What's wrong with Colorado?

A friend of mine did trail maintenance in the Aspen area and decided she liked it so much she moved to Glenwood Springs. Or as the locals put it Glenweird Springs. Nice little town on the west slope. Great hot springs.

Keith wrote: I have a picture of my wife (a rare Colorado native, not an import) at the top of Engineer's Pass. Flip-flops, shorts and a fleece vest The lower octane fuel works great for naturally aspirated cars, but us with the turbochargers still need the good stuff

I have pics of my dirt bike buddies and I at the top of Engineer Pass. It's 40 degrees, sleeting, gray skies everywhere- on August 14th.

We could only find regular 87 octane pump gas in the mountains, we had all used the 'sea level jetting x .90' formula and all the bikes ran fine.

I'm not sure I'd want to live in the Front Range area. From what I hear, it's like Charleston: flooded with folks 'from off'.

carguy123 wrote: If you think Austin's traffic is bad you need to visit Houston.

This was bullE36 M3 when you posted it in the F1 thread, and it's still bullE36 M3 here. The traffic in Austin is widely regarded as being worse than the traffic in Houston.

You guys really have to stop. All this Colorado talk is giving me the urge to get the eff out of Indiana and I like it here.

Thanks for the input.

The fiance is a native and I will confess to checking out old toyota's and subaru's before you said a word. Maybe its because we don't have any left on the right coast. I was drooling over a subaru DL with giant mudflaps today.

Noticed the shorts all year round too.

I like the mountains. Seems car culture friendly and that makes me happy.

Keith wrote: Also, six months after you arrive, start complaining about all the new arrivals that are spoiling the state.

Then you should praise those of us who left the state.

FWIW, I miss Hanging Lake near glenwood.

Fringe benefits: three deer grazing in my driveway an hour ago. A dozen bighorn sheep in the pasture next to the cemetary this morning when we were removing Elks Lodge memorial flags after Memorial Day weekend - with a herd of elk across the street. Deer frequently looking in the window at the Elks lodge when we are having Friday night dinners.

Cautionary note: To get some of these great wildlife experiences, you may need to live a bit out in the boonies - I'm seven miles from pavement, which sort of limits some car choices. A Seven would not be a good street car for me, but my MR2 does OK in the summer if I go slow over the washboard and potholes. Not a good place for, say, an NSX. For that you have to live in town.

All a matter of what's important.

Here is a new arrival we need to get rid of

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1750901332.html

Man, if I could get a decent job out there... Hey Keith, need a shop hand?

You don't have to live that far in the boonies for the critters - we have a big elk that wanders through our yard on a regular basis (he's gorgeous) and we found what we think is coyote poops in the garden on Saturday. We're not officially in the city, but it sure looks like it.

You can tell how bad the winter was by how late in the spring it is before Jim can make it to a track day!

Neon, you never know. We're losing a couple of guys soon...

xd wrote: Here is a new arrival we need to get rid of http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1750901332.html

Just goes to show: tasteless idiots are everywhere.

billy3esq wrote:

carguy123 wrote: If you think Austin's traffic is bad you need to visit Houston.

This was bullE36 M3 when you posted it in the F1 thread, and it's still bullE36 M3 here. The traffic in Austin is widely regarded as being worse than the traffic in Houston.

Widely regarded by whom, you? Everyone I know avoids Houston like the plague at any time of the day much less rush hour and don't mind Austin at all, at least the 35 corridor. Yes it can be slow as are most rush hours but nothing like Houston off rush hour. Houston and LA are universally considered the 2 worst traffic experiences in the U. S of A.

And then Austin has the shiny new loop that bypasses it all and takes you by the new F1 track.

Well, let's see, there's this thread for example, where several people have commented on the traffic in Austin, a tiny town of less than 1MM people, yet you're the only one talking about Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S.

If that weren't enough, it's also my experience having lived in Houston for 30+ years and going to Austin at least a couple of times a year for at least the last 10 years. Not just that, though I also encounter that sentiment routinely. For example, I've heard the same thing from many ex-Austinite co-workers.

Your insistence that rush hour in Austin is better than off-peak in Houston is just plain stupid and seriously damages the credibility of your argument. Virtually all Houston freeways flow at or above posted speeds at mid-day. Very little in Austin does at rush hour, especially the 35 corridor (at least between downtown and 290 which is what I have the most experience with).

