You're reading your bank statement, see one debit for 20 bucks, and the next for 7.87...
...and instantly think of this interchange (http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.643872,-73.750706&t=k&z=17).
Friendly neighborhood mods: feel free to merge or move as needed.
....when you are in school, and draw various shields around the numbers on your math homework...
...when you notice right away when a road sign font is being used in a print advertisement.
...when you meet people from parts of the country you've never been anywhere near and can tell them off the top of your head what highway goes through their city.
Quote from: Duke87 on February 27, 2011, 03:21:14 PM
...when you meet people from parts of the country you've never been anywhere near and can tell them off the top of your head what highway goes through their city.
Been there, done that, got into an argument over it (but eventually won) ;)
Quote from: yakra on February 27, 2011, 12:47:43 PM
You're reading your bank statement, see one debit for 20 bucks, and the next for 7.87...
...and instantly think of this interchange (http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.643872,-73.750706&t=k&z=17).
Friendly neighborhood mods: feel free to merge or move as needed.
Some from personal experience:
-when people often ask you "where is...." or "what's the best way to get to..." or "how far is it from... to....." and they know you will know the answer or if you don't know it right away a quick look at the map will get the answer.
-when you use road junctions to help memorize numbers such as phone numbers or entrance codes(for instance I knew somebody with a phone number that ended in 6136 and I just remembered Hannibal, Mo.)
-when you get asked what trucking company you drive for when people see your spiral-bound atlas and briefcase full of state highway maps.
-when your college choir director invites you to go on tour with the group after you graduated and pays for your airfare to meet up with the group just so you can navigate for the bus driver on a trip around California and the Southwest.
-when you eagerly anticipate every guide sign when taking a trip on a road you have never been on before.
...when you've seen too many threads like this...
...when you get a 'fat flat package' in the mail at work, and your boss inquires which state it is from...
...when you have a nickname related to something map/road related (a few of my friends call me Garmin)
You know you're a roadgeek when you drive every freeway in SoCal the first weekend you are down there, then you come back and draw out a skeleton map from memory, figuring after that if you get lost on a surface street while urban exploring, that you'll just drive until you hit a freeway or if you hit the ocean or mountains, you do a 180 until you do hit a freeway!
That's what I did when I was first stationed at March AFB in June 1974. My first time ever in SoCal and doing this sure worked out well. It was so much fun zipping along those great (to me at the time) freeways in my 1967 Imperial at 80 MPH. Hit the brights at night and those Botts Dots would light up like I was on an airport runway and as for the button copy signs, OMG! Crank up the tunes on KLOS and KRTH and it was like being in heaven for an 18 year old!
Rick
Quote-when you use road junctions to help memorize numbers such as phone numbers or entrance codes(for instance I knew somebody with a phone number that ended in 6136 and I just remembered Hannibal, Mo.)
Whoa. That's actually a really good idea
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when people often ask you "where is...." or "what's the best way to get to..." or "how far is it from... to....." and they know you will know the answer or if you don't know it right away a quick look at the map will get the answer.
Check!
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM-when you use road junctions to help memorize numbers such as phone numbers or entrance codes(for instance I knew somebody with a phone number that ended in 6136 and I just remembered Hannibal, Mo.)
Check.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when you eagerly anticipate every guide sign when taking a trip on a road you have never been on before.
Check.
...when you have trouble sleeping, you either count route numbers, picking a state and a city on that route, or you pick an interstate and mentally name the exits in order.
...you can stare at a road map for more than just a couple of minutes.
...you take as many old pre-interstate routings as possible on any trip out of town.
...when you sacrifice something you've been waiting weeks to buy just to do some extra roadgeeking.
you're not the greatest asset on a long non-stop road trip through new territory with other people because you don't sleep when you're not driving because you really want to see the road
Quote...when you sacrifice something you've been waiting weeks to buy just to do some extra roadgeeking.
People have told you that you're as addicted to roadgeeking as a crack addict is addicted to crack
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when people often ask you "where is...." or "what's the best way to get to..." or "how far is it from... to....." and they know you will know the answer or if you don't know it right away a quick look at the map will get the answer.
Check!
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM-when you use road junctions to help memorize numbers such as phone numbers or entrance codes(for instance I knew somebody with a phone number that ended in 6136 and I just remembered Hannibal, Mo.)
Check.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when you eagerly anticipate every guide sign when taking a trip on a road you have never been on before.
Check.
Quote from: thenetwork on February 27, 2011, 09:33:03 PM...when you have trouble sleeping, you either count route numbers, picking a state and a city on that route, or you pick an interstate and mentally name the exits in order.
...you feel genuine shame at only being able to reliably name up to exit 133 on a 305-mile interstate.
(I count routes and name termini...)
Quote from: thenetwork on February 27, 2011, 09:33:03 PM...you can stare at a road map for more than just a couple of minutes.
Check.
Quote from: thenetwork on February 27, 2011, 09:33:03 PM...you take as many old pre-interstate routings as possible on any trip out of town.
...the only reason you're taking the interstate out of town is speed, because you've already clinched all the old pre-interstate routings.
