How did you become a Roads Scholar? Did you find the online community and thought it would be a cool hobby to get into or were you always into roads? I have been interested in roads since before I could talk in the mid '70s. I found some webpages in 1996 and joined MTR in 1997 but before that I thought I was the only person who cared about road signs and pavement markings. I know some of the younger members discovered this forum and became road enthusiasts after discovering the online community. To paraphrase that old country song, I was a road enthusiast when roading wasn't cool and I know a lot of the members of this forum were too..
Well before I found mtr. Hell, mtr made me understand that I shared it with someone.
I was interested in highways and signs before the Internet was a thing.
I had an interest in roads since I was young but for several years that dwindled until I started watching FreewayJim's videos again.
I was drawing maps and signs and stuff like that before there was an Internet (or at least USENET). There must have been some commercial consciousness that people liked this stuff, though, since my parents bought me things like "Road Sign Bingo."
When we lived in England that was supplemented with a board game called "Motorway" and an AA Road Atlas for Kids and probably some other stuff (I think we found a "field guide to roads" or something like that - it might have been one of the books on this list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Spy_(Michelin)), "I-Spy On a Car Journey"). There was probably a lot of stuff like that because being a bit of an anorak is more socially acceptable in Britain than it is here.
I was interested in maps and roads from a young age, before the internet really took off. I was directed toward the larger community by someone I knew in real life.
Loved roads long before I found this place.
I was interested in maps and atlases and license plates over 30 years ago, wondered about the roads, then into cars and such. I received a good camera shortly after getting my driver's license, when I started to highlight my routes on a map. I didn't really think much about looking up anything about roads until 2002 (James Lin's site about state road shields, Kurumi's site, some site about I-99, a few others). I found myself coming back to AARoads several times when my job led to more travel outside my state, and that's when things got out of control...I would probably have a muted interest if it was not for the Internet, normally I wouldn't care about a bridge project eight states away if not for the information in the first place.
To be fair, I gave a very cursory glance at MTR; my main interest was in Florida, and nothing caught my eye, topic-wise, so I just moved on. But I could spend an entire afternoon reading that wonderful FAQ.
I had interests in roads and highways long before the internet became popular. Although thanks to MTR and the internet, I had a better understanding of a lot of the interstate system than ever before.
I've been into maps and roads since I was a very young tyke (late 1970s). Got Rand McNally Road Atlases as Christmas presents (amongst other things). Made a career out of it now.
Didn't find MTR until 2004.
I would pore over maps and atlases from back when the internet was just a gleam in Licklider's eye.
I remember as a kid I would talk to my cousin's grandpa. He had some road enthusiast tendencies but he wasn't crazy about it like we are. We were talking about where the US highways went and I asked him about US 55. He had no idea where it was and why it no longer exists. I didn't find out about US 55 (the original Minnesota-Wisconsin highway or the proposed US 55 that became US 56 (whether this incarnation of US 55 was signed or not is a mystery)) until I read about it on the internet. I also remember "discovering" US 152 on a map that I found at the UCA library in Conway, Arkansas. Nobody in the community had ever heard of it until I saw that map. The amount of information that is currently available about roads is greater by many magnitudes than it was in the infancy of the internet.
I was into cars since I can remember - I actually learned to read by reading nameplates on cars.
I was born in 1988, and we moved to Illinois from Ohio in 1989. We would drive from Illinois to Ohio roughly monthly, since everybody my parents knew and all of my extended family lived in Ohio.
It was the time spent going to and being in Ohio that got me into roads, I think. The differences between suburban Chicago and Ohio (primarily the Chillicothe and Columbus areas) were evident to me from a very young age. I remember from age 3 or so noting the difference between the Ohio state highway shield and the Indiana/Illinois one and thinking it was so cool that Ohio had a state outline.
