Laughing and Cursing Through New Mexico
One final observation about road construction in Texas. I understand the orange cones lined up to keep drivers out of a lane that is being repaired, but why add an additional line of orange cones on the shoulder? Has there been an unreported rash of frustrated motorists flinging themselves and their vehicles into the ditch? What is keeping these people off the shoulder and out of the ditches when there are no orange cones?
New Mexico has tried to solve this vexing problem and a host of others with road signs. Based on my calculations, their road sign budget could feed a third world country for a decade. From the moment we crossed the state line, road signs peppered the landscape to lecture drivers on New Mexican highway etiquette. The people of New Mexico must be a dense lot, because they require 16 arrow signs per curve in the road to illustrate, sixteen times, that there is indeed a curve in the road.
Also, "KEEP OFF THE SHOULDER!" seems fairly benign until you've seen it seven thousand times in a 10 mile stretch. By the time we arrived in Raton, I was torn between shouting "I'M NOT ON THE SHOULDER!!" at the offensive things and driving exclusively on the shoulder until we reached the Colorado state line. Preventing me from enjoying that perverse pleasure were four thousand signs announcing "ROAD PATROLLED BY AIRCRAFT!" I was afraid black helicopters would swoop in and start dropping orange road cones on my head.
More irritating is that even in the middle of nowhere, with very little traffic, the speed limit remains a creeping 65 MPH throughout the state. Of the ten people on the road that day, the one person actually driving the speed limit was in front of the other nine of us. I looked for an opportunity to pass, but New Mexico has enhanced it's scenery with another gazillion signs about passing.
The first sign read "Passing Lane 2 Miles" so I decided, reluctantly, to wait. Next came "Passing Lane 1 Mile","Passing Lane 1/2 Mile", "Passing Lane 750 ft.", and "Passing Lane 500 ft.". Imagine Dick Clark finishing his New Year's Eve count down gig in New York City and moving to New Mexico to usher in the passing lanes. I began to accelerate, but was thunderstruck by the next two signs, placed on both sides of the road, which said, "DO NOT PASS!" Huh?
Then there were the six "No Parking" signs that invariably showed up along side every passing lane. I'm riding someone's bumper for 2 miles, waiting to pass, get on down the road, and out of this state. Yet, New Mexico believes I might become as schizophrenic as their road signs, roar across their shoulder, drive my car into the ditch, and park.
Needless to say, we all cheered as we finally flew past "You Are Now Leaving New Mexico!"
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