My wife and I traveled from our hometown to enjoy your spectacular area of Colorado. Today we rode our motorcycle from La Veta to Alamosa to play tourist.

Minutes after arriving we were riding south on State St and mistakenly made a right turn onto 6th St. We instantly realized we were heading the wrong way on a one-way street and immediately turned into a parking lot within 20 feet of the corner. No sooner than we said “whew”, two of your patrol cars blocked us in with their lights spinning. We explained we were tourists and hadn’t seen a one-way sign. Without any further discussion they disappeared into their squad cars and spent 15 minutes writing my wife a ticket.

On a single horizontal pole over the intersection, there is a clutter of two stoplights and five signs, each one carrying a different message. The smallest of them all is a one-way sign, which we failed to notice.

We feel that this was a terrible way to greet visitors to your town. It was an honest mistake — neither my wife nor I saw the tiny one-way sign. We both have excellent and lengthy driving records. Living hundreds of miles away, I am sure we are not expected to contest the ticket in your traffic court.

We arrived in Alamosa expecting to spend the day — and a lot of tourist money — in your town. We were so upset at the unforgiving actions of your officers, we just headed right back the way we came, and on to kinder adventures elsewhere.

Bruce and Janice Holmes

Las Vegas, NM