Despite this we stay for Sept 1, 2011

by Carol Dunn
HUERFANO- Part of the charm of driving in New England are the plentiful roundabouts at intersections. These highway marvels are a gift from England, which was kind of upset after the revolutionary war and decided to get even. There are even renovation projects in scattered Colorado towns to add roundabouts – and they are oh-so quaint.
Actually roundabouts are kind of fun if you’re a tourist. That’s because you’re probably driving someone else’s car, so the stress factor is much lower. In my opinion, roundabouts are like the bumper-cars ride at Six Flags. You get all these cars going around the circle, and no one knows what they’re doing but they keep on driving. You can’t really read the road signs because you can’t look away from driving, since there are like twenty other cars going around in circles, and they’ve got you hemmed in on every side. And the road signs aren’t shaped like normal plus signs. They are stylized pictures of the roundabout. So they look more like a fat lizard with broken legs. Unless you are observing the roundabout from a helicopter, the signs are basically useless. Are you at the point where the left arm turns off, or are you back around the buttocks? (And yes, lizards DO have butts – I looked it up on Yahoo.) If you somehow manage to merge from the inside circle to the outside circle you end up taking the wrong exit, because if you don’t, you’re going to hit some truck hauling chickens or lobsters.
After about three circles you get dizzy. And if you don’t think that’s fun, watch a four year old kid sometime spinning in circles until they just crash to the ground laughing their head off. But who in their right mind drives a car around in circles for pleasure? Ok, there are a few out there – but you don’t see them very often, because they don’t get very far driving in circles. Truly, the roundabout it is an amusement park ride without having to stand next to a pole to see if you’re tall enough – AND you don’t need any tokens.
Wouldn’t a roundabout in Huerfano County be fun?! Just for grins, maybe we should rework the main intersection in Walsenburg into a roundabout. Of course you’d have to take out all the corner businesses, because a tractor-trailer needs a lot of room to get around a roundabout.
And let’s face it, it would make a trip through Huerfano County a memory some people could treasure their entire lives. “Ralph, remember that day we spent in Walsenburg going around in circles in the middle of town? I sure do miss that place.”