Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Where Not to Ride

I was out for a spin on the GTV the other morning and came upon this large sign. I've seen several with a similar message over the years and thought some of you city-folk would get a kick out of the "rugged individualism" one runs into out here in the Wild West. Note the lowest line on the sign. It makes me wonder if the property owner intends to shoot as I scoot.

The funny thing is that the land this sign is supposedly protecting is a pair of large alfalfa fields on either side of the dirt track. I have a hard time thinking there's anything of value growing there that wouldn't require a day and a half of harvesting with a swather, baler, and several large trucks to carry it all off. I wouldn't think a scooter, or anyone else for that matter, was much of a threat. Perhaps he's looking out for the occasional hay poacher.

The sign only makes me wonder what else is going on up that road. In fact, I'll bet it has the opposite effect on passers-by than what the sign-poster intended. I, for one, want to find out what's so secret. Had there been no sign, I wouldn't have given the property a second thought.

4 comments:

Steve Williams said...

We have similar signs in this part of the world. When I was a kid you hardly ever saw no trespassing signs. Now almost every private parcel has something. It's almost ugly in places where it seems like there is a bright yellow posted sign every 25 feet along stretches of road.

I know that the changes in our law suit sensibility is in part to blame. Landowners post just to inform would be walkers, hikers, hunters that they are not welcome so that they have some legal standing should someone get hurt.

But that doesn't explain the the subtle or not so subtle suggestions of violence in some of them.

And I guess some people have dreamt so long of being alone in their kingdom that they just want to be left alone.

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks

vespajitsu said...

Well put Steve, or maybe the owner of said property loves animals and doesn't want them poached off his land, or he's growing marijuana amongst the alfalfa. Who knows, but Eurastus is right on, it draws more attention than not.

Vince Stevens said...

Makes one wonder why one person claims ownership of so much more than is needed. I grew up in the country, in a small Missouri town. More times than I can remember, I wandered around the countryside without a thought of who might "own" it. Mostly small-time and subsistence farmers populated the land surrounding the town; much as it was a hundred years ago.

An Indigenous American once said, "We don't own the land, the land owns us"

irondad said...

It could be reverse psychology, you know. Maybe the farmer is hoping someone with a swather, baler, or large truck will stop and trespass. The plea bargain will be helping with the harvest!