Category: Storyworth Recollections

Andy Gordon taught me how to fly in 1973, and one snowy day that winter I took a number of aerial photos of Rifle.  They’re fascinating to look at over 40 years later.  Among other things, there is

• no I-70, so of course no bypass
• City Market was located where Remington Square is now
• City Hall and the Library are vacant lots; the Winchester Hotel had been torn down earlier that year during one of the boom/bust cycles
• The apartments at 5th and Whiteriver are not there
• Aspen Avenue had very few houses and wasn’t paved all the way to 7th Street
• Highlands East is farmland
• Rifle High School was held in what is now part of the Middle School

I also took some nostalgic photos of the Rifle A&W and of Ray Cole, its owner.  By this time, the alignment of I-70 had been determined, and the Department of Highways had acquired and closed his restaurant.  The Chamber of Commerce had purchased a railroad car from the Rio Grande for $1 and parked it near his restaurant; it was later moved to the SW corner of the intersection of First & Railroad, and subsequently junked.

Please leave comments if you notice anything else.

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When ads first appeared on the internet, they were not really very well targeted. But Google has made its fortune by learning all about you by snooping on the websites you visit. Facebook is trying to emulate the same thing by determining who your friends are and what you like. These commercial behemoths have a pretty good idea of your age, sex, marital status, location, what kind of cars you drive, what your hobbies are, etc. Several years ago, I would get ads and emails for programs to restore my credit score (which hasn’t needed restoring, thank you very much), reduce my mortgage, and of course, ads for fake Viagra.

As the years passed, the credit scores and mortgage ads began to decrease in frequency, and the ads became more relevant and pleasant: new cars, cruises, vacations to exotic places, motorcycles and ham radio. Sweet.

However, in the past couple of months, I’ve begun to see a disturbing trend in the ads; Google realizes that I’m over 65, so the ads are now aimed at a new demographic. They’re depressing, because they are for things such as the “Help I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” security dongle, magic wands that make arthritis pain a thing of the past, or “scam Medicare to get your own mobility scooter.” Those didn’t bother me much, but now they’ve reached a new low: step in bathtubs for old people.

The time may come when we would welcome a mobility scooter or step in bathtub, but for now I wish they’d keep the ads for romantic cruises and vacation destinations.