Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: Railroad

  • Rockies Loop, Part 2 (Hikes)

    I did my best to stay active during our Rocky Mountains trip as I explained in the previous installment. The entire trip revolved around the outdoors. That became something of a gamble during a transitional period between seasons. Snow still covered higher elevations. Meanwhile, prevailing wind patterns threatened us with afternoon rainstorms more characteristic of…

  • 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,…

  • Another Town Roundup

    I’ve collected unusual town names for awhile. They often came up as I researched Twelve Mile Circle articles or when I checked the daily log files. Generally they don’t make those “weird names” lists found elsewhere on the Intertubes. I find them endlessly fascinating for some unknown reason. Then I make a note of them…

  • Four Corners, Part 3 (Towns)

    While the great outdoors flavored many of our decisions across northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, we also spent some time in “civilization” too. I tied to stay at least two nights in each place to create a little mental anchor. Otherwise we’d feel adrift in a vagabond existence. That offered time to explore a…

  • Even More Manly Places

    I didn’t realize the earlier Manly Places would get much of a reaction. Actually the title did suggest an element of foreshadowing. Everyone in the Twelve Mile Circle audience who thought it should have featured places named Manly, go ahead and take a bow. I intended to link the previous article to this one all…

  • Murdo Mystery

    I seemed to be fixated on time lately, ever since writing the recent Time Zones in Greenland. I went through my long list of open items and found a few more timely topics. So Twelve Mile Circle could benefit from subjects of that nature while I cleared the backlog. Murdo seemed a likely candidate. Murdo…

  • Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair

    During deep winter I focus a lot of efforts on my genealogy hobby. I think it’s because the holidays offer big blocks of time where I’m stuck indoors. I can concentrate on intricate details as I piece together my family puzzle. Recently a line of research brought my attention to a small town in East…

  • Going in Circles

    For the obvious reason, any geographic feature related to circles will make it onto the pages of Twelve Mile Circle eventually. I collect examples as I encounter them until I have enough to write an entire article. So this is the latest batch. Circle, Montana Circle, Montana proclaimed itself to be “A Great Place to…

  • Appalachian Loop, Part 3 (Cultural Threads)

    Appalachia described more than a physical geography. It described a proudly self-reliant people who’d lived within these hills and hollows on their own wits for more than two centuries. I mentioned some of my perceptions after I visited Kentucky in 2013. It would be all to easy to reduce Appalachia to unfair hillbilly stereotypes. Naturally…

  • Surprise!

    A visitor landed on Twelve Mile Circle from Surprise. That was the actual name of the town; Surprise, Arizona. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me. More than a hundred thousand people lived there, yet I’d never heard of it. I also learned during my search that Surprise was a surprisingly common designation. Some 238 surprises…