Author: Bill Mckeown
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Beyond hot dogs
Backpacking and car camping are two distinct ways of enjoying Colorado’s mountains, and both offer their own challenges and rewards.Too often, though, food is more of a challenge than a reward for both groups, with backpackers settling for dry energy bars and car campers making do with mangy hot dogs.But you don’t have to exercise…
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GETTING THERE: Hydrogen: The answer to our energy needs?
Jesus turned wine into water, the Bible tells us.Now, according to numerous Web sites, we mere mortals can turn water into gas. And it doesn’t require a miracle – just $69.95 for an instruction booklet, some cheap tubing and a Mason jar. It’s the “best-kept secret the energy lords have been keeping from you,” says…
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California wildfires leave a haze over Rockies
California has given us many wonderful things: Sonny and Cher. Body waxing. “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”On Friday – and continuing through next week – California is giving us something not quite so delightful: haze.Smoke from more than 40 lightning-sparked fires in north-central California has been blown our way by typical west-to-east wind flows,…
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GETTING THERE: Car dealer sees major changes on road ahead
A local Toyota dealer says soaring gas prices already are sparking what he thinks will be fundamental changes in the auto industry – and in the expectations of consumers.Ray Reilly, general manager of Liberty Toyota, said there’s been a “tremendous spike” in demand for the Prius, a gas-sipping sedan designed as a hybrid, a demand…
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Trinidad band is headed for D.C.
The mighty Miners of the Trinidad High School Marching Band will be strutting down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., during the national July Fourth parade, in part because of contributions from Colorado Springs folks.That was the word late this week from Kristi Zehr, vice president of the band boosters and tender of the band’s blue…
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GETTING THERE: Traffic rules, room to ride contentious bike issues
Responses to a recent column about the state of bicycling in Colorado Springs were divided, not unexpectedly, between those who sit behind a wheel and those who grasp a handlebar.The two dozen or so e-mails and comments left on The Gazette’s Web site generally fell into two categories: Motorists said too many bicyclists flagrantly disobey…
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Beautiful byway
LA VETA – Tourism types and road signs call it the Highway of Legends. Locals call it the back road. Dave “Ham Bone” Hamilton calls it a journey into a little-known part of Colorado that just might soothe your soul.No matter what it’s called, Colorado Highway 12, a 67-mile section of two-lane that circles the…
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Sign of the times in Lake George: ‘For Sale’
LAKE GEORGE – This hamlet on the Park-Teller county line – a scenic byproduct of 19th century refrigeration and the victim of a bet gone bad – has long been stuck betwixt and between and left to live on its charms.And, generally, for a century it’s worked. Folks who settled in the isolated area (next…
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GETTING THERE: Cyclists push for bike-friendly city
Al Brody is praying for $10 a gallon gas. No, Al is not crazy. He’s sane. He’s bright. He seems like a nice guy. But he’s a diehard bicyclist and a tireless advocate for the two-wheeled community who thinks fundamental changes in the way we get from here to there won’t occur until we face…
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Cyclists push for bike-friendly city
Al Brody is praying for $10 a gallon gas. No, Al is not crazy. He’s sane. He’s bright. He seems like a nice guy. But he’s a diehard bicyclist and a tireless advocate for the two-wheeled community who thinks fundamental changes in the way we get from here to there won’t occur until we face…