Typically, the week of an event, I stop watching the weather reports. By time our first driver’s meeting begins, it’s too late to worry about it. The weather is, what the weather is. Last year in Colorado, however, taught me differently. No where else in the world does the saying “don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” ring more true. 2” of snow on our first day last year wasn’t what I was hoping for…so this year, I’ve been watching the weather like a hawk.
By the time this morning’s Driver’s meeting began, I knew today would be a weather hit. True, there was a threat of rain for part of the afternoon, but we’d be in the lower valleys by that point, and snow free for certain. With a final check of the road reports, I opened the morning’s participant meeting.
By the time we departed the Hagerty Collector Car Insurance Denver office, the anticipation and excitement for what lay ahead was palatable. Right off the bat, half the entrants turned right instead of left…Yup, this was going to be just as fun as all our other events! With a quick correction, or meeting up around the block, we were off onto the first highway into the mountains.
Today’s morning route took the group through Golden, up Mt Evans and over Squaw pass into Evergreen. We enjoyed gorgeous pine forests, tight switchbacks front range mountain passes. The morning route took the group by some snow, to remind them of our opening year, but fortunately this year it was just on the side of the road and not falling! After passing through Evergreen, we explored twisty low roads and then climbed up towards this historic mining town of Victor, before descending down into Canon City for our evening finish. Along the way we found B-roads and C-roads that even our lifetime Colorado residents didn’t know existed.
The day wasn’t without it’s mechanical difficulties. Kevin and Mary’s beautiful bug-eye Sprite decided to give them only 4th gear in Evergreen, and unfortunately won’t be repairable this weekend. They’ll be meeting us tomorrow in their “other Sprite”, cleverly disguised as a Honda S2000. The Mercedes guys seem to be having fuel issues, but suspected problems before the event mean they’re traveling with a trunk full of filters and simply change out at regular intervals. Duncan’s Mustang has a curious case of vapour lock. Curious, because it carries a fuel-injected modern drivetrain! Otherwise we haven’t heard of any problems, and the two cars we anticipated to have issues (the beetle and the 442) are humming along nicely.
No trip to Canon City is complete without a run up, and down, Skyline Drive. With 800 foot drops on either side, this 1903 road follows the spine of a ridge and gives a most unique perspective of the city as you arrive. Upon arrival, it seemed dinner wasn’t that important. Everyone was more interested in sharing stories, debating the best road option, or discussing the details of cars and friendships. Never before have we had to encourage folks to get up and join the buffet line, usually it’s a stampede!
A preview of photos from Andrew Snucins Photography is available below:
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