The AARoads Blog

the eighth day of my trip across the Rockies. Here, having survived Million Dollar Highway, we head west across Utah on I-70, to get to I-15 and scour Salt Lake City for old signs.

The very, very first rays of sunrise. An old, abandoned alignment of US-6 and US-50 near Thompson, Utah. A two-minute exposure at earliest dawn, with Venus tracking steadily across the skies on the left.

Sunrise over the red rocks.

I-70 in Utah across the San Rafael Swell. One of the last major sections of road to be built – this segment of highway was untraversable by car until 1986. There still remains a section between Green River and Salina that is 110 miles long without services: the longest stretch on the entire interstate highway system.

Mountains beyond the Great Salt Lake, as seen at sunset.

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We pick up in Colorado, December 2007 – where a snowstorm has just subsided, and we thus prepare to cross the Rockies, crossing our fingers hoping that it does not pick up again and render unto us blinding whiteout conditions.

Of course, it does.

Red rocks in winter. Colorado state highway 149 – just barely on the western side of the Rockies, after we cross on US-50 across Monarch Pass.

This deer is about to eat me, I am sure.

Ouray, Colorado. Looking back (south) at Red Mountain Pass that we have just crossed, on US-550 coming from Silverton. The Million Dollar Highway was built in 1913, and scarcely improved since then. Yes, there is still a sheer wall to one side, and a sheer drop to the other.

After a successful crossing – 3mph down the hill through a whiteout blizzard – I set up my tripod in the middle of the road, and while I was taking a 90 second exposure, a deer walked about two feet behind me!

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South Dakota. US-16 and interstate 90. And a wee bit of Wyoming and Colorado in the evening. December 2007. Grim winter.

18×18 I-90 shield. 1957 specs. And, more interestingly, an embossed arrow to point the way. Since the 1957 specification called for white, not blue, arrows, they took a 1948-spec arrow that they had lying around and used it to point to the new freeway.

This is the sign find of the day. There are only two shields with the original specifications left in South Dakota, and this is the only 18×18 example.

The Badlands – a sudden mountain range in the western half of South Dakota. These days, a tourist attraction – back then, in 1866, an impermeable obstacle that prevents one from reaching the west.

Black Hills, South Dakota. An eleven minute exposure, 6100 feet, -11 degrees. Yep, I was cold.

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East along I-80 in Nebraska, then north along I-29 into South Dakota, then westbound on I-90 – all the while looking for old signs.

First thing in the morning. US highway 30 eastbound in western Nebraska. We follow 30 for a while because it’s a mile or two away from I-80 and more likely to have old signs. It may or may not be rather cold.

Catch of the day! Over and over again, I scoured downtown Omaha for old interstate highway markers, and by the third time, I finally found one. This one was installed in 1963 or so, whenever I-480 was built through here along old US-75.

The shield was in an industrial area just south of US-275, and it was replaced in April, 2009. There is one 1957-spec interstate shield left in Nebraska that anyone knows about. It is an I-80.

The blue US-77 bridge in Sioux City. South Dakota is the far side, and Nebraska is where I’m taking the picture from.

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