...you write up reports, meeting minutes, et al, and file them in as official documents ....and they are in Roadgeek D font
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 11:33:40 PM
...you write up reports, meeting minutes, et al, and file them in as official documents ....and they are in Roadgeek D font
I address most of my envelopes in D or E ;)
When your friends ask if they can fold you up and keep you in their glove box.
Quote from: PennDOTFan on February 27, 2011, 06:15:26 PM
...when you have a nickname related to something map/road related (a few of my friends call me Garmin)
I was called Rand McNally in college.
When your mom start singing "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" and you tell her! (from PA!)
Quote from: corco on February 27, 2011, 07:32:38 PM
Quote-when you use road junctions to help memorize numbers such as phone numbers or entrance codes(for instance I knew somebody with a phone number that ended in 6136 and I just remembered Hannibal, Mo.)
Whoa. That's actually a really good idea
Yep! Comes from the Dale Carnegie Course, and if you commit some thought to it you might be able to unravel the logic behind it, which is sound. It is the basis by which Carnegie graduates are able to easily and quickly commit to memory fairly long lists of mundane items.
As to the thread:
...when, without consulting a map, you can identify the type of most interchanges in your state, along with any unusual quirks about them.
Quote from: meestersam on February 28, 2011, 12:09:14 AM
When your friends ask if they can fold you up and keep you in their glove box.
I worked for 2 different Taxi companies because I knew the area better than anyone else. I occasionally had to help other drivers find where they were going.
Before that, I was always the one called upon at the c-store when someone needed directions.
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 01:39:58 PM
....when you are in school, and draw various shields around the numbers on your math homework...
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 01:39:58 PM
....when you are in school, and draw various shields around the numbers on your math homework...
I used to do that all the time. My teacher used to take note a lot to it.
When at age 8 your neighbors would stop by your house to ask you for directions.
When you would build a city out of Legos but spend more time putting toether a freeway system connectint them.
When you to this day (I'm now 23) still draw maps.
When you hear certain numbers and instantly think of your favorite freeway or route.
When you hear a song and it reminds you of a stretch of road.
Quote from: PennDOTFan on February 27, 2011, 06:15:26 PM
...when you have a nickname related to something map/road related (a few of my friends call me Garmin)
Mine is 'Trav-Star' or 'Interstate Trav'
Quote from: meestersam on February 28, 2011, 12:09:14 AM
When your friends ask if they can fold you up and keep you in their glove box.
Check
...your ATM PIN is road-related. (or for that matter, your password on this forum).
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 28, 2011, 06:17:30 PM
...your ATM PIN is road-related. (or for that matter, your password on this forum).
Guilty
Quote from: cu2010 on February 27, 2011, 01:42:31 PM
...when you notice right away when a road sign font is being used in a print advertisement.
Guilty. See Walgreens' ads
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when people often ask you "where is...." or "what's the best way to get to..." or "how far is it from... to....." and they know you will know the answer or if you don't know it right away a quick look at the map will get the answer.
Guilty.
Quote from: PennDOTFan on February 27, 2011, 06:15:26 PM
...when you have a nickname related to something map/road related (a few of my friends call me Garmin)
Some of my friends call me Google.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when you eagerly anticipate every guide sign when taking a trip on a road you have never been on before.
I eagerly anticipate the entire road. :D
Quote from: thenetwork on February 27, 2011, 09:33:03 PM
...you can stare at a road map for more than just a couple of minutes.
I can read a paper map for an hour or more. I've spent whole days on Google Maps.
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 11:33:40 PM
...you write up reports, meeting minutes, et al, and file them in as official documents ....and they are in Roadgeek D font
I've made posters and PowerPoint presentations in Series E Modified (complete with correct MUTCD colors!)
Quote from: meestersam on February 28, 2011, 12:09:14 AM
When your friends ask if they can fold you up and keep you in their glove box.
I think I've heard that once or twice before.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on February 28, 2011, 04:30:50 PM
When at age 8 your neighbors would stop by your house to ask you for directions.
I was giving directions to people who asked my mom when I was that age.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on February 28, 2011, 04:30:50 PM
When you to this day (I'm now 23) still draw maps.
Guilty, but I'm only 21.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on February 28, 2011, 04:30:50 PM
When you hear certain numbers and instantly think of your favorite freeway or route.
I do that with US 15.
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 06:11:56 PM
...when you get a 'fat flat package' in the mail at work, and your boss inquires which state it is from...
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on February 27, 2011, 03:51:14 PM
-when your college choir director invites you to go on tour with the group after you graduated and pays for your airfare to meet up with the group just so you can navigate for the bus driver on a trip around California and the Southwest.
I LOL'd. Literally
Quote from: triplemultiplex on February 28, 2011, 06:17:30 PM
...your ATM PIN is road-related. (or for that matter, your password on this forum).
Would your password be something like "IH8I99" perhaps?
...when your brothers and sister look at you around Christmas time and say, "a Garmin wouldn't do you any good, would it."
...you study a map for an hour or two a few days before a long road trip, and don't need the map again for the rest of the trip.
Quote from: cjk374 on February 28, 2011, 06:51:33 PM
...you study a map for an hour or two a few days before a long road trip, and don't need the map again for the rest of the trip.