I also really, really enjoyed when we'd go to Ohio via I-70 (depending on where we were going in Ohio first, we'd enter on either I-70 or I-275 north of Cincinnati), because I loved the arch state welcome sign. I was also fascinated by the rolling hills in southern Ohio and the way the road just went up and down - I called them "whoopeeee" hills and would go "whoooop" as we went down and "eeee" as we went back up.
There was (is) a covered bridge on Lower Twin Rd, just west of South Salem right by my Grandfather's house that I loved exploring from a young age too.
My first really concrete memory was getting our 1994 Rand McNally when I was six. By that point I could read and understand maps, and I would bury myself in it.
In 2001, my sister graduated from college at UNCG and bought a new car. My Dad and I flew to North Carolina to get my dad's car that she had been using, and we drove it back to Idaho. My Dad let me plan the entire trip, and that's where I learned about roadgeeks. I definitely remember browsing HB's site and really enjoying the Kentucky coverage, but other specific sites slip my mind. I began lurking MTR in 2005 or so, and probably posted for the first time in 2007 (when I started my Washington Highways website), but probably had less than 50 posts between 2007 and 2009, when this forum booted up.
Good question. I also poured over Atlases and AAA maps at a young age, and was always the one in the back seat keeping an eye on our route during family trips back in the late 60's. The one map that showed the planned route for straightening out the Rock Creek Rollercoaster portion of the DC Beltway made me realize that not all plans come to fruition (and of course many other DC area freeways never happened either). Alas; many of my mid-90's VHS tapes taken with a camera bolted to my dashboard are pretty unwatchable now, but I do have lots of video from the "C-D"ing of I-270. All that was before the internet, but my first posting on a USENET site was MTR in '97 or so.
... Has becoming a road enthusiast become cool?
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 17, 2015, 07:49:15 PM
... Has becoming a road enthusiast become cool?
No, thank goodness.
If memory serves correct, I was on the Roadgeek Yahoo group and was steered to MTR.
But I've had a fascination with roads and maps as far back as I can remember.
Quote from: US71 on June 17, 2015, 08:12:14 PM
If memory serves correct, I was on the Roadgeek Yahoo group and was steered to MTR.
Heh. I believe I went the other way: MTR to the Yahoo group.
I'm sure I'm like many others: I was interested in maps and roads long before the rise of the Internet, and the Internet was what allowed me to find other people who share that interest.
I didn't have Internet access in the mid-'70s, so it wasn't the Internet that made me a Roads Scholar.
Quote from: corco on June 17, 2015, 07:29:34 PM
In 2001, my sister graduated from college at UNCG and bought a new car. My Dad and I flew to North Carolina to get my dad's car that she had been using, and we drove it back to Idaho. My Dad let me plan the entire trip, and that's where I learned about roadgeeks. I definitely remember browsing HB's site and really enjoying the Kentucky coverage, but other specific sites slip my mind. I began lurking MTR in 2005 or so, and probably posted for the first time in 2007 (when I started my Washington Highways website), but probably had less than 50 posts between 2007 and 2009, when this forum booted up.
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.
My interest in Scholaring has kind of come and gone.
I was very interested as far back as I could remember, but it slowly waned around the time I was in middle school. Then when I was in 8th grade, I rapidly became interested again, as never before. I'm not sure why I got so interested all of a sudden. But then it waned again as I got more interested in radio. But then in 2002, I really got interested again, after I began bicycling.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 17, 2015, 07:49:15 PM
... 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.
I think my first memory of being in a car and noticing road features was probably before I turned 3. I'd say it was about 1976. My brother and I were in the car, and my mom was driving. We lived in Highland Heights, and I remember going north on US 27 across the big viaduct into Fort Thomas. (I-275 opened under the viaduct later.) I made a sound every time I saw one of those yellow curve warning signs. I also remember the old "BRIDGES FREEZE BEFORE ROADWAY" sign on the viaduct. I learned to read from that sign.
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.
*shrug*
Quote from: Rothman on June 17, 2015, 09:12:38 PM
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.
