Did you become a road enthusiast because of the internet?

[bandit957]

My mother tells me that I would shout out, "One way!" when seeing a one way sign when I was a toddler.  However, my earliest memory of road features was probably being fascinated by the concept of the various types of stop signs in my hometown: 2-way, 3-way and 4-way.

One of my earliest memories of road features centered around the fact that there were still a lot of yellow stop signs around. That was a really big deal to me. I think there was one time when I was maybe 5 when I actually wrote down a list of all the yellow stop signs I knew of in the area.

Also, the stop signs in Dayton, Ky., in the '70s looked slightly different from other jurisdictions. I just couldn't put my finger on why. I think there's a site with old photos that actually shows a signature Dayton stop sign of the '70s.

[Zeffy]

No, I became one as I drove up from Florida into New Jersey when we moved up here back in 1998. The highway and everything about it (ramps, signs, high speed), fascinated me. I didn't really start getting into it until around 2010, mainly because I just played video games instead of using the internet. Then in 2011 I started discovering some of the road sites and slowly began getting back into it, thanks to online maps such as Mapquest and whatnot. I know for a fact my family had a road atlas or paper map, because I remember it when we drove up here. Unfortunately, I cannot find those maps anywhere, as much as I would like to.

[bandit957]

This is the signature Dayton stop sign of the '70s...



They looked different from stop signs elsewhere. I can't figure out why. They just did.

[SSOWorld]

I was into the RMcNs and roading but kept it mostly to myself for most of the time, I didn't become active until the 2000's but the Internets weren't the reasons for it.

[bugo]

In Arkansas, at the beginnings of very curvy mountain roads there are often signs that say "This road is crooked and steep next (x) miles". When I was very young I wanted a house on top of a mountain with a sign at the bottom of the mountain that said "This road is crooked and steep next 100 0 0 (one hundred oh oh) miles. I couldn't have been over 2 or 3. I started reading at a very early age (Sometimes I believe I was born knowing how to read) and by the time I turned 2 I could read very well. I would even read phone books. I would say "This say" (whatever it said). When the newspaper would come I HAD to be the first person to read it. We lived in Mena, AR and my grandfather was a preacher in Heavener, OK and we would drive over to Heavener every Sunday. I would see the Oklahoma welcome sign and say "Homa Homa". Nobody told me what the sign said, I just read it and sounded it out the best I could. I learned how to read before I learned how to speak properly. I wouldn't believe that I could read that early if only one person said it, but everybody who knew me at the time tells the same story: that I started reading between the age of 18 months to 2 years. Everybody. Even those who don't like me admit that I could read well at the age of 2.

Here's the Oklahoma state line sign I referenced earlier:

[bandit957]

Probably the earliest road construction event that I remember that really got my Scholaring face into gear was the destroyment of Lourdes Lane in Newport to build I-471. I was maybe 4. This was maybe 1977 or 1978.

This upset me because this was my favorite road ANYWHERE - and there were yellow stop signs in the area.

[bugo]

My mother tells me that I would shout out, "One way!" when seeing a one way sign when I was a toddler.  However, my earliest memory of road features was probably being fascinated by the concept of the various types of stop signs in my hometown: 2-way, 3-way and 4-way.

The concept of a 3 way fascinates me to this day.

[slorydn1]

Count me as another one who thought I was the only one who gave a rats behind about signs, roads, and everything that goes along with that. I was reading the Rand McNally road atlas before I could even read.


I can remember the long 16+ hour drives in the very early 1970's from Jenison, MI to Levittown NY, the Ohio Turnpike signs, and oh how I loved concurrences. The more route shields on a pole or BGS the better. I remember my dad taking me to the construction site where they were extending I-196 SW from the Chicago Dr (then M-21) interchange (Exit 69) to finish the rest of the way to I-94. (Side note: Hey will you look at THAT, they have added a number back on Chicago Drive, M-121. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have to pull up the map to find the exit number that my 9 year old mind forgot to save for my 45 year old mind,LOL)


As I got older my interest in roads and road signs got replaced by an interest in sports, cars, and females.


Then one day I was getting all set up with my first internet capable computer (a Packard Bell 486 with a 14:4 dial up modem) and I stumbled across newsgroups in Outlook Express. After spending time looking through topics that might interest me I started perusing MTR. That was late 1997 or so. I started to get not interested again when my son was born, I just didn't have the time between work, kids, volunteer fire/EMS (etc) to really mess around with all of that.