Maybe all the people you know avoid Houston because driving in a big city scares them. My uncle who lives outside Ft. Worth is like that. He doesn't mind Austin, though. That doesn't make the traffic worse, it just means he has a phobia of 6-lane or greater expressways. I'm happy for such folks to stay away, though. Timid woodland creatures have no business in the urban jungle. They just hold up traffic for the rest of us who know where we're going and how to get there.

As for places where the traffic is worse in Houston, I can think of several--including Atlanta, the Bay Area, and the DC metro area--all of which I've experienced first hand. I can't decide whether Boston is worse or I'm just unlucky.

The reason Houston makes the worst traffic lists is because people in this town tend to live 20-30 miles from where they work. It's not possible to drive that far in Austin, so of course people in Houston spend more time in traffic. However, I'm quite certain that people in Austin spend more time per mile driven in traffic.

OTOH, I spend almost no time in traffic because I live a few miles from where I work. Even when I had a 20 mile commute in Houston (that was about 1/3 surface streets and 2/3 freeway), it was rarely over 25 minutes (48mph average) and only once or twice in nearly two years was it over 35 minutes (35 mph average).

Adjusted for city size Austin's traffic is far worse than Houston's, Dallas', Ft. Worth's, San Antonio's, and any number of other places. You're welcome to your opinion, but I'm not going to agree with it when it's contrary to my daily driving experience of the last 20 or so years.

I went to school at UC in Boulder for a sememster before I realized in 1 semester I was paying enough for a paint job and interior on the mercedes and went back to California community college for some cheap learnin.

In short Colorado was really a bitchin place. Definitely a subaru is king up there, but I saw a audi quattro that made me lust. I got to drive by Red Rocks before a Dead concert and see all the hippies. Red Rocks was a pretty neat area. Also check out Golden.

Well Billy, let's see what Forbes has to say about it Worst commutes

So let me go thru the pics here, give me a minute. Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh. Nope no Austin on the list.

People tend to think that wherever they live is bad because they don't have a comparison. I get to compare a number of areas and while I don't relish the thought of any rush hour except maybe one in Podunkville, rural appalachian mountains, I dislike Austin's a lot less than some others.

Just yesterday at 5:00 I had to go from the SW corner of Dallas county to the NW corner of Tarrant county a trip of over 100 miles and the only time I had to slow below 60 was when I hit downtown Fort Worth so that I could get some fresh Mexican sweetbreads in the Stockyards. Even going the distance and stopping in the Stockyards I made it home in less time than it would have taken me to go 1/4 of the distance in Dallas. Austin would have been someplace in the middle and I'd still be driving if I were in Houston.

But in any event none of this is germane to this thread.

I've lived here ~8 years.

Boulder has a lot of fun stuff going on - largely on account of the university - but Boulder real estate is prohibitively expensive so we live in Longmont which is one town further north. Longmont has a nice downtown, mostly dating to about 1900, which was about when our cute little bungalow was built.

Since I don't commute into Denver, I never see traffic.

Has anyone mentioned Fort Collins? I'd hugely prefer living in Fort Collins compared to anywhere on the front range south of Boulder. It's a real nice town, with a university that anchors some high tech businesses.

There's hardly any manufacturing or industry here, so consequently there are fewer industrial supply businesses than I'm used too, and I often find it less convenient to get materials for projects.

Someone mentioned feed lots... but actually it's the turkey farms we smell here in Longmont. There are some big turkey farms ~7-10 miles east of us. We only smell them when the wind blows from that direction.

You might expect twisty mountain roads here would be a lot of fun... but for the most part they're poorly maintained. There's always a good chance you'll find loose sand on curves. If you're not familiar with a mountain road here, you can't trust that it won't turn to gravel just around the next bend. Poor signage too.

Being (originally) from the mid-Atlantic region, I get really homesick for spring and autumn. They're too short here and not nearly as colorful. There are some native deciduous trees in Colorado, but they all turn pretty much the same shade of yellow/gold and they drop their leafs quickly. Aspen and cottonwoods are okay - but the experience is NOTHING like an Appalachian autumn. Nothing. Nothing at all. (On the other hand, Colorado has snow capped mountains.)

Summary... IMHO, Colorado is a nice place to visit - or even to live for a few years - but I'd move home to North Carolina in a heartbeat.

Britishv8

Thats pretty much sums it up.

I would love to move back to southwest Iowa. One problem. NO jobs.

So we have been looking at Texas and we really like it. Especially central Texas. The wife really enoyed it down there and that is saying something for her to be willing to move away from the family.

Oh and I spent a week in Austin and in the DFW area. Denver traffic is far worse than Austin and equal the DFW area.