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.
This is the signature Dayton stop sign of the '70s...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgenealogy.kentonlibrary.org%2Farchives%2Fimages%2Fmedium%2Fdi13000%2Fdi13809.jpg&hash=4d635d69c269e89442f52808b7cb9aa7298f26c1)
They looked different from stop signs elsewhere. I can't figure out why. They just did.
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.
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:
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5326/17611173355_768343ec8b_o.jpg)
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.
Quote from: Rothman on June 17, 2015, 09:12:38 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: bandit957 on June 17, 2015, 09:37:29 PM
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.
Quote from: Brandon on June 17, 2015, 05:47:27 PM
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 17, 2015, 08:52:17 PM
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 17, 2015, 09:00:01 PM
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 17, 2015, 07:49:15 PM
... 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 :poke:
Quote from: bandit957 on June 17, 2015, 08:50:09 PM
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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. :bigass:
Quote from: US71 on June 17, 2015, 10:16:09 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 17, 2015, 09:00:01 PM
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 17, 2015, 07:49:15 PM
... 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 :poke:
I'm just an old-fashioned rabble rouser.
Quote from: US71 on June 17, 2015, 10:16:09 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 17, 2015, 09:00:01 PM
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 17, 2015, 07:49:15 PM
... 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 :poke:
But I don't like to have sex with Jake...hehehehehe
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.
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 :)
Quote from: hbelkins on June 17, 2015, 10:15:05 PM
Quote from: Brandon on June 17, 2015, 05:47:27 PM
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 17, 2015, 08:52:17 PM
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.
No. I was sort of a sign geek around 2010, then only started researching them online later, around 2011.
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.
I took an interest in roads well before I had access to the internet.
The internet just helped me find some like-minded folks.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 18, 2015, 04:31:09 PM
The Internet is a wonderful thing.
I totally agree with your statement but the door opens both ways. The internet can be a very bad thing depending on how it is used or the repercussions of using it.
I only joined last September, but have been here a few years longer before that.
My interest in signs actually started when I (randomly, don't really know what brought it up) started researching metrication of road signs in the US (we don't need to start a debate, that's what I did). Anyway, I found I-19 and AARoads and started browsing. That was in the summer of 2012.
Eventually, I started getting into fonts, standards, Clearview and the rest of it. Back then, the 'Road Related Illustrations' I recall was open to guests, and I could learn how signs worked. I enjoyed browsing through the 'Traffic Control' board and the 'Canada' board the most.
After my trip to Asia last summer, I seriously contemplated joining, I was fascinated with the signage in those countries, and it so happened that the room I was staying in just happened to be next to a BGS. I decided after awhile to join because I believed I possessed enough knowledge about signs to call myself a signgeek, and thus I joined.
Here's the picture of the BGS:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1291.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb551%2Fslik_sh00ter%2FDSC00513b_zpscdjvpm5b.jpg&hash=5173e54527a3a0d9c597c894cc017dc13358f64d)
Of course, series D and EM, respectively.
My interest formed at a young age as I became the navigator on family road trips and even labeled hallways in my house as different streets, even taping up road signs that I made on paper to navigate the traffic.
In elementary and high school, people knew that I was into this stuff, so I was always the one to provide directions to anyplace in the country. People knew that I was able to give very accurate detailed directions (including which lane you needed to be in), way before mapquest came into existence.
I discovered the Internet roadgeek community through MTR and some websites that I found during my college days, when I first had internet access. It's nice to find a community and with all the technological innovation, my accessibilty to roadgeek stuff has increased substantially.
