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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Our drive out of Walden was on Hwy 14,
going east. It was plateau but you could see mountains in
our future. About 15 miles from Walden, we stopped at The
Moose Visitor Center (Got Moose?), run by the the Colorado
State Parks. There was a giant barbed wire moose, a large
stuffed one, and lots of hands-on exhibits. Like all good
museums, there was a gift shop and Blake, Luke, and Jeff
pitched in and bought a moose hat for Austen. Big horns, big
nose, fur. He actually wore it for most of the morning.
Austen Bromley is a funny man with a good sense of humor
and he’s been a wonderful addition to our trip.
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Our drive this morning was over
Cameron Pass, a steep climb with beautiful views The
mountains were rugged - we’re up pretty high here - and
we passed several dramatic“crags”, all with names.
Do I have their names? No, but they were
spectacular They were also hard to photograph which is
why you won’t see a picture here.
Once we crossed the summit, we
started down alonside the Cache LaPoudre River. The road
follows the river with twists and switchbacks, crossing back
and forrth over the river. We stopped at the
Cascades, a fabulous series of drops and waterfalls that cut
through a small canyon. Some of our braver souls climbed
down to the water’s edge. I did not. In fact,
Ben warned me that, if I stood any further from the edge,
I’d be hit by a truck!
Further down the river, we saw
rafters and kayakers. However, at this point, it was way
too rugged. Lots of T’s stopped and, for a moment,
we were as much of an attraction as this beautiful river.
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Click Picture to View Larger Image
Our daughter Jennifer
Lilleker, and her husband Ross both love Model T’s and
actually met on a Model T Tour that we lead from Texas to
Alaska in 2001. Jennifer owns a restaurant in Bryan,
Texas, named The T Garden. Ross works with Ben at Texas A
& T Parts and does the restorations and rebuilds of Model
T’s and Model A’s.
Ross is from England and his
parents, Bruce and Barbara Lilleker, have joined us on this
trip. Bruce has always been active in the Model T hobby
in England. Austen and Nicky Bromley are long-time family
friends who are also into Model T’s.
Here we are parked along the rock walls of
the Cache LaPoudre River, creating a distraction for drivers
who were torn between looking at the waterfalls and looking at
our cars. We were travelling in a group of seven cars and
a few of the California group were there, too.
The small organge dots you can see in this
picture are kayakers in an area on the river called The
Narrows. The water moves pretty swiftly here but without
the dangerous rapids of the Cascades. At points above and
below this portion of the river, the path widened and the water
became calmer. In those areas, we frequently saw a number
of fly-fisherman either in the water or preparing to get in.
There are a large number of private fishing camps, but a
lot of the river is public. Even if you are not into
fishing yourself, it is a beautiful sport.
Driving alongisde this river
was a wonderful way to spend the morning.
We stopped for a break in a
community called Rustic. The waitress turned out to be
one of the owners and she old us that the road under
construction across the street belong to her and her husband.
She gave them permision to drive the road (cut in the
rock but a long way from being finished). Jeff Cordes
drove his roadster to the top, and then had to come back down
again They clearly played to the crowd, though, In
this photo, you can see Jeff waving after they completed the
first hairpin turn..
This was a very steep bluff but the T took
it without serious difficulty. There was some sliding on
the inclines but they made it up and down safely. Bruce
says that any road a man can walk up, a Model T can drive up.
Som etimes, however, a man can walk faster.
We continued on down the Cache LaPoudre
until we were coming into a plateau and then we turned off onto
a road called Stove Prairie Road. Gwen and Denny Irvine,
who are from this area and now live in Houston, had suggested
we leave the official tour path at this point and drive up this
scenic road. It was an alternate route around Ft. Collins
and they thought it would be prettier.
As I’ve mentioned
before, this tour differs from most in that everyone leaves at
their own pace and there are no planned meals or gathering
places. It doesn’t create any problems for us to go
off in a
different direction except that we no
longer have a vulture wagon behind us in case we have a
breakdown.
Further along the route, we
turned onto Hwy 52E (Rist Canyon Road). Two years ago,
during the MTFCA National Tour, Ben and Bruce had found this
road and had trouble with the hill. Nothing would do, of
course, but that we try it again. This time, all the
T’s made it to the top on their first attempt.
The sign at the top of the hill - no wonder
it is a difficult climb. A 12% grade would be dificult in
a modern car.
We decended from this high
point to a long, winding drive through the Rist Canyon.
There were a lot of houses built into the sides of this
canyon, and school bus signs indicated that these are permanent
homes, not just vacation cabins. I can’t imagine
the difficulty of living here in the winter. With the
high walls of the canyon, the steep hills to climb to get in or
out, and the amount of snow they must get, it has to be a tough
life. Obviously, they feel the beauty of their
surroundings is worth the challenges.
After having lunch in the town of LaPorte,
we headed out for the Horsetooth Reservoir, located high above
Ft. Collins. The road runs along a ridge. On the
left is a long sweeping drop to Ft. Collins. On the
right, far below you, is a very large and beautiful lake.
You are balanced on the ribbon of road between them.
It is a surprisingly steep climb and we curved around the
far end and turn on towards Loveland. This is the end of
the official tour.
It is kind of an unusual
ending for a Model T tour, though. There is no banquet,
no closing event. Many people loaded up their trailers as
soon as they came back and went home.
After we returned to the motel
tonight, the men prepared the cars for tomorrow’s drive
to Colorado Springs. Our friend, Mark Conlee, was
recently elected mayor of the City of Bryan and during the
campaign, we proudly displayed his big sign. After the
election, however, the poster has become a useful tool in
taking care of the cars. If you look closely, you will
see a very large puddle of oil under the car. Thanks to
Mark’s poster, the managers of this motel will not be
adding an equally large clean-up charge to our bill.
Five cars will be heading out tomorrow to
return to Texas. I believe that we were the only Model
T’s to actually drive to the Colorado tour. The men
spent several hours checking out the cars, changing the oil,
greasing all the joints, and making sure each car is ready for
the drive home.
We’ve had a great time
but we are ready to get home. A special thanks to the
organizers of this tour. Since there was no closing banquet, we
held our own. Our group plus Emily Lambert, a writer from
Forbes Magazine who is doing an article on the tour, met at
Johnny Carino’s for a celebration of a terrific tour.
