Has anyone else ever experienced traveling or driving on a road, remembering it a certain way and then after looking at an atlas or re-driving it and realizing you remembered it wrong?
My example would be I-4 in Florida. I haven't ridden it for about 5 years and I kept recalling it as a long, barren, forest stretch from I-95 to Orlando. I bought an atlas at Wal-Mart flip to the Florida section and to my surprise realized that the barren spot wasn't as long and empty as I thought. :colorful: I always swore that I-4 from that section was just empty with few exits.
Minds and memories are tricky. Perhaps the anticipation for WDW exaggerated the situation. :-D
I always forget that I-8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande is sixty-one miles without 24 hour services. or even a bathroom.
in what appears to be a "fuck you" move, Arizona DOT has installed, halfway through that stretch, the only picnic area along an interstate that I can recall. really, you couldn't toss in a port-a-shitter?
I-88 between Sugar Grove Spur and DeKalb is only about 22 miles, takes no more than 20-25 minutes. But it seems like forever...
Dat brain and its mind tricks :)
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
I-40 from Conway to North Little Rock runs almost exactly North to South, so figuring out which direction you're going inside of town is tricky.
ET21, I felt that way about a couple of roads as a kid. The 17 miles on I-90 between US 20 at Hampshire and Belvidere-Genoa Rd. It seemed to take forever even though it's only 15 minutes. The other one was the 19 miles of Wis 22 between Pardeeville and Montello. Now when I do those drives, it's not that same feeling.
I once thought exit 44 on the Thruway was exit 333 for some reason. I can only guess I misread the route marker and constructed a fake memory of the gore sign (it's for NY 332).
Years ago, I dreamt the Massachusetts state route shield as a square with MASS. on top. I started drawing them that way until I finally went back up there and saw there was no state name. My memory had somehow conflated MA and RI, or maybe IN/IL and MA.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on July 01, 2013, 02:46:58 PM
I always forget that I-8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande is sixty-one miles without 24 hour services. or even a bathroom.
in what appears to be a "fuck you" move, Arizona DOT has installed, halfway through that stretch, the only picnic area along an interstate that I can recall. really, you couldn't toss in a port-a-shitter?
Mass has "Picnic areas," not to mention "Parking areas." They are sans-shitter, except for the occasional port-a-john.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on July 01, 2013, 08:59:41 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on July 01, 2013, 02:46:58 PM
I always forget that I-8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande is sixty-one miles without 24 hour services. or even a bathroom.
in what appears to be a "fuck you" move, Arizona DOT has installed, halfway through that stretch, the only picnic area along an interstate that I can recall. really, you couldn't toss in a port-a-shitter?
Mass has "Picnic areas," not to mention "Parking areas." They are sans-shitter, except for the occasional port-a-john.
The lack of a john has never stopped me from doing my business. My wife won't do it, though.
Quote from: kphoger on July 02, 2013, 04:53:11 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on July 01, 2013, 08:59:41 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on July 01, 2013, 02:46:58 PM
I always forget that I-8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande is sixty-one miles without 24 hour services. or even a bathroom.
in what appears to be a "fuck you" move, Arizona DOT has installed, halfway through that stretch, the only picnic area along an interstate that I can recall. really, you couldn't toss in a port-a-shitter?
Mass has "Picnic areas," not to mention "Parking areas." They are sans-shitter, except for the occasional port-a-john.
The lack of a john has never stopped me from doing my business. My wife won't do it, though.
Are we still talking about rest stops?
[tmi]
LOL. Yes. Although there was that one time in the back of the van at that pathetic excuse for a rest area just north of Kansas City on SB I-35......
[/tmi]
CA-18 was drastically different from how I remembered it. I remembered it being like CA-330, a generally narrow, two-lane highway that was considerably twisty and windy. Instead, I was on it a few months ago and segments of it are practically expressways, including a flyover ramp junction with CA-138. A very impressive road, to say the least.
I also remember driving up to Prescott, AZ a very long time ago and being impressed by how scenic the view was. I always assumed it was somewhere off I-17, but upon looking at a map, it's much more likely I was on AZ-69 or US-89.
After having traveled I-80 in Wyoming on a family vacation when I was 11, I remembered it as being almost completely flat with nothing around to look at. When I traveled it again as an adult, I was somewhat surprised to find that it wasn't quite as flat and boring as I remembered it. It isn't the most exciting route, especially compared to I-70, but there are at least some physical features to break up the monotony. I think maybe the reason why I remembered it as being almost completely flat was because having been to Colorado, I kind of expected it to look like what I had experienced there. When it turned out to be not very mountainous, I think it seemed almost completely flat in comparison.
Whenever I drive from Omaha to Kansas City, I always think the part of I-29 between the Nebraska City exit (Iowa 2) and St. Joseph is a lot shorter than it actually is. Maybe I get tricked by the diagonal nature of the route in Missouri and far SW Iowa.
I had the same thing happen with the Adirondack Northway. I always thought of I-87 and "I-81's eastern counterpart" - never mind that the Northway alone is as long as I-81's total mileage in NY!
