Fireworks, patriotism themes and feelings, sightseeing drives, party time with friends and family, ubiquitous flag flying, this July 4th day was like every other. It was fortuitous that it fell on a Thursday because Friday turned into a holiday day off as well for many people, and for me.
My wife and I took the opportunity to drive to southwestern Colorado for sightseeing in Gunnison Canyon, the Ouray hot springs, and the Montrose and Ridgeway areas. It surprised me a heck of a lot that we made it from Denver to Gunnison in only four hours, I really thought the state was much bigger than that! Ha! I've been here so many years, and have been reticent to drive to my favorite areas of Colorado because of the perceived distance. No more!
Only one hiccup occurred on the drive to Gunnison that roused my ire something good. An incredibly long traffic jam with stop and go traffic occurred while approaching Fairplay. All's good, I thought. It's probably construction (on July 4th?), or God forbid, an accident. As we crept forward slowly (there must have been a hundred cars or more), I saw an early turnoff into the town of Fairplay and took it. Since we were on a sightseeing trip, I told my wife - hey, let's look around, especially since we've never been here. The town is simple enough, it's a small town, but there is evidence of money coming into town, since some new-ish buildings and businesses were in evidence. We stopped by the 'Brown Burro-Cream & Steak 'cafe/ice cream shop by 7th Street and Highway 9 for a restroom break, and, to be polite, for a bite to eat. The middle-aged female clerk was raving with a customer about nutella ice cream, a novelty, for sure. The menu had 'expresso affagato' prominently displayed (the spelling might be wrong here), which is fun, because it is ice cream topped with a shot of expresso. Nutella affagato, yum. I tried it. My wife had the orange cream affagato - not so much of a hit, I'm sad to say.
Anyway, while ordering, I commented to the clerk on the long traffic jam along highway 285 on the way through town, and how so many cars were stuck in stop and go traffic for such a long time. The clerk's position was 'that's good'. She was supportive of the town's effort to put in a long-signal traffic light that stayed on red for long periods. Didn't find out how long the red lights were, but it wasn't trivial, considering the long, long line of cars. I asked her why the town would do that. She explained that there had been five recent accidents and fatalities due to truckers and speedsters going through red lights at high speeds. The town elected to severely slow traffic along that stretch of highway 285 and allow only incremental traffic progress. I then expressed how irritating it must be for all of those drivers to be stuck in traffic in such a remote area waiting and waiting for the chance to continue on to their destinations. Her response was to 'be in the moment', kiss your wife, read a book, enjoy sitting in traffic, because after all, the traffic jam is good. This really got my goat. Then, when another female customer chimed in with how good it was to stay in the moment, I found myself internally spinning with irritation and obstinance, and jokingly suggested that the two women bring out the whips to continue the job right.
What was it about this experience that didn't make sense to me, and spun my ire? Was it the lack of consideration for drivers on their way to distant destinations, including me? Was it the one-sided viewpoint of the clerk in the ice-cream store? For my part, I can understand the town's need to enhance safety at that intersection, if indeed they did have so many accidents there. However, I suspect that they really slowed traffic down to increase business in town by giving drivers a reason to search for an alternative to waiting in that traffic jam. In my view, they could have designed a much more friendly solution to that problem, including: put in two or three traffic lights along 285 and lower the speed to 35 mph. Widen the street to two lanes in each direction. Provide more turnoffs into town with inviting business establishments and signage along the route. As for the cafe clerk, instead of arguing with her customers about how they should feel while stuck in a traffic jam in her town, perhaps it would be in her interest to simply sympathize with the drivers' plights and thank them for coming into her store and giving her business. It certainly would not have inspired ire and commentary like this one!
