually circle back to the Rockies, before stopping in Denver. This would take me about 12 hours. We will call this the "fun" route.

Guess which route I took?

The Only Way is Up: Colorado Road Trip Part 1

14,000 feet.

I repeat: 14,000 feet. That is 100 feet higher than your typical skydiving altitude. In fact, if you jump off a cliff at this height, you'll be freefalling for just about a minute. Not that you'd be able to, of course, as the tallest cliff in the world only clocks at a paltry 4,100 feet.

At this height, Oxygen becomes very thin (as I later found out). You will also see the curvature of the earth quite easily in the distance. Here, the boiling point of water is at 185 degrees.

In other words, 14,000 feet is quite high.

It is also the altitude you can find yourself at in Colorado. Colorado just happens to have 53 of those places above that altitude, known locally, as the fourteeners.

My goal is to drive up to two of those mountains -- Pikes Peak, and Mount Evans -- and see what the drive is like.

#SharkNoseDiary: Road Trip!

Mileage: Approx. 100 miles.
Fuel Economy: 14 mpg (it's improved by a staggering 1 mpg!)
Expense: 1 tank of gas = $60

It's road trip season, so I figured that I might as well take the old girl out for a cruise. And what a cruise we had.

[Previously on #SharkNoseDiary: I bought a 1987 BMW 635CSi for $2100 and figured, eh, might as well take the car up and down a mountain pass for a full day to see if anything falls out of the car.]

15 Underrated Road Trip Songs that You Need in Your Library

Your friends would be happy like the people in this stock photo if you have some good tunes on the road. 

It is well-documented that we here are huge advocates of classic rock as driving anthems -- for very good reason. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't anything good from other genres and eras either, as there are hidden gems everywhere that are often overlooked by many driving enthusiasts out there who'd like to listen to some good tunes while shiftin' gears.

So, as a public service, here is a list of 15 songs often overlooked by people while they are looking for a good road trip playlist. Don't leave home and go on the roads without these songs.

Driving to the Southernmost Point in the United States in One Day

Ahhh, Florida: A dash cam company's paradise purely because of everything that goes on over there on the roads. Earlier in the year, I went down to South Florida for a short trip -- no, not because I wanted to have my own Florida Man sighting. Instead, I was in Miami to attend a family wedding.

More importantly however (cousin, if you are reading this: your wedding was pretty good too), I was here in hopes of taking the famous drive from Miami to Key West -- a 4-hour drive over the Atlantic Ocean, featuring one of the best scenic views in North America as you head south straight for the southernmost point in the lower 48 states.

This should be a good one.

The 70s Made the Best Driving Music, and It Makes No Sense

The Greatest Hits of horrible hairstyles... And driving music? 

Just this past weekend, I had the opportunity to go on a road trip out of state. Just like what anyone else would do in this situation, I checked my music library to see if I needed to load up on driving songs for me to survive being tailgated on the Interstate by the one Honda CRX driver with a cracked muffler that's also missing a front wheel.

So for a couple hours on a Friday night, I went through a mental checklist of all the road trip essentials, which about consists of all the usuals.

And then it dawned on me: almost 80% of the songs in my driving playlist consist of bands from a particular era. More specifically, the 1970s -- the era of the Apple II and Ford Pinto.

I strongly believe that the 70s was the Golden Period for driving songs -- which really makes no sense, for the reasons I'll explain below.

Driving Bad: A Journey to New Mexico

After the sheer madness that was CES, I decided that it was a good time to drag my tired corpse of a body away from work for a little while.

I was already in Las Vegas -- a city which seems to be right in the center of every tourist attraction possible. So, a road trip is in order. Where to?

Being from the West Coast, I'd like to stay away from California this time around (although if you do have the chance, do the Pacific Coast Highway -- you'll thank me later). I have also done the Grand Canyon tour as well, which leaves out Arizona. My first choice then, was originally Denver, Colorado -- Mile-High City, beautiful Rockies, maybe catch a Broncos game, why not?

Except, I then remembered, that it was mid-January. Driving to Colorado at this time of year would probably have a similar difficulty curve as learning how to play Dodgeball with Patches.

So, Colorado is out. But I do like the idea of staying down South on the virtue that it should be warmer (as it turns out, it isn't). But if I were to stay down South, then I'd rather go further out. No half measures.

And so, I tread lightly and found myself knocking on the doors of New Mexico -- more specifically, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the famed city that provided the setting for AMC's Breaking Bad.

This should be fun.

Rockies Queen: Roadtripping in the Canadian Rockies in a Muscle Car.

Recently I had the opportunity to go to Alberta, Canada for a trip.

More specifically, I had to fly in to Calgary, one of the most prominent cities in the great province of Alberta; and drive to Edmonton, also one of the most prominent cities in the great province of Alberta (note: the order of prominence may depend on who you ask in the great province of Alberta).

Anyway, connecting them is Highway 2, which is designed by a guy who once put a ruler on a map and drew a straight line between the cities (note: probably true).

While it is a very efficient way to move people between places, it just isn't very fun. So I decided to take the fun way instead -- by taking 10 extra hours and spending it driving in the Canadian Rockies.