Quote from: DandyDan on July 04, 2013, 06:20:42 AM
Whenever I drive from Omaha to Kansas City, I always think the part of I-29 between the Nebraska City exit (Iowa 2) and St. Joseph is a lot shorter than it actually is. Maybe I get tricked by the diagonal nature of the route in Missouri and far SW Iowa.
All highways north of Kansas City are magically longer than they first appear.
A trip from Hartford to Norwalk on I-91/CT 15 at 11 pm: should be pretty quick, right? No traffic, and no two points in CT are that far away from another.
It took an eternity.
I grew up thinking Charlotte was a barren wasteland because I'd only ever been through it via I-85. It was only after I went exploring one day I realized it wasn't so bad after all.
When traveling I-64 to Hampton Roads, I always think I can make it from I-295 to the tunnels in under an hour. In reality, no.
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad."
Go drive on the Thruway :bigass:
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
Quote from: vdeane on July 08, 2013, 08:37:52 PM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad."
Go drive on the Thruway :bigass:
I have many times, and it's the same way. But there's not exactly the anticipation of being a kid and going to grandma's on the NY Thruway, given my grandma lived in central Florida and I'm from Ohio.
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
One time I drove [...] I remember falling asleep [...]
:banghead:
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
That would have been a screwy feeling. I know when Georgia had just changed their numbers over, I had to do a quick doubletake when the first exit on I-95 was 109 and not 19.
In Chicago, I-90 and I-94 run north-south and I-55 runs east-west. I used to think that those routes should be signed with the directions they go in, until I learned that this was the opposite of the Interstate signing convention.
What's really nice is on I-290 (The Eisenhower Expressway) especially heading back west toward Elk Grove Village, there are a couple of I-294 interchanges (as well as a couple alternate routes listed) in case you make a "mistake."
Quote from: Quillz on July 02, 2013, 11:55:31 PM
CA-18 was drastically different from how I remembered it. I remembered it being like CA-330, a generally narrow, two-lane highway that was considerably twisty and windy. Instead, I was on it a few months ago and segments of it are practically expressways, including a flyover ramp junction with CA-138. A very impressive road, to say the least.
That first ten miles or so of California 18 out of San Bernardino to the turnoff at 138 (including the bridge) was four-laned back in the 1960s sometime. (Would anyone know exactly what year; I've always been curious.) When I was in my pre-teen and teen years in the 1970s, my folks used to rent cabins up by Lake Arrowhead in the summer and later bought one of their own and it was definitely four-lane then. (The highway, not the cabin.) :-D
Beyond the Crestline turnoff, 18 is still the little cliff-hanging road it was since it was built.
Quote from: NE2 on July 09, 2013, 11:05:58 AM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
One time I drove [...] I remember falling asleep [...]
:banghead:
Hey man, highway hypnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_hypnosis) happens. One time I drove from western Kansas to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I fell asleep seomwhere near Byers, and woke up in Denver when I started drifting toward a semi in the lane to the right of me. :-o
Quote from: exit322 on July 09, 2013, 11:06:18 AM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
That would have been a screwy feeling. I know when Georgia had just changed their numbers over, I had to do a quick doubletake when the first exit on I-95 was 109 and not 19.
I wonder how many people unfamiliar with sequential numbering have ever looked at a map and thought they knew about how many miles it was across a state with sequential numbering by looking at the first exit number. That happened to me the first time I was figuring up mileage for a trip across Georgia(prior to the change to mileage-based numbering). I thought it was only 142 miles across the state on I-75 based on the first exit number being 142. Fortunately, by the time I actually traveled through the state, I had figured out that they used sequential and not mileage based numbering.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on July 10, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 09, 2013, 11:06:18 AM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
That would have been a screwy feeling. I know when Georgia had just changed their numbers over, I had to do a quick doubletake when the first exit on I-95 was 109 and not 19.
I wonder how many people unfamiliar with sequential numbering have ever looked at a map and thought they knew about how many miles it was across a state with sequential numbering by looking at the first exit number. That happened to me the first time I was figuring up mileage for a trip across Georgia(prior to the change to mileage-based numbering). I thought it was only 142 miles across the state on I-75 based on the first exit number being 142. Fortunately, by the time I actually traveled through the state, I had figured out that they used sequential and not mileage based numbering.
FWIW, I like mileage-based exits better...although sequential is fine for New England states, which are among the nation's smallest.
Quote from: Henry on July 10, 2013, 11:33:07 AM
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on July 10, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 09, 2013, 11:06:18 AM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
That would have been a screwy feeling. I know when Georgia had just changed their numbers over, I had to do a quick doubletake when the first exit on I-95 was 109 and not 19.
I wonder how many people unfamiliar with sequential numbering have ever looked at a map and thought they knew about how many miles it was across a state with sequential numbering by looking at the first exit number. That happened to me the first time I was figuring up mileage for a trip across Georgia(prior to the change to mileage-based numbering). I thought it was only 142 miles across the state on I-75 based on the first exit number being 142. Fortunately, by the time I actually traveled through the state, I had figured out that they used sequential and not mileage based numbering.