Guilty.
To add to the thread:
...You draw roads with sidewalk chalk. I would always run out of yellow chalk and I'd be left with an assorted color pack with everything but yellow. At least I could get packs of just white chalk. I wish I had a picture to post. One of my neighbors a few years younger than me thought it was cool that I could draw roads.
...you can immediately recognize when a sign has been replaced since the list time you drove down a road
...you can, from memory, sketch out the physical configuration of every traffic signal you pass regularly
...you remember exactly how to get to a place you were at only once, and not recently
("How can you not remember how to get there? You were there just a few months ago!")
Your local tv weatherman is talking about the current "big weather event" somewhere you've never visited and you think of the highways that will be affected.
If two or more cities are mentioned in the same paragraph (about anything), I sometimes think of how I would drive that route. :-/ :nod:
When you go into AAA for the free maps, and they all know you and when you were younger would joking say ' oh no not him again'
I did the chalk thing too, and I drew all sorts of smaller streets.
I actually took my entire backyard when I was younger and turned it into a town as far as numbered highways and streets. I even made replica signs and visitors would get a real kick out of it. Drove my parents nuts though.
When you can read a map for fun for hours or for days.
When you can sketch the freeway system, from pretty much every main city in the Country from memory.
When you used to use playdough and toothpicks to cunstruct freeway interchanges when you were younger on your time off.
When on a trip you take more pictures of highway signs then anything else
When you Count Mile Markers (well in California postmile markers)
Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2011, 07:25:52 PM
Quote from: cjk374 on February 28, 2011, 06:51:33 PM
...you study a map for an hour or two a few days before a long road trip, and don't need the map again for the rest of the trip.
Guilty.
To add to the thread:
...You draw roads with sidewalk chalk. I would always run out of yellow chalk and I'd be left with an assorted color pack with everything but yellow. At least I could get packs of just white chalk. I wish I had a picture to post. One of my neighbors a few years younger than me thought it was cool that I could draw roads.
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
You know you're a roadgeek when you eagerly anticipate bringing your car to college, just so you can do some roadgeekery on the trips back/around town.
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
I've done that. I even once built road signs out of Legos for it!
Quote from: cu2010 on March 02, 2011, 02:07:37 PM
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
I've done that. I even once built road signs out of Legos for it!
I used to use popsicle sticks for the posts holding the signs then draw them as close as I could to the interstate stye signs. I even had one where I made it the California Nevada Stateline and the Nevada signs were with toothpicks with the back end braces just like the ones in Nevada. I would really get into it.
...when your favorite pricing game on The Price is Right is Golden Road, simply because it has "road" in the name.
... you bitch at the TV reporters because they called a US Highway a State Route.
... mutter to yourself when the local TV map makers forgot to use the right shield or used the wrong route number in the shield! (a local news station recently put I-279 shields back on the Parkway West, but changed the back to I-376 after a bit)
Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2011, 06:48:36 PM
Quote from: PennDOTFan on February 27, 2011, 06:15:26 PM
...when you have a nickname related to something map/road related (a few of my friends call me Garmin)
Some of my friends call me Google.
My mom calls me GPS. lol.
When you write homework using Series E(M) (on the computer, that is).
When you draw road signs.
Quote from: The Premier on March 03, 2011, 08:40:56 AM
When you write homework using Series E(M).
good lord! anyone who has the ability to handwrite in Series EM.... yeesh!
Quote from: agentsteel53 on March 03, 2011, 12:50:52 PM
Quote from: The Premier on March 03, 2011, 08:40:56 AM
When you write homework using Series E(M).
good lord! anyone who has the ability to handwrite in Series EM.... yeesh!
Heh. It's actually not that hard. Just keep your g's tail to a minimum, and use no tail on a q, and you're basically there.
I think my handwriting is naturally about D width.
Quote from: Duke87 on February 28, 2011, 08:32:31 PM
...you remember exactly how to get to a place you were at only once, and not recently
Guilty, yet again.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
I actually took my entire backyard when I was younger and turned it into a town as far as numbered highways and streets. I even made replica signs and visitors would get a real kick out of it. Drove my parents nuts though.
When I was little, I rode my bike around Hoopes Park in Auburn. I made a numbering system in the park based on local routes I knew of. Here's a map (click for a bigger version):
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmjr1990.webng.com%2FAARoads%2FHoopes%2520Park%2520Roads.jpeg&hash=2d74e5a4f1d4d184d4bb38f74bcb8b72172e8d97) (http://mjr1990.webng.com/AARoads/Hoopes%20Park%20Roads.jpeg)
Key:Black: US 20
Red: NY 321
Yellow: US 20-NY 321 connector (I didn't know what reference routes were back then)
Purple: John Glenn Blvd.
Light Yellow: NY 89
Green: NY 48 (the trail was rough just like the real NY 48)
Pink: Brookside Drive
Orange: NY 5 (a little short, I know)
Lines that end at the edge of the map continue, but I never planned their routes.Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
When you can read a map for fun for hours or for days.
I can spend hours or even whole days on Google Maps.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
When you used to use playdough and toothpicks to cunstruct freeway interchanges when you were younger on your time off.
