Somebody asks a question from the back seat. Usually somewhere between DEN and the mountains, usually the kind of question that sounds simple and then isn't. Why can't you buy a car on a Sunday here. Why do the runaway truck ramps point uphill. How many sides does this state actually have.
Most of the time I didn't know either, and what turned up beat the guess. So this is the series where those questions get looked up properly — statutes, survey records, archives, court opinions — and every claim carries a link to where it came from. If it can't be sourced, it either gets labeled as folklore or it doesn't run.
New question every Tuesday, starting September 1.
The seven tracks
Colorado, Explain Yourself
Things Coloradans accepted without ever asking why. Statute-anchored, so it holds up when someone argues.
Legend or Legit?
Legends investigated instead of retold. Legend, evidence, history, verdict, and a campfire rating.
If These Roads Could Talk
The passes and highways we drive for a living: Berthoud, Loveland, Trail Ridge, I-70, US-36, Colfax.
Colorado Characters
The people whose names ended up on the maps, written properly for once.
Campfire Conversations
Five chairs, one fire, no family, dead or alive. Your turn to answer in the comments.
Questions Kids Ask
The questions adults stopped asking out loud, answered without condescension.
Stories From the Road
Dispatch stories. No names, no gossip, and a lesson every time.
What's coming
Twenty-six questions between September 1 and November 27. Titles can move; the questions won't.
September 2026
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How Many Sides Does Colorado Actually Have?
The launch piece. A surveying error, 697 boundary markers, and a four-corners marker that isn't where anyone thinks.
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Why You Still Can't Buy a Car on Sunday in Colorado
CRS 44-20-302 quoted verbatim, the 1953 origin, and every repeal attempt that died.
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Blucifer: The Curse, the Lawsuit, and What Actually Happened
The sculptor's death is real. The curse isn't. First verdict piece.
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Berthoud Pass: The Road That Shouldn't Exist
Survey history, avalanche paths, the ski area that closed, and why we route around it in February.
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Why Runaway Truck Ramps Point Uphill
Physics, the Floyd Hill grade, and real incident counts from CDOT.
October 2026
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Who's Sitting Around Your Fire?
Jim's five: Brooks, Denver, Cash, Nelson, Bon Jovi. Ends open on purpose.
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The DIA Tunnels
The real baggage system, the real cost overrun, the invented lizard people. Highest search volume in the plan.
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Where Does the Snow Go After It Melts?
Watersheds, the Continental Divide, and why Denver tap water started as a snowflake near Loveland Pass.
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Who Was Berthoud? Who Was Loveland?
The names on the passes. Two biographies nobody has written well.
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The Snowstorm Where Everybody Else Quit
An I-70 closure, a run that happened anyway, and what we changed afterward.
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Cheesman Park: What's Actually Under It
Cemetery records, the 1893 removal contract, and the part that is genuinely grim and true.
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Five Business Leaders
Same rules, different chairs.
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Riverdale Road, Claim by Claim
The Halloween anchor. Seven claims investigated separately instead of lumped together.
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Who Decided Where State Lines Go?
The land ordinance, the 37th parallel, and why Colorado's borders wobble.
November 2026
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Colorado Regulates the Weather
Cloud seeding permits under CRS 36-20. Real statute, real program, sounds invented.
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The Airport Pickup That Turned Into Something Bigger
A repeat-client origin story. Ties to the 51% repeat number.
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Trail Ridge Road: Why It Closes When It Closes
Closure dates by year and plow logistics. Feeds the RMNP page.
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Five People You'd Simply Like to Thank
The one that gets the longest comments.
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Why Downtown Denver Sits at an Angle
Grid rotation, the river, and why your rideshare pin lands on the wrong corner.
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Thanksgiving Week at DEN, From the Driver's Seat
Timed to the busiest week of the year. Practical value, high seasonal search.
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The Search-and-Rescue Volunteers Nobody Can Name
Interview-adjacent, and a strong local-link candidate. The people who go out when the weather is at its worst, unpaid.
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Could You Cross the Country Without Touching an Interstate?
Route it on US-40, US-50, US-6. Needs a map graphic.
December 2026
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The Ride That Went Completely Wrong and Somehow Worked Out
A diversion, a rebooking, and the client who still rides with us.
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Why Don't Birds Get Shocked on Power Lines?
Short, shareable, no Colorado angle needed.
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Your Five: The Reader Edition
Roundup of reader answers from Sep 4. Proves the series has an audience.
January 2027
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What's the Oldest Thing You've Ever Touched?
Closes the quarter. Granite, fossils, and a Front Range that is 1.7 billion years old.
How these get written
Every research piece runs the same six beats, in the same order: the question, the assumption, the rabbit hole, the history, the modern answer, and dispatch notes. Myth pieces swap the middle for evidence, a verdict, and a campfire rating — because a legend deserves a ruling, not a shrug.
Every provable claim links inline to a primary source: statute text on leg.colorado.gov, court opinions, CDOT and NPS records, county archives, newspaper morgues. Never a listicle. Images come from archives where archives exist — the Denver Public Library Western History Collection, the Library of Congress, History Colorado — and each one carries a credit line.
Every article closes with Grandpa's Challenge: one question worth taking to dinner, a campfire, or your own passengers.
Riding with us in the meantime
Arion runs airport transfers, mountain resort trips, Red Rocks nights and corporate travel across Colorado. Same roads these questions come from.
Or call (970) 703-4995.
Last reviewed: August 24, 2026 by Arion dispatch. Rates, policies and Colorado Department of Transportation rules are subject to change; call (970) 703-4995 for current details.