Day 7: June 14, 2014
Loopy Hang On

Comment via blog

Previous Day
Prev
Next Day
Next
Site Home
Trip Home

Like that bridge in Fort Morgan, this shoe shop in Greeley is not quite reached by the Lincoln Highway. The Greeley Branch turns away about a mile south of Salzman's Shoe Repair. Of course, any place with a sign this cool is worth a visit and once Brian Butko told me about Salzman's Shoe Repair on Facebook, the hunt was on. I missed it on a drive-by yesterday and couldn't stop because of the Friday Fest crowd but found it easily this morning.

ADDENDUM: Mar 22, 2022 - Salzman's Shoe Repair closed in 2017 but Google Streetview showed the sign still in place in July 2021.


The next step was to drive the last fifty or so miles of the Greeley Branch into Denver. It was not an uninteresting drive and I did snap a camera shutter now and then but did not end up with anything worth posting. The first picture is just to show a Denver half road sign (The GPS called it 25.5.) and the second shows the road beyond the intersection. That's one of the few bits I didn't drive because it dead-ended shortly.

The Greeley Branch enters Denver on Broadway and ends when it reaches Colfax and that Denver auto trail hub.

Discontinuity Alert! This is not the next step in driving the Lincoln Highway. This is that concrete pylon that in Strasburg that I missed on Thursday. When I reached my hotel last night, I discovered that I had failed to return my keys at the Willow Tree Country Inn. These were real keys, not a plastic card, and I planned to mail them back. I've made a similar goof once before. When I found myself within about thirty miles of the Inn (and the pylon) I used returning the keys as an excuse to visit the pylon.

Roadside America shows a gray pylon beside a large wooden sign. The pylon has been repainted and I saw nothing of the sign. It is not the one photographed at the museum.


I made one more pass through Colfax & Broadway then completed the Colorado Loop at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The west side of this loop is very different from the east. The east side provides an authentic early auto trail dirt stair-step experience. For the most part, the west side provides a fairly standard drive through developed and populated areas. A light rain reduced the chances for an interesting photograph even further.

From the end of the Loop, I headed immediately for the Plains Hotel, my home for the night. I've been in the 103 year old hotel before and even eaten here but never stayed. I've really wanted to and basically organized the other trip overnights around this one. My room was quite nice and I thought the green sink added something of an historic touch. I will get photos of the hotel's interior tomorrow.


The plaza is directly across the street from the hotel and a festival was in progress. As out of place as it seemed to me in what I think of as a hardcore western town, it was a Celtic festival complete with fine Irish music and a leprechaun named Michael.

I had visited a taproom on Lincolnway when I was in Cheyenne last year but found it closed today. Fortunately, they left a note for me and it led me around the corner where the taproom is now in the same building as the brewery. Not only did Freedom's Edge Brewing move their Cheyenne brewery, they've added one in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The sign is the one that the painter was touching up last year. Looks great.


It's impossible not to notice the big red Wrangler building but today was my first time inside. They can make you look like a cowboy from top to bottom.

[Prev] [Site Home] [Trip Home] [Next]
democrat