I used K'nex to make roads complete with BGSes (just the supports) and streetlights. I would also make stoplights and hang them from our drop ceiling. I printed little signal heads on the computer too. My mom didn't like things hanging from the ceiling, though.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 02, 2011, 10:45:52 PM
Quote from: cu2010 on March 02, 2011, 02:07:37 PM
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
I've done that. I even once built road signs out of Legos for it!
I used to use popsicle sticks for the posts holding the signs then draw them as close as I could to the interstate stye signs. I even had one where I made it the California Nevada Stateline and the Nevada signs were with toothpicks with the back end braces just like the ones in Nevada. I would really get into it.
Popsicle sticks for signposts...and cutout shapes from cigarette cartons for the signs...i even took care to write 'State Traffic Commission" on the signs i made....as on the real ones
Quote from: cu2010 on March 02, 2011, 11:19:07 PM
...when your favorite pricing game on The Price is Right is Golden Road, simply because it has "road" in the name.
If I
did watch The Price is Right, Golden Road would be my favorite `cuz that's the name of the mighty logging road that runs from Millinocket west thru the hinterlands to the QC border!
Quote from: Michael on March 03, 2011, 05:09:39 PM
Quote from: Duke87 on February 28, 2011, 08:32:31 PM
...you remember exactly how to get to a place you were at only once, and not recently
Guilty, yet again.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
I actually took my entire backyard when I was younger and turned it into a town as far as numbered highways and streets. I even made replica signs and visitors would get a real kick out of it. Drove my parents nuts though.
When I was little, I rode my bike around Hoopes Park in Auburn. I made a numbering system in the park based on local routes I knew of. Here's a map (click for a bigger version):
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmjr1990.webng.com%2FAARoads%2FHoopes%2520Park%2520Roads.jpeg&hash=2d74e5a4f1d4d184d4bb38f74bcb8b72172e8d97) (http://mjr1990.webng.com/AARoads/Hoopes%20Park%20Roads.jpeg)
Key:
Black: US 20
Red: NY 321
Yellow: US 20-NY 321 connector (I didn't know what reference routes were back then)
Purple: John Glenn Blvd.
Light Yellow: NY 89
Green: NY 48 (the trail was rough just like the real NY 48)
Pink: Brookside Drive
Orange: NY 5 (a little short, I know)
Lines that end at the edge of the map continue, but I never planned their routes.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
When you can read a map for fun for hours or for days.
I can spend hours or even whole days on Google Maps.
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 01, 2011, 02:21:42 AM
When you used to use playdough and toothpicks to cunstruct freeway interchanges when you were younger on your time off.
I used K'nex to make roads complete with BGSes (just the supports) and streetlights. I would also make stoplights and hang them from our drop ceiling. I printed little signal heads on the computer too. My mom didn't like things hanging from the ceiling, though.
Now thats really cool. I once connected my neighbors yard and my yard and a few vacant yards, and actually drew maps and gave them to everyone. I also made roadsigns too. Designing that, what you did in that picture, really cool.
I used to always want to build a freeway to freeway connector.
Also gool about tthe stoplights, I always used legos for the lights themselves, and I had to hand draw the signs since I didn't have a computer. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who did and does stuff like this.
Quote from: ctsignguy on March 04, 2011, 12:36:13 AM
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 02, 2011, 10:45:52 PM
Quote from: cu2010 on March 02, 2011, 02:07:37 PM
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
I've done that. I even once built road signs out of Legos for it!
I used to use popsicle sticks for the posts holding the signs then draw them as close as I could to the interstate stye signs. I even had one where I made it the California Nevada Stateline and the Nevada signs were with toothpicks with the back end braces just like the ones in Nevada. I would really get into it.
Popsicle sticks for signposts...and cutout shapes from cigarette cartons for the signs...i even took care to write 'State Traffic Commission" on the signs i made....as on the real ones
State Traffic commision, thats cool, always got to pay attention to detail. I even made minature mile markers and the California Postmile markers.
I thought of internal road networks for houses and parks from time to time when I was younger. Once I took a couple of tomato stakes and put up street signs 1) where our driveway met the road (calling the driveway "Reeves Court" - our street was Reeves Road), and 2) where the front walk met the driveway.
When family members call you for directions instead of using Mapquest or a GPS, knowing you'll give them the best route to their destination.
Quote from: elsmere241 on March 04, 2011, 12:46:16 PM
I thought of internal road networks for houses and parks from time to time when I was younger. Once I took a couple of tomato stakes and put up street signs 1) where our driveway met the road (calling the driveway "Reeves Court" - our street was Reeves Road), and 2) where the front walk met the driveway.
I did this in my front and back yard. I still remember the layout, though I only remember some of the names (I have a map in a notebook somewhere that would have them, but I'm not attempting to dig it up now). I can at least say offhand that my driveway was Force Field Road West.
Never attempted to make signs, though!
As for making networks on a smaller scale, yes, I did that in the sandbox - and pissed all the other kids off doing so because I would insist on taking up the whole sandbox with my roads and yell at them if they disturbed any of them. :rolleyes:
I also made roads out of Brio. Yes, it's a train toy, but flip the pieces over and the flat backs work oh so nicely to run matchbox cars along (for curves and slopes that have "track" on both sides, I'd just tolerate the grooves).
