AARoads Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types  (Read 8811 times)

Ken Jennings

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 7
  • Last Login: August 05, 2010, 11:37:45 PM
Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« on: February 01, 2010, 07:40:31 PM »
Hey, my name is Ken...I'm an author working on a book for Scribner's about people with different kinds of geographical obsessions.  (I'm also the guy who was a contestant on the TV quiz show Jeopardy for about half of 2004, if that rings a bell.)

Right now I'm working on a chapter about various kind of roadgeekery.  I've been a fan of road atlases and highway minutiae ever since I was kid, but I don't feel really knowledgeable about this is as an organized hobby.  I'm Seattle-based right now.  Are there any Puget Sound-area road fans out there?  Drop me a line if so.
Logged

Alps

  • y u m
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 15356
  • Elimitante the truck trarffic,

  • Age: 40
  • Location: New Jersey
  • Last Login: Today at 12:40:54 AM
    • Alps' Roads
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2010, 07:53:13 PM »
I'm not Seattle-based, but I was also a geography nerd as a kid before becoming a full-fledged road enthusiast.  (And I've always been a Jeopardy nerd.  One of my friends won a recent Teen Jeopardy tournament.)
Logged

Scott5114

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 18184
  • Nit picker of unprecedented pedantry

  • Age: 33
  • Location: Norman, OK
  • Last Login: Today at 09:01:21 PM
    • Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2010, 09:04:16 PM »
Oh, wow! Welcome to the forum, Ken!
Logged

Alex

  • Webmaster
  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 5114
  • Location: Tampa, FL
  • Last Login: March 23, 2023, 07:43:16 AM
    • AARoads
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2010, 11:23:15 PM »
Chris Kalina, a.k.a. the seattleroadgeek, recently moved from the Seattle area but was based out of there for many years and knows a lot about Puget Sound area roads. Drop me a pm if you want his contact info.
Logged

andytom

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 160
  • Age: 62
  • Location: Beaverton, OR
  • Last Login: March 22, 2013, 08:23:41 PM
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2010, 11:27:17 PM »
Quote from: Ken Jennings
Right now I'm working on a chapter about various kind of roadgeekery.  I've been a fan of road atlases and highway minutiae ever since I was kid, but I don't feel really knowledgeable about this is as an organized hobby.  I'm Seattle-based right now.  Are there any Puget Sound-area road fans out there?  Drop me a line if so.

If you don't find anyone in the Seattle area, I'm a neighbor down I-5 in the Portland area.  You'll find that there really isn't a whole lot of organization in the hobby except for this type of forum.  Read through a few months worth of posts here and you'll probably be able to figure out the subcategories of the hobby.  Except for small localized groups in the bigger metro areas, most of us didn't know about others in the hobby until the internet came along and finally gave us a method to connect nationwide and worldwide.

--Andy
Logged

Bickendan

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 2932
  • Last Login: March 26, 2023, 11:45:43 PM
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2010, 01:23:02 AM »
Like Andy, I'm also based in Portland.
Logged

Ken Jennings

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 7
  • Last Login: August 05, 2010, 11:37:45 PM
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2010, 02:17:20 PM »
Thanks for all the replies!  Sounds like Seattle is not exactly a hotbed of roadgeekery at the moment.  I may follow up with one of you Portlanders at some point if I can't come up with anything closer.

Actually, I'm going to be visiting family in Utah later this spring...maybe I'll try that regional board to see if I can track down anyone in that area.
Logged

Dougtone

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1640
  • I'm Doug and I approve this message.

  • Age: -6866
  • Location: Upstate New York
  • Last Login: March 19, 2023, 10:59:39 AM
    • Gribblenation
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2010, 11:55:14 AM »
Quote from: Ken Jennings on February 03, 2010, 02:17:20 PM
Thanks for all the replies!  Sounds like Seattle is not exactly a hotbed of roadgeekery at the moment.  I may follow up with one of you Portlanders at some point if I can't come up with anything closer.

Actually, I'm going to be visiting family in Utah later this spring...maybe I'll try that regional board to see if I can track down anyone in that area.

I live in Upstate New York, and did try out for Jeopardy about 3 years ago.  I took the online tryout quiz but was not selected for an audition.  I do make it to Washington State about once a year, but I tend to visit only the Vancouver area as I have family around Portland and Salem.

There are a few roadgeeks in the Seattle area that I know of that post to other road-related discussion groups, but I am not sure if they read the AARoads Forum.  John Spafford from Tacoma rings a bell, as does Floyd Rogers and maybe Robert Cruickshank.  There was a road meet in Portland last year and there was talk about possibly having a meet in the Seattle area down the line.

As for Utah, there are a few roadgeeks there as well, but once again, I don't know if they follow the AARoads Forum as opposed to other methods of discussion.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2010, 06:19:20 PM by dougtone »
Logged

Ken Jennings

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 7
  • Last Login: August 05, 2010, 11:37:45 PM
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2010, 05:47:49 PM »
Hmm, it would be ideal if a little Seattle-area meet-up could be thrown together sometime this spring (i.e. before my book deadline). :)

Would misc.transport.road be the right place to try to drum up some interest among likely Washington/Oregon attendees?

Logged

rawmustard

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 780
  • Posin' with the marker

  • Age: 42
  • Location: Battle Creek, MI
  • Last Login: March 22, 2023, 06:58:38 AM
    • Blog
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2010, 06:01:57 PM »
Quote from: Ken Jennings on February 04, 2010, 05:47:49 PM
Hmm, it would be ideal if a little Seattle-area meet-up could be thrown together sometime this spring (i.e. before my book deadline). :)

Would misc.transport.road be the right place to try to drum up some interest among likely Washington/Oregon attendees?

If you can ignore or otherwise stand the riff-raff there, I'd say go for it! :sombrero:
Logged

Dougtone

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1640
  • I'm Doug and I approve this message.

  • Age: -6866
  • Location: Upstate New York
  • Last Login: March 19, 2023, 10:59:39 AM
    • Gribblenation
Re: Looking for Seattle-area roadgeek types
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2010, 06:20:00 PM »
Quote from: Ken Jennings on February 04, 2010, 05:47:49 PM
Hmm, it would be ideal if a little Seattle-area meet-up could be thrown together sometime this spring (i.e. before my book deadline). :)

Would misc.transport.road be the right place to try to drum up some interest among likely Washington/Oregon attendees?



You may want to try the Roadgeek group on Yahoo as well
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roadgeek/
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 


Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.