>>>>>Thomas,
>>>>>
>>>>>>Even in early 1975 you could drive from hiway 17 (now 880), to 101 which is about 7 miles and see nothing but Orchards. Now, it is wall to wall hi-tech!
>>>>>
>>>>>Yeah, some areas are hard to recognize...I have visited just about every year since I left...pretty nice to have that extension of Rte. 85...but, boy, do I HATE the traffic (oc, no one likes it....).
>>>>>
>>>>Jill;
>>>>
>>>>Traffic? What traffic? I thought those were parking lots!
>>>>
>>>>Tom
>>>
>>>When I left my childhood home in Englewood, CO (south Denver suburb) the city limits were 5 blocks east. After that was corn fields. Now, one has to go 15 miles east to get out of the city.
>>
>>Jerry;
>>
>>I know the area. When I worked for Ampex (Redwood city, CA), I traveled frequently to Colorado Springs, CO and Golden, CO to visit our sites at those locations. I found out what those metal fences were that lines many points along the road from Denver to "The Springs".
>>
>>One day I finished my work early so I returned to Denver and got an early flight back to the Bay Area. Those members of the group that left at 5 PM were greated with a rain storm that caused flash flooding - so they block the highway with the metal fences near the Air force Academy. My friends were delayed several hours and missed their plane.
>>
>>The weather in that area can get very nasty and without notice! 90 mile an hour winds, snow and all sorts of good things would delay us getting back home on time. The weather man never new this stuff was going to hit either. Sounds like the weather people out here - they cannot tell what is happening right now but can give you a five day forecast for Biloxi, Mississippi. I have always suggested weather people try sticking his/her head out the window before giving a weather forcast!
>>
>>Tom
>
>One of the things that led to my dad kicking me out of the house envolved I25, just after it opened up. My dad was working night shift at Samsonite. He got off work at 1:00am. I showed up at 11:30 and asked if I could borrow his car, a 1957 Plymouth Fury. It had a full tank of gas. I had no where to go and nothing to do, so I got onto I25 using the on ramp next to Samsonite and went to Colorado Springs. I turned around on the outskirts of Colorado Springs and returned to Samonsite in time to pick up my dad at 1:00AM. He notice that almost the entire 25 gallons of gas in the tank were missing, but he never noticed that 145 miles on the spedometer. He thought I had syphoned some out for my friends. The spedometer numbers maxed at 120mph but the needle had some space to go before it hit the bar at the bottom... probably doing 130-140mph for most of the trip both ways.
>
>It's a wonder I survived. I was flying into fog banks near the Black Forest, and past glowing red lights from cars ahead. The danger of the situation never entered my mind. I was invincible, immortal, and very, very stupid.

Jerry;

We were sitting at the table in the cafeteria at coffee break one Friday afternoon, in1979, when one of our engineers we had known for years announced he was being transferred to Colorado Springs. This surprised everyone as he had worked at that one location for about 20 years and had not mentioned anything until it was almost time to go home.

He told me he had a house build in the Black Forest, on a large piece of property and in required no outside utilities. He had a well, septic tank, solar/wind generation and fireplace inserts (3). He also he bought 4 wheel drive trucks for he and his wife because of what he had heard about the winters. I would see him every time I visited the “Springs”, and he told me that even with 4 wheel drive – there were days he could not get to work. Lovely “Pikes Peak” – you never knew what was just behind it!

Tom