One of my proudest roadgeek moments was when I was living in the Sacramento area and I was a passenger with work colleagues on a work-related field trip to San Francisco. The HOV lanes on I-80 had recently opened and I knew about it becuase of MTR, but most of the others didn't. I told the driver (who actually had a semi-supervisor role in my job) to beat traffic by using the HOV lanes, while he was concerned that he had to make it to the right lanes in order to take the exit for the Bay Bridge, and I told him to trust me on this and stay in the HOV lane. He said that he took previous trips to SF and knew that he had to make his way to the right, but I insisted so he followed my lead. He was delighted to discover the flyover ramps from the HOV lanes to the bridge and we beat a lot of the traffic that way.
Before the internet in the 1980s, I have memories of my first map: the Thomas Bros Guide, of Riverside county CA when I was a tender age of six. It took me quickly to become familiar with maps, my parents helped me understand them and I became a "map freak" in addition to "road geek" ever since. I also loved sciences like the weather, and the Weather Channel had maps, my love for meteorology and world climates, and knowing (or wanting to know more) about cities, states or nations in the wide, yet small world we live in.
When I started a new school in 1st grade, the first thing I did when I got home was grab the Metro Graphic Arts 'Graphic Street Guide Of Northern Kentucky' ("in convenient book form") to determine what local municipality the school was in.
I might not have been the only young Roads Scholar in my area. One day when I was in grade school, another student kept pestering the school bus driver to drive up a newly built road. The driver eventually gave in. I didn't even know this road had been built until the bus went up there.
Quote from: mrsman on June 19, 2015, 07:52:51 AM
My interest formed at a young age as I became the navigator on family road trips and even labeled hallways in my house as different streets, even taping up road signs that I made on paper to navigate the traffic.
That is so similar to me. We had a paper 'one way' and 'stop' sign around for awhile. I would have been 8 - 10.
I believe it was my mom that got me started as a roads scholar. We would occasionally go for rides with no destination. Maybe get an icee or a snack.
As a child, I would play in the dirt and rub a road into existence, make signs using cardboard and popsicle sticks, and run my cars & trucks all over it all day. I even had a white colored dirt I used as my "concrete interstate" highway.
I road a bike all over this area from age 8 to 16. Then the bike became a car and I went to places I had never seen before. I still love long road trips to new places.
I found this site while looking up signs on Google and joined in 2009. I have learned alot about my strange (to everyone else) hobby since joining.
I am not an OG from MTR, but learning about the history of the road scholars of the past & present is fascinating to me. I have learned much, but there is so much more to learn.
I started as a kid thanks to my mom. She would cut open paper grocery bags and draw roads for my matchbox cars. This was in the mid1970s. We also made the trip from NJ to Jacksonville 2 or 3 times a year when I was a kid. I would stay up most of the night watching the road. Seeing the Delaware memorial bridge, the Baltimore harbor tunnel and all the state lines. When I was real young i remember having to exit i95 where it wasn't finished and each trip a new section opened.
I remember finding mtr when we first got home internet and finding others like me. It was amazing.. Roads are a good break from porn.. Just kidding..
Now all that's needed is the "nasty nymphos of of 95" where the sexy girls ( and boys, don't want to exclude the girls or the LGBT community) and they go on road trips to all the interesting road sites and tear down the clearview wherever that find it! Of course they would do it at seemingly random times throughout. Future as a porn producer? No I would be the star, doubt that.
I have a fetish for traffic signals
I'm younger than the internet but I loved before I knew what it was
Quote from: Buffaboy on June 21, 2015, 02:39:38 PM
I have a fetish for traffic signals
So you get yourself off to traffic signals?
Quote from: KG909 on June 27, 2015, 02:32:34 PM
Quote from: Buffaboy on June 21, 2015, 02:39:38 PM
I have a fetish for traffic signals
So you get yourself off to traffic signals?
Well it depends on what suspension system or signal we're talking about. I like masts and yellow signals, but despise green signals and wires.
Quote from: Buffaboy on June 27, 2015, 02:34:19 PM
Quote from: KG909 on June 27, 2015, 02:32:34 PM
Quote from: Buffaboy on June 21, 2015, 02:39:38 PM
I have a fetish for traffic signals
So you get yourself off to traffic signals?
