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September 2007
Rim Rock Drive is parks day centerpiece
Fresh, black asphalt greeted Jan Muyskens of Grand Junction when she mounted her bike and took off on her first-ever pedal over Rim Rock Drive at Colorado National Monument on Saturday, National Public Lands Day.
“This was something that was absolutely spectacular to do,” she said, pulling into the Monument’s visitor center. “Biking it is more fun than anything else.”
Few things bring a brighter smile to a cyclist’s face than a thrilling ride, stupendous scenery and naturally smooth, fresh pavement.
That 23-mile stretch of blacktop was the subject of celebration Saturday as Colorado National Monument officials rededicated Rim Rock Drive after more than a year of reconstruction. The occasion, complete with free entry into the park, served to remind Monument visitors that public lands are a national treasure meant to be appreciated by the masses.
National Public Lands Day was founded in 1994 to celebrate not only the public trust, but the spirit of the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose volunteers built many roads and buildings in national parks before World War II, including Rim Rock Drive.
Celebration of those roads and trails is also about participation, Grand Junction resident John Douglas said. That means visiting and supporting parks, something fewer young people seem to be doing nowadays, he said.
“Younger people don’t have the time,” he said. “The park system is here for citizens to enjoy. If we decide it’s not something we enjoy anymore, maybe we won’t have it available anymore.”
Make no mistake, Monument officials said, Rim Rock Drive is quite available after more than a year of traffic disruptions as crews smoothed and widened about 19 miles of the highway, precariously perched on the red rock rim of the Uncompahgre Plateau.
John Otto, the Monument’s first custodian and the man who inspired President William Howard Taft to create it in 1911, envisioned a road snaking along the rim of the Monument, but he never saw it happen during his tenure there. The Civilian Conservation Corps began building Rim Rock Drive in 1933, and it was completed in 1950.
“There are few other roads in America where you literally feel like you’re driving through the air,” Superintendent Joan Anzelmo said.
That’s particularly special because a road such as Rim Rock Drive probably couldn’t be built today, she said.
Hewing such a highway out of the sandstone in 2007 would cost too much — to the tune of $10 million per mile — and the environmental impact would be considered too great, Anzelmo said.
“That’s another reason to cherish it,” she said.
While public lands must be cherished, their presence in Mesa County present challenges, County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca said.
Communities here are growing, sometimes expanding to public lands boundaries throughout the Grand Valley, he said.
“The Monument is an example,” he said. “We have issues between private property owners and the national monument.”
Despite challenges, park lands such as Colorado National Monument illustrate for Americans the diversity of the National Park system, eliciting awe from those who visit them, said Greg Gnesios of the Colorado National Monument Association.
The improvements to the Monument, including Rim Rock Drive, have served the public well, he said.
“I was just coming off the Alcove Trail, and I was thinking, ‘What would John Otto think?’” Gnesios said. “Would he approve? I think he would.”
—Bobby Magill
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Bed race championed crowned
Downtown Fruita was the scene of a sports upset this morning, when Captain Toothbrush and His Tooth Ferries, sponsored by Fruita Canyon Dental, were crowned champions of the fifth annual Fall Festival Bed Race.
Cameras flashed and dozens of spectators screamed from the sidelines as five teams took turns pushing their wheeled beds down Aspen Avenue.
Each entry was unique, from event organizer Tom Dodd’s playful Ninja Turtles bed to the fun, speedy All American Super Heroes entry.
In the end, however, it was the Captain’s mixture of speed and creativity that earned the team first place.
Team leader Krehl Stegelmeier, wearing a star-spangled blue helmet, his blue shirt emblazoned with a large, white “T,” spoke of the first-time team’s training regimen for the event, which has become one of the highlights of Fruita’s Fall Festival.
“We’ve been pulling teeth, eating cookies and candy and not thoroughly flossing,” he said.
When asked why they beat out other, more seasoned competitors, he yelled, “Cause we’re good!” as his “ferries,” Sara Orr, Heather Slaugh, Jessica Sheffield and Jeannette Holding, all in pink tutus, spoke with fans.
Race volunteer Mel Mulder, who kept the time and announced the winners, said the race had gone off without a hitch.
“Nobody got hurt, nobody died,” he said, smiling. “I think it was just a fabulous race. It was wonderful.”
Second place was awarded to race organizer Tom Dodd’s Ninja Turtles, while third place went to Fruita Copy and Supply.
All American Heroes took home fourth, and last year’s winner, Cookies By Design, finished fifth.
Mary Sayles, 75, who rode on the Cookies By Design bed, said she had no hard feelings about this year’s placing.
“I think it’s fun. I like the community spirit. I guess you could call it a friendly rivalry,” she said.
As in all competitions, however, some take it more seriously than others.
Upon hearing the race results, Dodd, who is admittedly still sore from last year’s defeat by Cookies By Design, proclaimed his quest to win is far from over.
“We still have something to aspire to,” he said. “Number two is good enough for Avis, but we’ll be back next year.”
— By STINA SIEG
For The Daily Sentinel
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