Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Roads

  • Shack at the End of the Road

    I strolled vicariously through Street View images leading to the northernmost coverage area of Canada, all the way to the town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. I pushed further north and further north at the tap of a trackpad until I could move no further on my laptop. Then I arrived right here at…

  • For Aficionados of Counties

    I know there are several regular readers of Twelve Mile Circle who are fascinated with the county level of government in the United States. Some of you are county counters, others of you are county highpointers, and still others might be county radio hunters. All of you are aficionados of this phenomenon of one sort…

  • My First Helicopter Ride

    I’d never been in a helicopter until yesterday. It was one of those minor life accomplishments that had been gnawing at me for the longest time. I’d had plenty of opportunities to take care of this before. Somehow the timing wasn’t right or it was too expensive or I was tired or I wanted to…

  • Orlando: Four Towns, One Name

    Four towns. Three of them fade into the background of rural obscurity. And one clearly doesn’t belong with the others. Most people know only the outlier, the one in Florida, the one with the tourists and the mouse. Orlando. I imagine few people realize or care about the other towns named Orlando. However, each had…

  • Street View Roadkill

    This is a bit macabre. Squeamish readers might want to skip directly past this entry. Maybe check back in a couple of days when I post a new article? Anyway, I received some great input from reader Ethan recently. He was kind enough to post another example of a state highway trespassing on the territory…

  • New York Steals Roads from its Neighbors!

    I learned some interesting facts from our prior exercise, specifically that there are several extremely short U.S. Interstate highway segments that just barely clip the corners of various states. In the course of that journey I also uncovered a startling revelation. New York is stealing roads from its neighbors. I’d write it off as an…

  • It Enters then Exits

    I noticed an interesting anomaly as I returned from my recent trip down south. Naturally I considered a variety of paths before settling on my ultimate course. I nearly selected one of the other finalists but I turned it down at the last minute in favor of some back-roads through rolling countryside. Had I followed…

  • A Single Point on the Border

    I encountered a number of interesting situations as I pulled together my recent series of borderlocking articles. One of those revelations pertained to Jeff Davis County(1) in the State of Texas. Examine its layout closely. Clearly it borders on Mexico. However that happens only at a single point along the Rio Grande River at its…

  • Lake Pontchartrain Circuit

    We continue to tour along the Gulf. This included a couple of day trips into Louisiana from our base on the Mississippi Coast. I’ve developed from those odysseys what I think is a great itinerary for any beer-loving aficionado of geographic oddities who needs to entertain the kids. I’ll admit that it’s a very small…

  • The Long Drive

    There was a time when I’d drive a thousand miles straight. Back then I’d stop only for gas and food and not give it a second thought. Unfortunately those days are long gone. I can make it only six to nine hours with kids in the car. Even alone I wouldn’t have the stamina to…