Quote from: elsmere241 on March 04, 2011, 12:46:16 PM
I thought of internal road networks for houses and parks from time to time when I was younger. Once I took a couple of tomato stakes and put up street signs 1) where our driveway met the road (calling the driveway "Reeves Court" - our street was Reeves Road), and 2) where the front walk met the driveway.
Yep, I've done this too, though I never got around to posting signs. Back in elementary school, I designated the main city street outside my neighborhood as I-18 (since it was an east-west street and I lived between I-20 and I-16) and my goal was always to get to I-18 every morning when I walked to the bus stop. The route there from my house (about a quarter-mile walk) was undergoing a steady upgrade to freeway status as the years passed and I think I eventually dubbed it I-318. Everything was imagined to be on roughly a 20:1 scale.
One other roadgeek story from my misbegotten youth......like many kids my age back in the mid-60s, we would take our Tonka trucks and Matchbox/Tootsietoy cars (this was before Hot Wheels in 1968-69), and play road construction....my brother and two of my cousins...
One day, we were outside using our hands to move dirt around to make 'roads' and one of us started yelling "THE TREES HAVE TO GO....THE ROAD IS COMING THROUGH...."
Next sound was my aunt hollering out her window "WILL YOU BOYS GET OUT OF MY TOMATO PLANTS AND GO PLAY ELSEWHERE?!?!?"
Ahh, memories!
Quote from: jas on March 04, 2011, 05:43:54 PM
When family members call you for directions instead of using Mapquest or a GP, knowing you'll give them the best route to their destination.
I tried that once. I was giving my dad directions to NW Arkansas from Missouri. But since MY directions didn't match MapQuest, he thought I was wrong. So he followed MapQuest... and got lost. :pan:
Quote from: US71 on March 05, 2011, 10:22:03 AM
Quote from: jas on March 04, 2011, 05:43:54 PM
When family members call you for directions instead of using Mapquest or a GP, knowing you'll give them the best route to their destination.
I tried that once. I was giving my dad directions to NW Arkansas from Missouri. But since MY directions didn't match MapQuest, he thought I was wrong. So he followed MapQuest... and got lost. :pan:
I just did the same for a co-worker. I explained the best way to get from Toms River, NJ to Morrisville, PA. He was amazed at how time he saved by not using Mapquest or a GPS.
Just to further the point of knowing you are a roadgeek, for 14 years of my professional career, I performed fieldwork throughout NJ, PA, NY, DE, MD and CT. Many times after I completed a job, I'd take alternate routes that I'd never been on to get home, just for the experience, as well as a precaution for the next time I may have to go to that area. I love traveling to places I've never seen, and letting my sense of direction take over.
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
Guilty. I had a network of dirt roads going all over our backyard.
I drew freeways and such on reams of paper my mom would bring home from work.
I also "assigned" a street name and (some highway numbers) to every walking path and sidewalk in our nearby city park. Never put any chalk or anything to it, cause I knew it wouldn't last, but it was fun to ride the bike and pretend.
I played with Hot Wheels cars and Matchbox road sets, but had to change the signs that came with them because they were not drawn accurately...
Perhaps the most telling...By age 4, my mom tells me I had memorized the text of every BGS on US 95 in Las Vegas (from Exits 72 to 85, as that's what we drove most frequently). Used to read them off in the car before the sign was visible. I'm sure it drove my mom nuts...but now she asks me for directions all the time, even though I no longer live in Vegas.
oh yeah, i remember those Matchbox "Build-a-Roads....they had signs as part of the kits (and decals of not too good quality...they usually broke as you were applying them to the signs)
Oh the signs? I would paint the posts silver and the sign backs green to match Connecticut's wood signs....(did the same thing with any signs i would put on my HO and years later, my N scale train layouts too!)
In first grade when we went on a class trip to the planetarium at Ocean County College the teacher asked me for an alternate route home because the road was closed due to forest fires.
Every Christmas one of my gifts is the newest edition of Rand McNally's Road atlas
I can identify cities from an airplanne based on the road pattern. My wife was amazed I could tell her we were over Amarillo, TX from the roads when we went to her Grandmothers in California
Quote from: Interstate Trav on March 02, 2011, 10:45:52 PM
Quote from: cu2010 on March 02, 2011, 02:07:37 PM
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 01, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
I did that all the time in our garage or driveway. Also, when I was really little, i designed roads in the sandbox with overpasses, mountains, intersections, etc. for matchbox cars.
I've done that. I even once built road signs out of Legos for it!
I used to use popsicle sticks for the posts holding the signs then draw them as close as I could to the interstate stye signs. I even had one where I made it the California Nevada Stateline and the Nevada signs were with toothpicks with the back end braces just like the ones in Nevada. I would really get into it.
Guilty. My "sandbox" however, was a spot of red dirt. Somewhere in my yard I found gray colored dirt. I brought that to the red dirt and used it for my concrete pavement for my "interstate". Made BGSs w/popsicles sticks and other route markers (all freelanced) as well.
