A Long Way Down

In 1995 the U.S. Women's Open was held in Colorado Springs CO. at the Broadmoor. I was working for Debbie Massey and my roommate, "Little Rick" Aune was toting for Caroline Pierce. Since this was my first time there I decided to rent a car. I had a Ford Escort reserved with Hertz but the tranny went bad. The next day it was returned and I was upgraded to a brand new Ford Contour.

The week didn't go very well. We both missed the cut. Don't get me wrong, you always want to play on the weekend, but if not, the Springs isn't a bad place to have a few days off. Plenty of things to see

Saturday morning was a beautiful day, so we headed for Pike's Peak in my new Contour. It was a gorgeous drive. I kept stopping on the way to take pictures. I noticed a great place to get a shot of the road winding down the mountain. I made a mental note to stop on the way back to get that shot.

Rick and Me

I remembered the spot so I pulled off to take the picture. Upon getting out of the car I noticed an even better place about 50 yards farther down. I told Rick to drive down while I walked.

It was a great scene. We were at the apex of a hairpin turn and the road unwound before us like a dusty ribbon. Rick joined me and took in the view.

The Spot

Upon returning to the car I planted myself in the driver's seat only to notice something odd. I was about to crank it up, but it was already running. Then I proceeded to take it out of park but it wasn't in park, it was in drive! The only thing keeping this 2500 lb auto from crashing down the mountain was the (aptly named) emergency brake!

Now, being the one responsible for the car you would think I would be furious, but you don't know me. I burst out laughing! All I could think of was taking the picture of the road while my car was going over the cliff. It would have been great proof for the insurance company.

For Rick's defense he said his car was a stick not an automatic and that was the way he always parked it. Now that's lame!

Thanks to Ford for not skimping on that brake. It would have been a long way down.

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