2007 Texas to Colorado Model T Tour
June 20th thru July 4th, 2007
joining the "Search
for the Mohigans Tour”
and the Model T
Club of Northern Colorado.
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This is Lake Marie, in what is called The
Snowy Range of Wyoming. Usually, I start with the first
of the day and this actually came later in the morning but it
is too beautiful to make you wait. If you want to see it
an a screen-size photo, click on the picture itself. We
thought our drive yesterday would be hard to top but the drive
up the Snowy Range Scenic Byway (WY 130) was amazing. We
had driven to the summit, a place called Libby Flats and
stopped here on the way back down. Get in your car and
come here!!!
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We came out of Saratoga south on WY 130
until the road took a turn toward Laramie. The road to
Libby Flats starts in high plateau and climbs steadily,
bordered by this tumbling stream most of the way. As you
climb upward, each curve brings a new vista - a view of the
mountains, a view of the valley, a sparkling lake reflecting
the trees and sky. The picture below shows Silver Lake,
another breathtaking view. We approached it around a big
curve, with just a section being revealed at a time, until the
entire mountain and lake were in front of us. I could not
stop saying “wow”!
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Our car, the 1926 pickup, just zoomed up
without difficulty. Bruce and Barbara did the same in
their 1915, which has a Ruckstell. It was a long climb
but not as steep as some we’ve done.
The summit at Libby Flats has an
observation tower which we climbed, allowing us to see for
miles, all the way into Colorado and the Never Summer
Wilderness area. We were struck by the trees on the top
of the mountain. It looks like someone cut off all the
limbs on one side. The winds from the west are so severe
during the winter that all the trees on the summit are
deformed.
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Click Picture to View Larger Image
There was still a large snow pack near the
observation tower and some of our group could not resist a
snowball fight. We don’t have snow in the winter in
Texas; we certainly don’t have it in June. Within
seconds, there were about 10 of them, plus Bailey, throwing (or
getting hit by) snowballs. We could hear the squeals from
the top of the tower.
Click Picture to View Larger Image
On the way down the mountain, we stopped
for pictures at Silver Lake. Austen picked up Nicky and
tossed her into the snow. But she held on and took him
down with her. Their 35th wedding anniversary is this
weekend and so is Austen’s birthday.
When we were ready to move on, Ross decided
to drive out through the snow and was immediately stuck.
Here, Jeff helps push him out while Blake offers advice.
Even in the old days, they knew to use chains on their
Model T’s in the snow!
Denny Irvine threatened to throw a snowball
at his wife, Gwen, and me but threw it at Ben instead. He
missed Ben but threw out his shoulder and we just had to laugh.
Gwen was doing the shifting for him for the rest of the
afternoon.
You can see the snow on the
mountains behind us. These are very rugged mountains and
I imagine their winters are bitter. I don’t think
it ever totally melts up here.
This is us at Lake Marie, the beautiful
lake in the photo at the top of this page. We had climbed
up away from the trailhead parking lot and found this pretty
spot. It was cool and very clear, the air smelled of pine
trees, the water sparkled in the sun. This is why we
travel in Model T’s. This is why we drive
cross-country and look at “Backroads” maps. There
are easier ways to get to Laramie, or virtually anywhere else
you might want to go, but you’d miss many of the sites
like Lake Marie.
One final shot of Lake Marie. I
believe this might be where the stream originates that we saw
on the way up. The lake is very deep and still but it
cascades out of this corner of the lake and on down the
mountain.
Reluctantly, we left this
beautiful place and drove on down the mountain. We met up
with the others in our group and a bunch of other drivers at a
place called the The Mangy Moose Saloon in Riverside. It
is a fairly rustic establishment and they didn’t know
that they were going to have approximately 100 people dropping
by for lunch. However, they did a great job of feeding us
cheeseburgers and fries. The food was good and the owners
were friendly; I’d recommend a stop if you are in the
neighborhood.
This part of Colorado is very
different from that you find along the I-25 corridor or in the
Estes Park area. The towns are rougher, less
sophisticated, and not as picturesque. Old cars seem to
come here to die. Accommodations are more limited, very
basic, and often without air conditioning, internet, or cable
TV. Winters are harsh and cold. We love the scenery
but would find it hard to live here.
After lunch, we had about 50 miles to
Walden. This was the same route the main tour had taken
the day before but, if you’ve been following our trip, we
took another road. This area is high plateau. We
could see for miles and the mountains surround us in the
distance. We had driven about 30 miles when the storm we
had been watching, hit hard. There wasn’t as much
rain as we expected but the wind was fierce. It was a
crosswind and most Model T’s don’t have side
windows. Colorado 125, the road we were on, is as
straight as an arrow in that section and there was nothing to
do but drive on through it. The older cars,
like the Lilleker’s 1915 Touring and
the 1915 being driven by the Bromley’s, have very high
roofs which can be ripped off by a strong crosswind. They
just put on their raingear and kept driving with the tops down.
We had our top up but, in the roadster pickup, the roof
is lower and the car only has a front seat. Even so, we
were concerned.
Finally, we turned towards
Walden and drove out of the weather. Within minutes, the
sky had cleared, the wind had died down, and we were getting
warm again. We’ll spend the night in Walden and
then return to Loveland for our last night of the tour and to
prepare for the trip home.
