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Caution: 'Large boulder the size of a large boulder' blocks Colorado road

At last, destiny is fulfilled for the sheriff's department whose tweet about a "large boulder the size of a small boulder" went viral.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
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Amanda Kooser
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This large boulder blocking a Colorado highway is the size of a large boulder.

 San Miguel Sheriff

On Jan. 27, 2020 the San Miguel Sheriff in Colorado stepped into internet infamy with a photo of a rock the size of a small car sitting in a road. "Large boulder the size of a small boulder is completely blocking east-bound lane Highway 145 mm78 at Silverpick Rd," the department tweeted. And Twitter went wild with jokes and memes that made fun of the disconnect between the size of the boulder and its description. 

Just over a year after that bold tweet, the San Miguel Sheriff Twitter account is back to complete its arc of redemption. 

A new boulder has fallen, as has a new tweet: "A large boulder the size of a large boulder is blocking the southbound lane Hwy 145 mm28 in Stoner Creek area of Montezuma County," reads the tweet, sent Friday. "Expect delays."

Twitter is already getting to work on this one. "We hope the large boulder the size of a large boulder can be reduced down to a large boulder the size of a small boulder for easy mitigation," tweeted the engineering program at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

A Twitter user called Grumpy Potato found some relief in this new hunk of rock: "Thank goodness. I hate it when large boulders turn out to be much smaller than a medium boulder. It messes with my head, which is the size of my head."

The wording of the original "small boulder" tweet has an innocent explanation. Susan Lilly, public information office for the San Miguel Sheriff, took ownership, clarifying she meant to type "small car." But the fortuitous typo turned what would have been an unremarkable tweet into a Twitter legend. 

Lilly and the department had recently celebrated the anniversary of the first tweet by joking she'd been pardoned by the sheriff. With the new boulder, Lilly tweeted, "And here we go."

Without the first boulder, we wouldn't now have the pleasure of enjoying this new larger boulder. The big, beautiful boulder is the hero we need for today. A magnificent beast. Large and in charge of the highway. A bit of levity at a tough time. A true rock star.