Then I stumbled across Gribblenation and it's "family" of sites circa 2004, and all the pictures of various signs and roadviews from all across the country! There I was looking at a picture of a BGS somewhere in California, a sign I would probably never see in real life. Then I caught a little bit of a bug and took a few pictures of signs near me that I sent to Adam Prince so that he could add them to his "All Things NC" site.



I started to drift away again, but then my wife and I bought his and hers Mustangs, and now we road trip every chance we get. Heck she is even beginning to ask questions about why this Interstate goes there, why isn't that road a US route instead of a state route, things like that.




Through it all though, it always goes back to that 3 year old child sitting in the back seat of a 67 Chrysler Imperial, Rand McNally spread across my lap, a sandwich in my hand, telling my dad how far it is to the next exit based on the exit we just passed, how much farther it was to the state line based on the mile markers.

[Rothman]

Probably the earliest road construction event that I remember that really got my Scholaring face into gear was the destroyment of Lourdes Lane in Newport to build I-471. I was maybe 4. This was maybe 1977 or 1978.

This upset me because this was my favorite road ANYWHERE - and there were yellow stop signs in the area.

I don't know if an actual construction event actually affected my interest in roads, but I do remember being quite young when my grandfather drove my father and me through a construction zone on "New 80" when it was being built somewhere outside of Martin, KY.  I remember thinking that we weren't driving where we were supposed to be driving.

Decades later, my father admitted that he felt the same way.

[hbelkins]

Well before I found mtr.  Hell, mtr made me understand that I shared it with someone.

This. I didn't know there were others who had the same interest until I found MTR. I've been interested in roads, signs and maps since my earliest memories. I have aunts and cousins who say that I did a better job than AAA and the other routing services while I was still in my single digits age-wise.

HB's site was one of the first sites I remember. The very first one I remember was a list of US highways by a guy named James Sterbenz (I know I spelled that wrong). I remember Andy Field's site and Tim's Kentucky highways site. They inspired me to start my Arkansas Highways website (that I never got around to completing.) There was also Xyzzx (or however you spell it) and Kurumi's site. Ah, the good old days. Now get off my lawn.

No, you spelled it right. James P.G. Sterbenz, and his site was hosted on a Washington University of St. Louis server. His site and Jim Lin's site with all the state route sign images were the first two I stumbled onto when I first got online back in 1995, and then I discovered MTR.

Another long-gone site was run by Matt Steffora, and it was called JVincent's Roadhouse. (Vincent was his middle name). It focused mostly on North Carolina stuff, because he was a student at Duke, but he also had some New England sights and signs as well. I archived a site he had called "The Signs of Northern New England" but I can't find those files now.

[US71]

... Has becoming a road enthusiast become cool?

Many road enthusiasts are awkward geeks but there is a small clique of us who are super cool....we like to do things like party and chase girls and have fun. That's part of the reason my personality clashes with many roadgeeks because I'm so laid back and they are so anal.

Sometimes you like to "poke the bear", though 

[US71]

I didn't have Internet access in the mid-'70s, so it wasn't the Internet that made me a Roads Scholar.

Ditto here, but it did introduce me to a lot more people who shared similar interests.

[bandit957]

One thing I started doing when I was about 4 was draw maps on paper grocery bags. The first one I remember was the area around the aforementioned Lourdes Lane. After that, I mostly drew made-up places.

[Duke87]

I was building traffic signals out of duplo in preschool.

At that age I could also draw the precise configuration of every traffic signal in town from memory.

So no, the internet did not play a role.

[BigRedDog]

Definitely a road geek before the internet. I remember being in the driver's seat of our parked car and "driving" to various places like my Gramma's or my dad's restaurants. I would turn the wheel where the turns would be (in my head) and "drive" to various destinations - I'd even have to "stop" at traffic lights. By age 10, I was the backseat navigator on summer vacations. I helped plan the routing for our vacation to central Florida when I was 12. The newest Rand McNally Atlas was a common Christmas gift.

Then, sometime in the late '90s, I discovered Kurumi's site. It was like a treasure trove. I spent hours using the signmaker and read the interchange page dozens of times. Obviously, from there, it was a matter of finding other resources. I was never much for message boards, though; I lurked here for years before finally creating an account.

[OracleUsr]

I've been a road enthusiast since the mid-70's; I used to be known for drawing interstate signs and exit signs.  Internet just made it easier to look at road signs from other areas.

