Category: Distance
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Naviduct
Twelve Mile Circle decided to stick with the aqueduct theme once again after the recent discussion of England’s Barton Swing Aqueduct. There were other structures, equally fascinating in their own distinct ways. Some were large, some were unusual, and some offered elements of both. Many of those innovative structures seemed to concentrate in western Europe,…
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Select African Superlatives
I thought I’d lump another set of somewhat related items together as I continued to cull the enormous backlog of possible Twelve Mile Circle topics. However, they didn’t have much in common except that they all involved continental Africa. Two involved geographical observations and the other two related to geological oddities. All of them piqued…
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Center of the Nation, Part 3 (Trails)
Evidence of earlier migrations appeared as we rolled along our Center of the Nation journey. It evoked a time when people crossed these High Plains without benefit of motors. Initially the migration involved early Nineteenth Century explorers and hunters of European descent pushing from the East Coast into lands long settled by Native Americans. Then…
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Center of the Nation, Part 2 (States and Counties)
Transporting a participant through a grueling six day, six state race series created a huge benefit for a geo-geek such as myself, the inherent need to cover a lot of territory. I’d driven through parts of the target area previously on a cross-country trip many years ago. I’d completed the typical tourist trek through the…
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Center of the Nation, Part 1 (Center?)
I returned from my much-anticipated Center of the Nation journey about a week ago. Those readers who followed the 12MC Twitter already received a steady dose of foreshadowing about this event. It’s my final installment from the 2015 Twelve Mile Circle “season of travel.” I took a lot of great trips over the last several…
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Bridges of Frederick County
First came a book, then a movie called “The Bridges of Madison County.” It took place in Iowa and the title referenced the many covered bridges common to the area. Apparently the plot involved a love affair or so I’ve inferred from summaries. I neither read the novel nor saw the film because I never…
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Nearly Nothing Named for Nixon
I joked as I wrote More Presidential County Sorting that nobody will ever name a county for disgraced former U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon who resigned in 1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. That led me to wonder, well, had anyone ever named anything for him? Maybe I was being overly harsh? Actually…
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Easiest New England
Twelve Mile Circle has received a steady drip of visitors who seem to want to know the shortest automobile route that could be taken to touch all of the New England states. I don’t see these queries every day. However, they comprise a consistent two or three every month-or-so and they have been landing on…
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Traveling’s Greatest Hits
It occurred to me, as I wrote two recent travelogues, that I’d visited a lot of interesting places in the last few years. I recorded my thoughts and impressions from those journeys on the pages of Twelve Mile Circle. The intent was to describe my adventures while still fresh in my mind. Looking back through…
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Great Allegheny Passage, Day 4 (Meyersdale to Cumberland)
The final day, like the end of all great adventures, was bittersweet. Nobody wanted to stop and yet we all had our lives to get back to and our responsibilities awaiting us that needed attention the next day. Most of the day’s ride would fly noticeably downhill. All of the gradual elevation we’d earned over…