In reply to CaptainSpaulding:

What time of year were you down here. They say we should hit 100 this weekend.

carguy123 wrote: [More irrational Houston bashing and Austin leg-humping based on an article in Forbes and anecdotes of Ft. Worth traffic] But in any event none of this is germane to this thread.

Then why did you bring it up?

I give up. Think what you want. I drive in both Austin and Houston more than enough to know where I'd rather be at rush hour. It's not Travis county. The difference is that I've spent enough time in Houston to know how to get around efficiently while avoiding the hand-full of trouble spots. You apparently haven't. Your loss.

Billy you brought it up I was only answering your posts. No one has been bashing Houston, only saying the rush hours and the commute are worse than the Austin area.

I go to Houston multiple times a year and enjoy myself, I've just learned to rest my head near where I'm going to have fun or work the next day. You say you've learned how to avoid traffic spots as do all locals, which is what will happen if the OP were to move to Houston, but visitors, like for the F1 race will get slammed in the head with confusing hwys (always under construction), massive amounts of toll roads and congestion.

Yup Captain Spalding DFW is supposed to have record highs of 100 or more for 5 days beginning Friday. And at this time of year our humidity levels are higher than in the summer so they are predicting a heat index of 105+ BUT that's not normal for this time of the year.

And you need to divorce the FW from the D when talking traffic. They are light years apart.

FW is the spiritual successor to the old Austin. Keep Austin Weird is more of an ad campaign than a way of life anymore. With growth comes, well more growth. Austin is still a very nice city, but it has grown a lot in the past 10 years. The Austin of 10 years ago couldn't have supported an F1 track, the new Austin can.

If you are looking for more of a quiet small town atmosphere there are a lot of smaller towns in the nearby hill country that are close enough to be convenient and far enough away not to be bothered.

Has anyone mentioned that Texas doesn't have a state income tax? Does Colorado?

All states that don't have a state income tax have higher property taxes but I'd rather have a higher property tax than be taxed at an exorbitant rate on things like car licenses or registrations and ad valorem taxes. My daughter is just moving back from Cali. Her car costs her $400 to register in Cali whereas it's $35 here.

Have a look at some propoganda video PROPOGANDA

Colorado just raised vehicle registration fees. It used to cost me around $25/year for most of my cars. Now it's around $60

In the big cities in Colorado -- they use salt on the roads?

For someone who hates hippies and democrats more than the average bear, I really dug Boulder. Had one of the best meals of my life at The Med (Mediterranean restaurant,) followed by a trip to a badass record store, followed by a marathon drinking session till closin' time at The Winchester.

carguy123 wrote: Billy you brought it up I was only answering your posts.

That statement is demonstrably false. Read the thread. You were the first to mention it. I wasn't even participating in the thread until you started the Houston bashing.

I'm not arguing anymore with someone who has such a frail grasp on the facts. Especially in a thread-jack.

TTFN.

orphancars wrote: In the big cities in Colorado -- they use salt on the roads?

They don't use salt on the roads in Colorado, they use sand and a chemical mix that doesn't make your car rust. Be prepared to replace your windshield every 2-3 years though due to all the gravel / sand on the road. Cars are also down on power due to the altitude. You don't notice much when you live up there, until you head back down to sea level and all of the sudden your car feels FAST!

Contrary to what most folks think, Denver is actually pretty darn warm in the winter. Sure, they may get a foot or two of snow, but within a day or two it is 50-70 again and most of it melts away. I lived out there for 7 years and never saw the brown, nasty roadside snow that is so common in the NE and Midwest. It is also VERY dry, so pack lots of Blistex or Chapstick. The upside is the snow is light, and even when it is 10 degrees outside, it doesn't feel cold. (especially if you have lived through a NE or Midwestern winter) They do get real heavy snow in the mountains, and it stays cold enough up there that it accumulates.

I lived in Ft. Collins and Denver. Ft. Collins was great, but hard to find decent work. (home of Fat Tire Beer!) Denver was fun, but traffic was a pain, the cost of living high, and the air quality not so good. (big brown cloud hanging over city) That said, I'd move back to Denver in a heartbeat, especially Southwest Denver (near D.U.), or if I could afford it to Washington Park. (very nice, but very $$$$)

I've been many places in the U.S. --- Denver, and Colorado in general was one of my very favorites. Lots to do, high education level, fitness is a priority, plenty of pro sports / concerts, and a fantastic climate.

There is also a thriving classic sports car scene out there. (Colorado Conclave, Colorado Grand, etc.)