These are the pictures from the Valley of Fires – near Carizozo, New Mexico
Valley of Fires
Mk1 Scirocco Spotted!
I was in Encino, NM – a very abandoned town on US-285.
At an abandoned service station: a Mk1 Scirocco!! This is the first unsolicited Scirocco sighting of this trip!! FINALLY!!! And it’s a good one too!
I can see the Cell tower I am posting from. These things aren’t very powerful out here. There is not much civilization around here either! It’s pretty neat being the only car in sight for miles and miles.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
New Mexico has the most unique state capitol! It’s also one of the hardest to take pictures of because of all the trees!
New Mexico State Line
I actually have more pictures than this – but the connection speed is very slow in this part of New Mexico – so I’ll just upload the border picture for now… 92 miles to go to get to Santa Fe.
Departing Colorado for New Mexico
Departing Woodland Park right now – heading down US-24 to I-25 South.
Dinner, and Deer!
Here’s a picture of me in front of Pikes Peak at my parents’ house.
My mom made Chili and Blueberry Pie. Good stuff!
Then the wildlife came out for a picture!
Cabriolet Foglights and Cats!
Replaced the ignition switch, and added foglights to iRox’s Cabriolet. Her cat decided my car was a very nice place to lay.
iRox donated a lot of money to me! Thank you so much!!
Junkyard, and Mk4 Adventure
iRox and I went down to Colorado Springs to visit the salvage yard to find some parts for her Cabriolet. Found some interesting cars there, but not the parts we needed.
We started back up to Woodland Park, and the serpentine belt on her 2004 Jetta 1.8T broke. It took out the tensioner pulley as well. We eventually determined that the tensioner was installed incorrectly, with a black bracket on the wrong side of the tensioner bolts – causing the wheel to drag on the timing cover. One belt, and one tensioner later, we were back on the road.
South Park Buffalo
For dinner, my parents made some South Park Buffalo burgers. Aparantly, the buffalo we were eating had been named “Jake”.
Also took a picture of Pikes Peak at sunset. Remember – I grew up with this every day – to me – it’s nothing! 😀
Pikes Peak
TONS and TONS of pictures of my ascent to the summit of Pikes Peak! Check em out!
Heading up
Up Pikes Peak
Current Altitude: 7,740.71 Feet
Starting up the mountian!
Garden of the Gods… Again
Current Altitude: ~6200 Feet
I visited Garden of the Gods. If you look in the archive, you might find a similar picture about a month ago in the $75 Scirocco.
Pikes Peak is where I’m headed next. It’s 24.1 Miles away, but it’s also at 14,110 Feet!
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Current Altitude: 5303 Feet
This museum is in the Lowry area of denver – a former air force base. Their collection includes some great planes, from the B-52B outside to the B-1A inside. There was even an X-Wing from Star Wars in there. It was an original prop from the filming of the movies.
Quiznos
Current Altitude: 5278.19 Feet
We went to the first Quiznos today – it’s only one block away from the Capitol building! In fact, I drove right by it yesterday and didn’t know it.
Chipotle
Current Altitude: 5261.14 Feet
My sister wanted to meet us at the first Chipotle Mexican Grill resturant on Evans near Denver University. We went, we ate, she signed the hood.
Then the manager pulled us aside and asked about the car – he was very cool. He gave us two AWESOME shirts!!!
Colorado State Capitol in Denver
Current Altitude: 5280 feet
There was some olympic protest going on at the Capitol. I got a great picture, and from the same spot, a picture of Denver’s skyline. Really gives Iowa a run for its money!
Awesome Salvage Yard Trip
Eddie and I met up with Karl and Otto in Erie, Colorado to go to Andy Maass’s cool salvage yard. It had not only all kinds of VWs, there were helicopters and planes there too!!
Thanks to both Karl and Otto who donated some money, fuel and food!
CRAZY STORM FROM HELL!!
Well, there’s quite the thunderstorm here! The worst I’ve ever seen in my life!!
Anyway – I am at my friend Eddie’s place.
I drove through 4.5 Feet of water on Peoria at Mississippi in Aurora, CO. The engine did not die, thanks to the very high placment of my air filter for the Electronic Injection. The brakes failed, the lights and turnsignals went out, and all the temperatures dropped. The last few blocks to Eddie’s house – things started working again… I’ll have to wait for the storm to leave to check over the car and make sure it’s totally ok.
Posting from Colorado
Current Altitude: 4919.63 feet above sea level!
I’m near Fort Collins, posting from the Colorado Welcome Center. Except they weren’t every welcoming – it closed at 6pm. I pulled up at 5:57 and the door was locked.
For those of you who don’t know me well – I am originally from Colorado – I lived here until 2006.