I have to agree with 100% of the things mentioned on this thread.
Also....
1. In 2nd grade, I made a map that was 68' long, all on 8 1/2x11" "filler" paper. My maps back then were actual scaled down versions of the roads themselves, showing all signs, lane markings, lights, etc. Shortly later, I obtained large rolls of paper for my maps. The scale was a lot more spread out, 6 1/2" would be equivilent to 1/2 mile, vs my 2nd grade map which was 4" is a half mile. To obtain the data for this, I would write down what each sign on the highway said. Going through Hartford or New Haven (CT) was more challenging with exits spaced close together and a ton of signs.... not to mention I-91 north of Hartford was under construction from the 80s to the 90s. Still later on, I got carried away and added color, coloring in all BGSs, and then I did my own changes to the roads - adding lanes, closing exits, etc.
2. I developed a network of roads and communities for the trails in the backyard where I grew up. One day I actually went out into the woods and put signs up. Since they were paper, they didn't last long at all! In just the past few months, I have been trying to recall my "backyard community" - exits, signs, whatnot.
I too have been told I'm a human GPS. I had the ability to recite multiple exits on any interstate highway in New England. When I was in college, people would say where they're from, and I'd tell them how to get there.
. . . you have a free Sunday, and start it thinking you may as well spend it hiving out 200 sign design sheets from a load of French dossiers de consultation des entreprises you downloaded last spring, and sorting out sign design and sign layout sheets from a Nevada DOT US 95 contract; but instead of doing that, you wind up downloading 80 signing plans from Georgia DOT.
Quote from: J N Winkler on March 06, 2011, 11:34:24 PM
. . . you have a free Sunday, and start it thinking you may as well spend it hiving out 200 sign design sheets from a load of French dossiers de consultation des entreprises you downloaded last spring, and sorting out sign design and sign layout sheets from a Nevada DOT US 95 contract; but instead of doing that, you wind up downloading 80 signing plans from Georgia DOT.
Sounds like what I would do.
This happened to me this morning:
...you say "Hey, that's Series F!" when you see a fleet number on a plow truck's sander.
...*G* you buy a clock from a guy online simply because it has FWHA Series D numbers!!!
Quote from: NE2 on February 27, 2011, 03:54:12 PM
...when you've seen too many threads like this...
...when you think there's no such thing as too many threads like this! :D
Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2011, 07:25:52 PM
Quote from: cjk374 on February 28, 2011, 06:51:33 PM
Guilty.
To add to the thread:
...You draw roads with sidewalk chalk. I would always run out of yellow chalk and I'd be left with an assorted color pack with everything but yellow. At least I could get packs of just white chalk. I wish I had a picture to post. One of my neighbors a few years younger than me thought it was cool that I could draw roads.
I used to do that when I was a kid! I even drew telephone poles along the roads (of course, to an adult, it looked like the poles were lying down beside the road).
Another memory that was jogged while reading this thread: You gave street names to the hallways and corridors at school.
Quote from: hm insulators on March 08, 2011, 04:19:08 PM
Another memory that was jogged while reading this thread: You gave street names to the hallways and corridors at school.
My elementary school did that to help students remember where their classrooms were (if/when you actually had to leave your primary classroom).
Quote from: Sykotyk on March 08, 2011, 04:25:05 PM
Quote from: hm insulators on March 08, 2011, 04:19:08 PM
Another memory that was jogged while reading this thread: You gave street names to the hallways and corridors at school.
My elementary school did that to help students remember where their classrooms were (if/when you actually had to leave your primary classroom).
I remember that my elementary school did for Dr. Seuss's birthday IIRC, but the whole place was decked out, so it just went along with it. I also remember in 2nd grade, our class had to design a city of sorts with all the things we thought we needed in it. I was in charge of the signage :sombrero:
When you have a test your taking for a class and you have to give the Route from one city to another but you get it wrong because you give a shortcut and a bypass, and all the teacher goes by is the text answer.
Quote from: jas on March 04, 2011, 05:43:54 PM
When family members call you for directions instead of using Mapquest or a GPS, knowing you'll give them the best route to their destination.
I have a sister who was making a trip from Lincoln, NE to Evansville, IN several years ago with her husband and in-laws to visit her sister-in-law who had just moved there. None of them had ever been anywhere near there before. They never asked me for directions, so I assumed they figured it out on their own. I got a call from my sister when they were getting close to St. Louis on I-70 and she asked me what road they should take in St. Louis to get to Evansville. I told her I-64, and then I asked her if they took a map or had directions. She said no-they just knew they had to go through St. Louis, and having been through Kansas City many times, they knew how to get to St. Louis, and she just figured when they got to St. Louis, they would call me to find out what road to take next.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on March 07, 2011, 01:43:05 AMQuote from: J N Winkler on March 06, 2011, 11:34:24 PM. . . you have a free Sunday, and start it thinking you may as well spend it hiving out 200 sign design sheets from a load of French dossiers de consultation des entreprises you downloaded last spring, and sorting out sign design and sign layout sheets from a Nevada DOT US 95 contract; but instead of doing that, you wind up downloading 80 signing plans from Georgia DOT.
