Hi Rob,
It's more than a soupçon. I'll go to my grave missing my mountains. You might want to take a look at some of the film clips of the mountains my youngest son, Tom did with a drone. They'd help to show you why I miss the area so much. Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HND5PbQ1ods
He also did one on Garden of the Gods, which I used to be able to step out my door and walk through. It's at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4vpqguw7Uk
And then there's one on Manitou Springs itself. My beautiful home town for several decades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk6n8yRNGKc
Interesting countryside, Russ, and wouldn't it be cool to have wings?
On the long drive out of, and back into the town I realised that the road markings would have left me totally confused. I've driven in the States a couple of times, but the only thing then that threw me was the turning right against a red: it felt totally counter-intuitive. There's a similar option here in Mallorca, but it works via a separate light which flashes amber when it's your chance to go right but not straight ahead. Especially odd were the double yellow lane lines coming from the side opposite the driver, that appear to indicate you can cross the carriageway into the one opposite; maybe they mean 'wait' at the junction and then cross when nothing's coming...
One that throws a lot of toursists here is when you join a main road from a smaller one, and you have to go left. In some, there is an option to wait until the stuff coming from your left vanishes, and then you can cross into the other side, in the side of its traffic, taking a slip road in the
middle of the road, which, when you're on that slip bit, lets you either stop and wait for the traffic then behind you to pass on your right after which you join, or you can just merge if you have the space and speed. Many visitors understandably wait for both sides of the main road to clear before they venture out, and get abuse from impatient locals also waiting behind at the junction to get into the main drag.
Another daft thing: some road are no entry, which is normal, but there's no pole and sign on your road telling you that, that's visible until you reach the junction itself and then see it, the pole and sign, or just the sign bolted to the wall of a building, both just
inside the no entry road! Which kinda feels a bit too late!
Rob
