Roads that trick your memory

Started by TheKnightoftheInterstate, July 01, 2013, 02:44:28 PM

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TheKnightoftheInterstate

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
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agentsteel53

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?
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ET21

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  :)
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Clinched:
IL: I-88, I-180, I-190, I-290, I-294, I-355, IL-390
IN: I-80, I-94
SD: I-190
WI: I-90, I-94
MI: I-94, I-196
MN: I-90

kphoger

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.
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Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ChoralScholar

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.
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hobsini2

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.
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vdeane

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).
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Alps

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.

Pete from Boston

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.

kphoger

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.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kurumi

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?
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kphoger

[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]
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Quillz

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.

huskeroadgeek

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.

DandyDan

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.
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vdeane

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!
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

kphoger

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.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kurumi

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.
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6a

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.

Takumi

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.
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exit322

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...

vdeane

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:
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

ftballfan

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).

exit322

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.

NE2

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