Sounds like what I would do.
Search page for Georgia DOT's plans archive:
http://road-design.dot.state.ga.us/RoadDetailPlanSearch/index.cfm
It is still under development and not all fields in the search database have been populated--essentially, what they have is PI number and short job description. A search for {signs} in the job description field will return 212 hits; {signing} will return 28. By default the results sort by PI number, with older jobs (predating the present PI numbering system) having invented PI numbers beginning with "H."
For France (central government only):
https://www.marches-publics.gouv.fr/index.php5?page=entreprise.EntrepriseAdvancedSearch&searchAnnCons
I choose the relevant ministry (new acronym: MEDDTL) and enter {signalisation} as the
mot clé. Unfortunately, DCEs for past contracts are not available. The currently advertised contracts (about 8 hits at the moment) include signing for a bypass of Fleuré. DCEs are delivered as ZIP files, with the PDF files containing signing having filenames like "Cahier de décors," "Fiches CORINE," "Fiches SHERPA," etc. (
Corine and
Sherpa are sign design packages which by default put out pattern-accurate output).
. . . when, in high school, you use the "middle tile" of the hallway as a center left turn lane.
J N Winkler: Thanks for the links. I'm fluent in French so that'll make some interesting reading.
Quote from: burgess87 on March 10, 2011, 11:21:49 AM
. . . when, in high school, you use the "middle tile" of the hallway as a center left turn lane.
YES!!! I started that in elementary school. One of our wider hallways had enough tiles to make two lanes in each direction, a center turn lane and shoulders. Even now, I find myself "passing" in the left "lane" and "changing lanes" to turn. I even find myself doing this in Wal-Mart. At my college, most people keep to the right when walking.
This (http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/driving_on_the_infinite.shtml) blog entry from Ben Jones of MIT explains "driving" in hallways pretty good.
Quote from: Michael on March 10, 2011, 05:47:41 PM
This (http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/driving_on_the_infinite.shtml) blog entry from Ben Jones of MIT explains "driving" in hallways pretty good.
Now that's freakin' hilarious. :D
Quote from: Michael on March 10, 2011, 05:47:41 PM
Quote from: burgess87 on March 10, 2011, 11:21:49 AM
. . . when, in high school, you use the "middle tile" of the hallway as a center left turn lane.
YES!!! I started that in elementary school. One of our wider hallways had enough tiles to make two lanes in each direction, a center turn lane and shoulders. Even now, I find myself "passing" in the left "lane" and "changing lanes" to turn. I even find myslf doing this in Wal-Mart. At my college, most people keep to the right when walking.
This (http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/driving_on_the_infinite.shtml) blog entry from Ben Jones of MIT explains "driving" in hallways pretty good.
[Borat] High five! Very nice . . . . great success! [/Borat]
@burgess87: Should I be glad that I'm not the only one that does that, or are you some weirdo and I just joined the club? :) :hmmm:
Quote from: burgess87 on March 10, 2011, 11:21:49 AM
. . . when, in high school, you use the "middle tile" of the hallway as a center left turn lane.
Hah! Did that once, except my high school only has 3 tiles across, so it was like the center lane.
Also, if you treated passing slow people in the hallways like passing in your car.
Quote from: elsmere241 on March 04, 2011, 12:46:16 PM
I thought of internal road networks for houses and parks from time to time when I was younger. Once I took a couple of tomato stakes and put up street signs 1) where our driveway met the road (calling the driveway "Reeves Court" - our street was Reeves Road), and 2) where the front walk met the driveway.
I did similar things as a kid. I grew up on 80 acres in rural West Virginia, and our property was (is) full of old logging and gas well roads. I had names for them, complete with town (!) names for different portions of the land.
I'm also guilty of drawing complete roadway systems on schoolwork, with detailed interchanges and everything.
Wow, what a validating thread, haha. I bet most of us felt like the only ones.
I did line & lane markings on the sidewalk & driveway when I was a kid....In CRAYON! (Chalk was a waste!). Usually had separate left, right and thru lanes.
Problem with crayons is that they are only good for a couple of feet of markings, due to the texture of the sidewalk -- I must have gone through 4-5 boxes of Crayola 64 count crayons in 2 years.
I drew markings on the street I used to live on (which lacked them), including speed limits on the pavement. IIRC, it was 60 km/h. (Actual speed limit was 50).
Quote from: jwolfer on March 05, 2011, 11:01:20 PM
I can identify cities from an airplanne based on the road pattern. My wife was amazed I could tell her we were over Amarillo, TX from the roads when we went to her Grandmothers in California
Definitely guilty there.
Quote from: ftballfan on April 12, 2011, 10:56:46 AM
Quote from: jwolfer on March 05, 2011, 11:01:20 PM
I can identify cities from an airplanne based on the road pattern. My wife was amazed I could tell her we were over Amarillo, TX from the roads when we went to her Grandmothers in California
Definitely guilty there.
I can sometimes also pick out things that aren't cities this way. For instance, on my flight from Atlanta to Baltimore last weekend, I had a very nice view from my window of the rest area on I-85 in NC where the carraigeways cross over one another.
