I’ve had cancer, and I’ve had head colds, and in my opinion, colds are worse. When you have cancer, people treat you like a hero. They throw footraces for you, wear yellow bracelets to honor you, and tell you how inspirational and brave you are just for doing something ordinary, like showing up for work.
When you have a head cold, nobody remembers you used to be inspirational. You’re just pathetic. Those unlucky enough to be in your presence walk the long way around you. Not only are you not celebrated for showing up for work, but the people at work yell at you to go home because they don’t want what you have.
At our house, we’re in the midst of respiratory ailments, car repairs, bad weather and CSAPs. There’s nothing else to do but think about how much better life will be once the car’s fixed, we all feel better, school’s out and the Colorado we love – summer Colorado – emerges from under dank piles of 3-month-old snow.
Somehow my thoughts ran to the annual Mike the Headless Chicken Festival, which this year happens May 18 and 19 in Fruita, west of Grand Junction in the middle of spectacular red rock canyon scenery.
Fruita has plenty going for it on its own without relying on freaky fowl to draw visitors. To the east is the Colorado National Monument, with its scenic 23-mile Rim Rock Drive. To the west is McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, including the Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness, for mountain biking along the Kokopelli or Bookcliffs trails, rafting Westwater Canyon through the Black Cliffs Canyon Wilderness, and hiking.
The Fruita region is also dinosaur country. On the 486- mile “Dinosaur Diamond” scenic byway, you can spend two or three days touring paleontological sites in two states, venturing as far afield as Vernal, Utah, and the Dinosaur National Monument, which straddles the state line.
However, it’s a long drive to Dinosaur National Monument, and the Douglass Quarry visitors center with its fossil wall is temporarily closed, replaced with a virtual tour that you can do from home. So thunder lizard fans, and their parents behind the wheel, might want to consider closer- in options.
In-town dinosaurs
The Dinosaur Journey museum, right there in Fruita, has robotic displays, real bones, cast skeletons and a working paleontology lab. It also runs one-day dig trips to nearby Rabbit Valley, starting the weekend of the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival and running all summer.
Easily accessible dig sites include the Rabbit Valley Trail Through Time, 15 miles west of Fruita, and two sites right in town: Dinosaur Hill and Riggs Hill, where a brachiosaurus was unearthed back in 1900.
So there’s lots going on all year. But if you’re in Fruita in May, you might as well spend a Saturday commemorating Mike the Headless Chicken, whose refusal to die on schedule is an inspiration for us all.
In 1945 and 1946, this determined Wyandotte rooster lived for 18 months without a head. Having failed to dispatch it, farmer Lloyd Olsen took the poor bird on the road, feeding it with an eyedropper and exhibiting it to curiosity seekers. Mike became first a sideshow curiosity and then a reason for Fruita residents to celebrate the coming of spring.
There’s a chicken dance contest, lawnmower races and a Peep-eating contest for kids. The “Run Like a Headless Chicken” 5K presumably takes place in a straight line, not around in circles as headless chickens often travel.
Other events during the weekend include a car show, golf tournament and entertainment from Timothy P. and Rural Route 3 and “Poultry in Motion.” It sounds like good goofy fun.
If Mike could live without a head, I can survive this head cold.
Lisa Everitt is a freelance writer who lives in Arvada. Contact her at lisaeveritt@comcast.net.
