Signs along the way

When I woke up yesterday morning I had had a dream...the kind that is so real you can smell and taste it. I had been dreaming about Kentucky-fingerlickin'-grease-drippin' Fried Chicken. So real my mouth was watering ( ok...maybe drooling, a petty difference really). I also had an unfinished task....organizing the rest of my closet and drawers...and knew I needed sock boxes. Angel Fire has neither KFC nor sock boxes so a trip to Taos was in the picture and I could have waited another day for the sock boxes but the chicken was an immediate necessity.

On the drive through Taos Canyon there are three signs that I have seen before and that make me chuckle every time I see them and they point to the disparity of a rich county (Taos) and the poorer one where I live ( Colfax ). We dont have signs like this in Colfax county.

The first is a yellow hazard sign with a picture of an elk and the words " Elk Crossing Ahead". I wonder every time I see this sign if the elk know this is where they are supposed to cross. Has someone told them...."ok guys, you cross right here" and if indeed there are so many of them crossing that they warrant their own sign. Never, in all the times over the last 20 years that we have driven this road has there been the slightest sign of an elk but apparently some brain child in Taos decided to spend the money to put a large sign, letting both elk and humans know this is where they should cross. Ok....

The next sign is also a large yellow hazard sign, this time with no words but the picture of a cow. Really? Not a cow to be seen anywhere and no words on the sign, leaving one to wonder if they were just bored in Taos and had extra money and decided "hey a cow sign would be cool" ...out in the middle of nowhere. Ok.....

The one that truly boggles my mind is the third sign. This cautions "Bicycle riders stay right and ride single file". Seriously??? First and foremost we are talking about a road that is a narrow two lane affair...there is no shoulder to pull off on and no place to stop and in many places it is a sheer drop. We drive on the right side of the road in this country. Did the sign makers in Taos have the idea that bicyclists, on this tiny road, would ride on the left, into oncoming traffic?? Or that they would choose the center of the road, which seems to include elk, cows and most frightening of all, Texans?? In reality, if you are riding a bike on this road at all you should probably have a mental health evaluation. You see about as many bicyclists as you do elk and cows.

Someone in Taos has way too much time and money on their hands. At times I do wish we had a McDonalds or KFC here in Angel Fire and the drive is a bit of a drag but at least (do I thank the Taos bureaucrats here??) its entertaining.