Quote from: Eth on April 14, 2011, 06:44:01 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on April 12, 2011, 10:56:46 AM
Quote from: jwolfer on March 05, 2011, 11:01:20 PM
I can identify cities from an airplanne based on the road pattern. My wife was amazed I could tell her we were over Amarillo, TX from the roads when we went to her Grandmothers in California
Definitely guilty there.
I can sometimes also pick out things that aren't cities this way. For instance, on my flight from Atlanta to Baltimore last weekend, I had a very nice view from my window of the rest area on I-85 in NC where the carraigeways cross over one another.
Likewise. It's also fun to pick out certain railroads and geologic/geographic features.
I'm okay at that, but not amazing, so I've always wished my GPS worked at such altitudes. Alas, it cannot get a signal from the satellites - likely due to the plane's metal skin.
You memorize ZIP codes (similar to someone else in the thread) by thinking stuff like "well, 95945...let's see, I-95's old exit to connect to 9 in Bangor was Exit 45A....(course now that wouldn't work because it's 182A now)
You trace "highways" in wood grain or tile floors.
Quote from: Eth on April 14, 2011, 06:44:01 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on April 12, 2011, 10:56:46 AM
Quote from: jwolfer on March 05, 2011, 11:01:20 PM
I can identify cities from an airplanne based on the road pattern. My wife was amazed I could tell her we were over Amarillo, TX from the roads when we went to her Grandmothers in California
Definitely guilty there.
I can sometimes also pick out things that aren't cities this way. For instance, on my flight from Atlanta to Baltimore last weekend, I had a very nice view from my window of the rest area on I-85 in NC where the carraigeways cross over one another.
I drove that last month on my move to Boston and you almost don't notice it. I just knew to be on the lookout for it, because I had seen it from the air a couple of times and thought it was in VA, before I was corrected.
You know you're a roadgeek when you go to bed a 3 AM because you were busy fixing things on OpenStreetMaps and weren't watching the time. (...or Google Map Maker).
Or Clinched Highway Mapping!
And heck, make that 5am. ;P
Quote from: yakra on May 15, 2011, 05:03:21 PM
Or Clinched Highway Mapping!
And heck, make that 5am. ;P
Try 6am sometimes. :P
...when you take a trip somewhere, there has to be road photography squeezed in there somehow.
I'd swear it's been 8am sometimes, but it gets awfully hard to keep things straight at that point...
When you take a trip somewhere, it must be done on the greatest amount of new unclinched roadway as possible.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on May 15, 2011, 03:32:07 PM
You know you're a roadgeek when you go to bed a 3 AM because you were busy fixing things on OpenStreetMaps and weren't watching the time. (...or Google Map Maker).
or, alternately, you get up at 1am because you need to photograph a highway in dawn lighting and the road happens to be 400 miles away.
Quote from: ctsignguy on February 27, 2011, 01:39:58 PM
....when you are in school, and draw various shields around the numbers on your math homework...
My second-grade teacher got mad at me for putting "little badges" on the numbers. (Interstate only, though. I never liked the way the US shield looked when I drew it.)
Moving to a more recent time in my life:
You tell the manager of a grocery store that he ought to put up roundabouts at all the corners of the aisles and perhaps install jersey walls in some of them to try to keep the sightseers out of the way of those of us who are actually there trying to do our grocery shopping. (This would be the Wegmans in Fairfax. Cart traffic in there is sometimes anarchic in terms of people wandering around aimlessly.)
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 16, 2011, 12:56:25 PM
This would be the Wegmans in Fairfax. Cart traffic in there is sometimes anarchic in terms of people wandering around aimlessly.
Yay for Wegmans!
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 16, 2011, 12:56:25 PM
You tell the manager of a grocery store that he ought to put up roundabouts at all the corners of the aisles and perhaps install jersey walls in some of them to try to keep the sightseers out of the way of those of us who are actually there trying to do our grocery shopping. (This would be the Wegmans in Fairfax. Cart traffic in there is sometimes anarchic in terms of people wandering around aimlessly.)
I often find that people tend to push their cart in the same manner as they drive.
Quote from: Brandon on May 16, 2011, 04:19:49 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 16, 2011, 12:56:25 PM
You tell the manager of a grocery store that he ought to put up roundabouts at all the corners of the aisles and perhaps install jersey walls in some of them to try to keep the sightseers out of the way of those of us who are actually there trying to do our grocery shopping. (This would be the Wegmans in Fairfax. Cart traffic in there is sometimes anarchic in terms of people wandering around aimlessly.)
I often find that people tend to push their cart in the same manner as they drive.
That's scary!
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 14, 2011, 08:34:23 PM
I'm okay at that, but not amazing, so I've always wished my GPS worked at such altitudes. Alas, it cannot get a signal from the satellites - likely due to the plane's metal skin.
I've never had issues getting a good signal if I put my Garmin next to a window on a plane. It's a hiking/outdoors GPS though and not a road navigation GPS.
I knew a fellow who took a GPS on Concorde to try to get the 1350-mph speed readout. It worked fine even at 60,000 feet above the North Atlantic. Again, though, it wasn't a sat-nav designed for use in a car so maybe that's the difference.