And, yes, I was an avid m.t.r reader, probably one of my first ventures into the USENET realm.  Those were the days.

[jeffandnicole]

As many others here, my interests pre-date the internet as well.  Apparently when I was young, I used to wish for red lights.  I always drew roads.  I was fortunate to see a major highway be built less than 2 miles from my house.  The internet gave me a chance to see that I wasn't the only one out there, and early on allowed me to create websites devoted to road-type things.  Mine, along with the majority of others, don't exist anymore. 

About the most disappointing thing I learned came about via the internet when I found the existence of road related documents, such as the state's TIP.  The disappointing thing was my mom was a librarian, and those documents were frequently found in libraries!  I could've had access to these things when I was much younger if I knew!!!

[intelati49]

Combo. Yes and no. Of course not, but maybe...

Grew up on RMcN and was always the map guy.

Then I found the US60-65 website for MoDot and it was downhill from there.

[bugo]

... Has becoming a road enthusiast become cool?

Many road enthusiasts are awkward geeks but there is a small clique of us who are super cool....we like to do things like party and chase girls and have fun. That's part of the reason my personality clashes with many roadgeeks because I'm so laid back and they are so anal.

Sometimes you like to "poke the bear", though 

I'm just an old-fashioned rabble rouser.

[bugo]

... Has becoming a road enthusiast become cool?

Many road enthusiasts are awkward geeks but there is a small clique of us who are super cool....we like to do things like party and chase girls and have fun. That's part of the reason my personality clashes with many roadgeeks because I'm so laid back and they are so anal.

Sometimes you like to "poke the bear", though 

But I don't like to have sex with Jake...hehehehehe

[bejacob]

I'm a third generation road enthusiast so I come by it naturally. I've been highlighting my travels in a Rand McNally atlas for almost 40 years. Every few years I have to buy a new one to replace my battered copy and redraw all my routes in the new book. Being able to track my routes on the internet has just made me want to complete many of the gaps I never realized I had left as I traveled. I've gone from marking routes where I've been to planning trips to mark new lines on my map.

I picked up the idea from my father who got it from his father who began tracking his travels in the 1940s. Before places like this forum existed, no one seemed to understand the "why" behind what I did.

[SSOWorld]

Kinda want to elaborate - I did get some motivation from the internet - but not MTR.  Most of it was from websites such as Jeff Kitsko's PAHighways, AARoads, Steve Anderson's various city roads sites, the California Highways site, etc.

My initial contributions were through Wiki(Thevia) - but as my career (re)started and the politics at that place got to me - I basically moved on to road trips and photos. Many of the web sites have died or are slowly dying (AARoads is not one of them ) and as many take on families their priorities change.  It's an evolution of change and those who stick it out - my hat's off to you

[bugo]

Well before I found mtr.  Hell, mtr made me understand that I shared it with someone.

This. I didn't know there were others who had the same interest until I found MTR. I've been interested in roads, signs and maps since my earliest memories. I have aunts and cousins who say that I did a better job than AAA and the other routing services while I was still in my single digits age-wise.

HB's site was one of the first sites I remember. The very first one I remember was a list of US highways by a guy named James Sterbenz (I know I spelled that wrong). I remember Andy Field's site and Tim's Kentucky highways site. They inspired me to start my Arkansas Highways website (that I never got around to completing.) There was also Xyzzx (or however you spell it) and Kurumi's site. Ah, the good old days. Now get off my lawn.

No, you spelled it right. James P.G. Sterbenz, and his site was hosted on a Washington University of St. Louis server. His site and Jim Lin's site with all the state route sign images were the first two I stumbled onto when I first got online back in 1995, and then I discovered MTR.

Another long-gone site was run by Matt Steffora, and it was called JVincent's Roadhouse. (Vincent was his middle name). It focused mostly on North Carolina stuff, because he was a student at Duke, but he also had some New England sights and signs as well. I archived a site he had called "The Signs of Northern New England" but I can't find those files now.

I had forgotten about Lin's and Steffora's sites. Thanks, HB, for bringing back some old memories.

[Dr Frankenstein]

No. I was sort of a sign geek around 2010, then only started researching them online later, around 2011.

[Scott5114]

I was always a road enthusiast, but assumed I was the only one until one day on a whim I googled the county road I lived on, which has little in the way of notability other than having an exit from I-35. Up came a photo Eric Stuve had taken of my exit. And every exit in the whole state.

The Internet is a wonderful thing.