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Around the World in 80 Days
Day 68: 1 December
'On our left Interstate Highway 70. In construction for fifteen years. The most expensive highway ever built in this country.'And there it is, in the gathering gloom. Squashed in between sheer rock walls and the much-abused Colorado River - squeezed dry in its later stages to service the lawn sprinklers of L.A. and here in the canyon half-filled with the rubble and concrete of America's most expensive highway.
'Margaritas goin' for a dollar fifty cents in the lounge car. Why don't you come and join us?'
At five past eight we enter Moffat Tunnel, the third longest in the world. It runs beneath the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, the Continental Divide, reducing what was a five-hour journey for Phileas Fogg to ten minutes today.
Have a cabin to myself and Chuck, the attendant, warns me that tonight's ride could be a little rough, as we shall be moving onto The Burlington and Northern Railroad and we'll be switched to their secondary track to leave the fastest free for freight.
Dinner taken as we descend into Denver. Four thousand feet in thirty minutes. It looks as if we're coming in by plane.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Around the World in 80 Days
- Day: 68
- Date: 1 December
- Country/sea: USA
- Place: Denver - Colorado
- Book page no: 229
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RELATED LINKS
- USA
- Introduction
- Full Circle
- Introduction
- Hemingway Adventure
- Day 1
- Full Circle
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