FWIW, I like mileage-based exits better...although sequential is fine for New England states, which are among the nation's smallest.
I definitely prefer mileage-based too and I also think sequential is fine for most of the states that use it-the one exception is New York, particularly on the Thruway. It's hard to have a concept of just how far it is between major cities because one can't make a quick look at a map to find out. I can imagine a trip across the state on the Thruway(particularly on the I-90 portion) has confused some people into being longer than they expect if they haven't actually added up the distance or aren't already familiar with it.
Some of my early memories of certain roads were based on a perception of direction that I didn't confirm with a map, and the misconception remained with me for a long time.
When the tolls came down from the Connecticut Turnpike when I was a kid, our regular route up into New England broadened to include not only 684-84 but 95-91-84 (and ultimately the Merritt). I remember being convinced that north of New Haven, the segment of I-91 along the Quinnipiac River marshes turned due east until Exit 11 or so. It took several years as a passenger through there to get re-oriented properly.
Oddly, on one of my earliest childhood trips on the New Jersey Turnpike through the Meadowlands, I recall thinking the same thing -- that the road ran east-west through that stretch. Something about me lost direction in marshes.
Other than that, everything just seems longer when you're younger, not driving, and/or new to a road. I took a bus across Pennsylvania on 80 when I was 10 and it seemed interminable. Now, many years later, it... ok, bad example.
I could have swore that the Blakely Street exit off of I-81 in Scranton, PA was a cloverleaf when I was there before. GSV and all Google images show it as a parclo.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on July 10, 2013, 04:18:43 PM
Quote from: Henry on July 10, 2013, 11:33:07 AM
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on July 10, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 09, 2013, 11:06:18 AM
Quote from: ftballfan on July 09, 2013, 10:15:29 AM
Quote from: exit322 on July 08, 2013, 11:24:00 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 01, 2013, 04:47:43 PM
Sometimes the opposite is true: I think to myself, Ooh, I'm almost there, and then I remember, Oh yeah, I forgot there's like a million more miles before XYZ.
When I was a kid going to my grandma's in Florida, I-75 was ALWAYS that. We got off at Exit 61, which when you first enter the state...first exit's 87, so "that's not too bad." No, just 165 miles of "not too bad." Not a particularly exciting interstate either, so yeah...that trip did get a little better when the exit numbers changed, because at least the exit number dropped by 5-7-10 numbers every exit, instead of just 87, 86, 85, 84...
One time I drove down to Florida and they were in the middle of changing exit numbers on I-75. The Turnpike was Exit 65 at the time, and I remember falling asleep and waking up, seeing exits in the 380s (in reality, less than 60 miles from the Turnpike).
That would have been a screwy feeling. I know when Georgia had just changed their numbers over, I had to do a quick doubletake when the first exit on I-95 was 109 and not 19.
I wonder how many people unfamiliar with sequential numbering have ever looked at a map and thought they knew about how many miles it was across a state with sequential numbering by looking at the first exit number. That happened to me the first time I was figuring up mileage for a trip across Georgia(prior to the change to mileage-based numbering). I thought it was only 142 miles across the state on I-75 based on the first exit number being 142. Fortunately, by the time I actually traveled through the state, I had figured out that they used sequential and not mileage based numbering.
FWIW, I like mileage-based exits better...although sequential is fine for New England states, which are among the nation's smallest.
I definitely prefer mileage-based too and I also think sequential is fine for most of the states that use it-the one exception is New York, particularly on the Thruway. It's hard to have a concept of just how far it is between major cities because one can't make a quick look at a map to find out. I can imagine a trip across the state on the Thruway(particularly on the I-90 portion) has confused some people into being longer than they expect if they haven't actually added up the distance or aren't already familiar with it.
Many people around here have no idea that the numbers on the exit signs have any meaning whatsoever. I've been teaching my son to calculate distances using mile-markers and exit signs since he could add and subtract. My dad did the same thing to me.
"All right, son, Atkins is the number 94 and we just passed the 115, so how far is it?"
Good times.
I've driven on I-476 from Allentown to Philadelphia for the past eight years now and it's mostly a four lane toll road that needs of an urgent repair from Exit 56-20, but six lanes are in work from exit 20-31. Mostly farmland and only two service areas on I-476 both at Allentown and Hickory Run perhaps another service area North of Lansdale
When I look at historical maps of roads I remember as a child, the map "in my head" had much bigger turns than on the map. A wide sweeping highway turn I remember as 90 degrees was not even 45, or an angled intersection I remember as 60 degrees may have been closer to 30. Yet somehow it all coalesced in my mind as a coherent whole from which I could confidently navigate.
VT 15 does this to me as well. I can't find the spot we stopped for lunch on a trip to Maine because the village layout I remember corresponds to no town on the road. All I can say for sure is that it was somewhere between VT 104 and VT 100, and probably not the first town on that section (we stopped a town or two earlier to look at one of the cars after a rock messed up the gas gauge).