You Know You're A Roadgeek If...

[Scott5114]

• You, as a kid, pretended sidewalks were roads and expressways and did all kinds of reconfigurations in your head and "drove" around.

And when there were no sidewalks, you just used trails on the sides of the road, or into the woods.

As a kid, there was a period where I put signage up along the trails in the woods we played in, with control points of various named locations we had established.

[kphoger]

• You, as a kid, pretended sidewalks were roads and expressways and did all kinds of reconfigurations in your head and "drove" around.

And when there were no sidewalks, you just used trails on the sides of the road, or into the woods.

As a kid, there was a period where I put signage up along the trails in the woods we played in, with control points of various named locations we had established.

This man deserves some sort of medal, award, or psychotherapy.

[cjk374]

• You, as a kid, pretended sidewalks were roads and expressways and did all kinds of reconfigurations in your head and "drove" around.

And when there were no sidewalks, you just used trails on the sides of the road, or into the woods.

As a kid, there was a period where I put signage up along the trails in the woods we played in, with control points of various named locations we had established.

GUILTY!!  I had a dirt area where I made an interstate loop around a road-filled area.  It was an area of red-clay dirt, but I found some gray/white colored soil in another part of my yard that I moved to my road area & used it to simulate concrete pavement for my interstate loop.

I made signs from cardboard, hand wrote the text & shields on my "BGSs" (even though it was still cardboard colored), & they were mounted (glued) on popsicle sticks.  Nothing MUTCD compliant there!

I also gave as much emphasis to the roads on my train layout as I did the trains & track.

[DaBigE]

I also gave as much emphasis to the roads on my train layout as I did the trains & track.

Same here. Roads/lanes had to be x-inches wide, intersection corner radi of y-inches. Signs, traffic lights, and crossing signals of course had to be as close to the real thing as possible. The track? Meh, just make sure it connects, throw in a coulple switches for good measure, and make sure it doesn't fall off the track.

[cjk374]

I also gave as much emphasis to the roads on my train layout as I did the trains & track.

The track? Meh, just make sure it connects, throw in a coulple switches for good measure, and make sure it doesn't fall off the track.

That almost sounds like how my paycheck-source runs things.   

[Scott5114]

I also had a Hot Wheels city laid out on a large piece of cardboard. Pavement was made of masking tape. The piece de resistance, however, was Interstate 47, cutting through town, complete with a Jersey barrier made of half-toothpicks, cardboard bridges, and toothpick gantries with cardboard signs. Later I went back and redid the signs in Microsoft Word with Blue Highway font (Michael Adams had yet to make his fonts, or else I hadn't found them yet), printed out and taped over the signs.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

A play off the Tom-Tom navigational system, and my name is Dave.

Similarly I had a friend of mine start calling me "Pat-Pat" as well during/following a roadtrip to a college conference last year.

-When your friends fight over who you ride with because they want you to navigate for them.

[kphoger]

I immediately had to find out where Missouri state highway 17 was located.

[vtk]

When I need to remember a numeric string, I break it into digit groups which are the numbers of highways I can picture on a mental map.

[1995hoo]

When you get your new phone number (this would be August 1991 when I started college) and you immediately note the pattern of the last four numbers reflects the two major highways serving the town (my number that year was 971-2964–the two major highways serving Charlottesville are US-29 and I-64).

I did not test out that mnemonic for remembering the number when giving it to any females, however.

[Alps]

When I need to remember a numeric string, I break it into digit groups which are the numbers of highways I can picture on a mental map.

Yes. I try to pick out interchanges, too.

[agentsteel53]

When you get your new phone number (this would be August 1991 when I started college) and you immediately note the pattern of the last four numbers reflects the two major highways serving the town (my number that year was 971-2964–the two major highways serving Charlottesville are US-29 and I-64).

