"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
. ..
John Keeney wrote:

"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
. ..
WaltBJ wrote:

More trivia on flight and oxygen:

snip

As for the Rocky Mountains, when we get flatlanders up here for a
visit and take them for a drive up over Trail Ridge road - peak
altitude about 12,200, they usually doze off because they won't
breathe (pant) enough.

(Almost totally OT) Ah, Trail Ridge road. When my '88 Subaru GL Turbo
4WD
Wagon was almost brand new, I took four people and all our gear for a
week
over Trail Ridge (we'd driven from California, but spent a night and
half
day in Great Basin Nat. Park, including sleeping at 10,000 feet). The
Subaru only had 115 hp and had a curb weight of about 3,000 lb., and
virtually everyone had a better power/weight ratio and was faster than
I
was -- at sea level. So there we were, climbing up the west side on a
hot, muggy summer day (it was in the high '80s or low '90s, I forget
which, when we passed through Granby @ 8,500 feet), and all of a
sudden I
found I was just about the most powerful car on the road, as I passed
what
were far more powerful cars (at sea level) while driving uphill at ca.
10,000 ft. I could drive as fast as I wanted to (max. 40-50 or so)
uphill
on the fairly open two-lane road, with 1-2,000 foot dropoffs on the
side
and usually no guardrails on the turns. Coming back over from east to
west
was the same.

Hmm, I was across Trail Ridge Road a couple of times last summer (same
trip) but never really noticed a loss of power there or down at Pike's
Peak.
Just must not have been putting my foot in it hard enough to notice.
That
and mass-air-flow sensors driving the fuel injection helps.

Modern computerized engine controls undoubtedly help, compared to older
cars
tuned for sea level. but how much of a load were you hauling, and in
what?

Not really hauling that much, I'ld be hard pressed to say what at the
moment.
The car was/is a '92 Buick Century four door with the 3.3L engine. The best
I recall the car stayed in high gear.
It's been considerable longer since I've been there (late 80's?), but seems
to
me the road coming into Yosemite from the east side was quite a bit steeper.

of a load that high, that hot. The highest paved road in California
goes
over Tioga Pass (9,941 ft.) in Yosemite, and it handled that fine with
two

Nice developed campground up there, Tuolumne Meadows, only 8600'
but sub freezing temperatures of a night about anytime of the year. Good
tent sleeping.

It's even better sleeping on one of the domes like Pothole or Lembert,
with the
sky as your roof. It's warmer and you've got a better view. Of course I
would

I like the cold nights when I'm camping. Best night's sleep I've ever had
was in a tent at Tuolumne Meadows with a low of 28 degrees. Cooked
supper on the fire then spent the night up until about midnight in the
meadow watching the stars and planes. Back to the tent in the trees, sheet,
pillow, sleeping bag, socks and underwear, a wonderful night.

never do such a thing (koff), as it's illegal. But I do spend a fair
amount of
mountain time in/around Tuolomne.

I've got to admit, they make it illegal I'll most likely not do it. I'll
cuss
the idiots that put them in charge by hiring them or electing them but
they got there by the rules of the game and get to make the other rules.

Seems like the airliners come through that gap pretty low of a night.
Oh, watch the speed up there, the only place I've ever seen a National
Park Service radar speed trap, at 0-dark:30 no less.

Shockin' , jus' shockin' ;-). It's a great road to drive fast in the
middle of
the night when the motorhomes and other tourists are all tucked up in bed,
coming up from Crane Flat on the west, but I do take it easy through the
meadow
itself.

Just to make some attempt to getting this on topic I'll mention that the
Navy has a mobile home or two parked at the top of Pike's Peak doing
some kind of aeronautical research.

Likewise, I'll mention that there's a tanker track almost directly above
the
White Mountains. I got to watch a Buff refueling from a KC-135 last time
I was
up there, while taking breaks from reading "Desert Solitaire."