Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: Interstate 70

  • Washington Co., Maryland; Day 2

    The pressure was off once I flipped the status of Washington County to “overnight” on my County Counting list. Officially it became Overnight County #205. Now I could concentrate on exploring beyond Hagerstown and further into the countryside. Hancock I’ve always loved driving through Hancock on the western side of Washington County. I’ve mentioned it…

  • Washington Co., Maryland; Day 1

    I felt trapped at home, first because of a previous snowfall that refused to melt and later by a bout of the flu. Mentally I needed a change of scenery just to get away for awhile and reset my attitude. So this seemed like a perfect time to add another new overnight county to my…

  • Arc of Columbus, Part 2

    The quest to add new Ohio spots to my county counting list continued, padding my efforts from earlier in the day. The wide arc I took around the perimeter of Columbus swung from north, clockwise, now approaching due-east. The route now led into Licking County. Getting Licked Licking wasn’t completely unfamiliar because I’d been there…

  • Dayton, Ohio Part 4 (Venturing North)

    The ultimate destination was Dayton, Ohio and it took about seven and a half hours to get there. However we didn’t just sit in Dayton for an entire week. If I had to drive all that way you better believe I would do some County Counting along the way too. At this point I’ve already…

  • Last Chance

    Speaking of odd town names (we were just speaking of those, weren’t we?), what about Last Chance? Every place deserved a last chance, I supposed. The U.S. Geographic Names Information System listed more than three hundred of them. Many — no surprise — aligned with mining claims. Also they frequently referenced ditches, streams and gulches,…

  • Center of Power

    Pioneers migrating into the central sections of the United States during the Nineteenth Century found a unique opportunity to shape their governance. Counties formed across the prairie in precise straight lines. Often they platted the local seat of government somewhere conveniently in the middle. Names bestowed upon these geographic slices frequently reflected prominent local businessmen…

  • Kansas Mountain Time

    Loyal reader Mr. Burns pointed out that my intended Dust Bowl route will traverse a psuedo-geo-oddity. I’ll move from Central Time to Mountain time while heading due north. That happens in other places sporadically, although not as rarely as moving east from Mountain Time into Pacific Time for example. One can’t be too choosy in…

  • Runaway Truck!

    I went on a brief roadtrip last Autumn, an experience I described in more detail in my Adventures along Maryland I-70/68. In that article I mentioned a massive road cut at Sideling Hill. However, I couldn’t find a reason to highlight another feature, a runaway truck ramp just west of the cut as one descends…

  • Subterranean Continental Divide

    I have a fascination with tunnels. So I like to feature them regularly, including articles such as Superlative Tunnels, Tunnel Under the Border, and Tunnels, Bridges, Lifts and Inclines. Also I’ve fixated on boundaries and watersheds such as the Hydrological Apex of North America. It seems odd to me that I hadn’t yet encountered a…

  • Adventures along Maryland I-70/68

    The weather turned nasty on the second day of my MDVAWV adventure. Suddenly my hiking plans no longer seemed quite as attractive as the day before. I took to the road and explored through western Maryland instead. The route I describe below is a composite. The portion east of Hagerstown took place as I drove…