I did not test out that mnemonic for remembering the number when giving it to any females, however.

a friend of mine has a phone number whose first three digits are a route in CA which goes through the town we live in; then the last four are 4194, which are the two numbers used by the east-west section of the Tamiami Trail - US-94 became an extension of US-41 in 1950.

(as he posts here, I'm obscuring his phone number somewhat!)

[yakra]

...at the Laundromat, while waiting for the time on the dryer to count down, you try to silently list the termini for each number within the allotted one second.

[drummer_evans_aki]

If you'd rather read an Atlas over a book, you might be a road geek.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

You know more about the roads of an area than locals do. And without having been ever there.

[broadhurst04]

....you look at an outdoor Christmas decoration from the back and think, "Hey. That looks like a map of Virginia."

[vtk]

When choosing a cheap souvenier for your boss, you choose the one that's a map with interstates on it because that is more likely to remind her of you.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

You have got a couple bridges right each other, and you always cross the one on the same side as traffic flows (The right one for most of us).

[doorknob60]

I had large cities built out of hot wheel tracks (and whatever else I could make roads out of) filling my ENTIRE room. After a couple weeks I'd tear it down and start a new one. I would print out road signs and tape them onto the roads. Then I would spend hours driving around it, and once I left my room even though there were no roads, I drove my Hot wheels around imaginary roads around the house, and even outside on the sidewalk

I think I stopped doing that when I got SimCity But wow, some good times

When I need to remember a numeric string, I break it into digit groups which are the numbers of highways I can picture on a mental map.

That's how I remember my social security number. Without giving the numbers of course, it consists of my area code, an Oregon state route, and two Interstates (one present in OR and one in WA). It's the first thing I thought of when I saw the number too, and it stuck without even trying

[1995hoo]

You know more about the roads of an area than locals do. And without having been ever there.

You travel to visit friends in a city in another country, on another continent, and even though you've never been there before you're the one giving directions to everyone from the pub to the museum you're all visiting (2007 trip to Bristol, England, to visit Concorde G-BOAF at Filton).

[Dr Frankenstein]

You're getting impatient because the MTQ's GIS isn't being updated over the holidays.

[DaBigE]

I had large cities built out of hot wheel tracks (and whatever else I could make roads out of) filling my ENTIRE room. After a couple weeks I'd tear it down and start a new one. I would print out road signs and tape them onto the roads. Then I would spend hours driving around it, and once I left my room even though there were no roads, I drove my Hot wheels around imaginary roads around the house, and even outside on the sidewalk

• You measure floor tiles by how many lanes there are for your cars/grout lines turn into lane lines
• Powdered sugar isn't just a garnish for your French toast, rather, it's snow to push around with your snowplows
• You see a large sheet of paper and all you can think about is what kind of roads and highways you can design on there

[Alps]

I had large cities built out of hot wheel tracks (and whatever else I could make roads out of) filling my ENTIRE room. After a couple weeks I'd tear it down and start a new one. I would print out road signs and tape them onto the roads. Then I would spend hours driving around it, and once I left my room even though there were no roads, I drove my Hot wheels around imaginary roads around the house, and even outside on the sidewalk

• You measure floor tiles by how many lanes there are for your cars/grout lines turn into lane lines
• Powdered sugar isn't just a garnish for your French toast, rather, it's snow to push around with your snowplows
• You see a large sheet of paper and all you can think about is what kind of roads and highways you can design on there

Not so much powdered sugar. I'm a big fan of food. But #1 and #3, hell yes. I'll hold onto sheets of paper at work instead of throwing them out and go to town during lunch.

[kphoger]

I was preparing a report at work yesterday, and came across these two cells on the spreadsheet:


I know I'm a roadgeek because I immediately thought of road signs.

[vtk]

I know I'm a roadgeek because I immediately thought of road signs.

Did it make you think of any specific road signs?  Like maybe this one?

Riverside Dr NB (US 33 WB) between Club Rd and Cambridge Blvd / Trabue Rd