Well it depends on what suspension system or signal we're talking about. I like masts and yellow signals, but despise green signals and wires.
Yeah I agree, those are a boner killer
what
A civil engineer drove me around for many hours at a time. Boy, when my parents found out... (kidding).
There were maps in the car, and I was bored, and just started soaking in the details. Having a professional for a parent meant I had terms like "Interstate standard" floating around my head before I was ten years old.
So, no.
Yes and no; I discovered this site by accident when I was looking for a video game walkthrough. I actually have a PA atlas from 2009. My roadgeek deals dated to 2012 when I searched up I-H1.
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 08:43:03 PM
Yes and no; I discovered this site by accident when I was looking for a video game walkthrough. I actually have a PA atlas from 2009. My roadgeek deals dated to 2012 when I searched up I-H1.
How did you manage to find this site while looking at
A video game walkthrough? :eyebrow:
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 27, 2015, 08:59:44 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 08:43:03 PM
Yes and no; I discovered this site by accident when I was looking for a video game walkthrough. I actually have a PA atlas from 2009. My roadgeek deals dated to 2012 when I searched up I-H1.
How did you manage to find this site while looking at A video game walkthrough? :eyebrow:
I was trying to find a video game walkthrough on YT (don't remember what game).
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 09:43:35 PM
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 27, 2015, 08:59:44 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 08:43:03 PM
Yes and no; I discovered this site by accident when I was looking for a video game walkthrough. I actually have a PA atlas from 2009. My roadgeek deals dated to 2012 when I searched up I-H1.
How did you manage to find this site while looking at A video game walkthrough? :eyebrow:
I was trying to find a video game walkthrough on YT (don't remember what game).
Oh ok. Somehow that lead you to some roadgeek thing that leads to AARoads? My best guess.
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 27, 2015, 11:10:59 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 09:43:35 PM
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on June 27, 2015, 08:59:44 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 27, 2015, 08:43:03 PM
Yes and no; I discovered this site by accident when I was looking for a video game walkthrough. I actually have a PA atlas from 2009. My roadgeek deals dated to 2012 when I searched up I-H1.
How did you manage to find this site while looking at A video game walkthrough? :eyebrow:
I was trying to find a video game walkthrough on YT (don't remember what game).
Oh ok. Somehow that lead you to some roadgeek thing that leads to AARoads? My best guess.
I originally got here in 2012 from looking at US Metrication. So, anythings possible....
I am an engineering student too so that probably helped me stay :-P
The internet didn't play a role for me, is just helped to confirm that I'm not THAT crazy and that there are others with the same interest...or maybe that there are other people out there who share the same craziness...
I had a driver's ed manual that I carried with me to school in kindergarten, because it had pictures of signs in it. Many of my drawings were of signs and traffic lights. Basically, I've enjoyed all things road-related since I was a wee lad.
Quote from: busman_49 on June 30, 2015, 09:45:48 AM
The internet didn't play a role for me, is just helped to confirm that I'm not THAT crazy and that there are others with the same interest...or maybe that there are other people out there who share the same craziness...
+1
I hear you loud and clear.
I became a roadgeek in Kindergarten, maybe before, when I watched the Circumferential Highway (now I-495, Capital Beltway) being built and improved not far from my childhood home in Montgomery County, Maryland in the period 1962 through about 1965 (the Beltway was completed in 1964, but there was some work that went on after it was completed).
The mid-1960's was some years before anyone had heard of ARPANET or the Internet or anything of the sort.
I also remember the congestion at the American Legion Bridge (Cabin John Bridge then), which became endemic in the 1960's for traffic moving from Maryland to Virginia (the Beltway was 3 lanes each way in Maryland, but most of the Virginia portion was only 2 lanes each way, with a wonderfully wide and green median, that went away in the 1970's, when VDH widened most of the Virginia portion fronm 4 lanes to 8 lanes in one massive project.