Things that irk you about "road geeking"

[Mergingtraffic]

Of course "Road Geeking" should be described as the activity of driving, clinching roads, taking pictures of signs-highways-traffic lights etc, acquiring signs or anything else like I just described.

An irk for me is getting the itch to go to a place for road pics and not being able to right away b/c of job, weather or other circumstances. 

Or

Since I like to take pics in the sunlight, having a forecast call for sunny skies but it's cloudy when you get there.

and the worst for me:

The old sign you want is gone 

[Zeffy]

Not having a vehicle. 

[kj3400]

Not having a vehicle. 

+1

[dgolub]

Probably the most irksome experience I had was the time when I misplaced my camera's memory stick shortly after a trip to Boston in 2004, losing most of the pictures from the trip.  I've learned, and now I'll download my pictures immediately as soon as I get home after going somewhere.

[Pete from Boston]

Running out of film. 

[Duke87]

State highways that end at or in restricted areas with no opportunity to U-turn, such that they cannot be clinched by the general public without fudging or risking getting in trouble. NJ 68, I'm looking at you.

[cpzilliacus]

State highways that end at or in restricted areas with no opportunity to U-turn, such that they cannot be clinched by the general public without fudging or risking getting in trouble. NJ 68, I'm looking at you.

Is it actually N.J. 68 if it runs through a military reservation's gate?

[Darkchylde]

Not having a vehicle. 

Having a vehicle, but no gas money.

Also, winter sun angles.

[Zeffy]

State highways that end at or in restricted areas with no opportunity to U-turn, such that they cannot be clinched by the general public without fudging or risking getting in trouble. NJ 68, I'm looking at you.

What about MD 22? Runs through the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, past the gates that guard the entrance to the facility.

[GCrites]

Getting looked at suspiciously by the locals on low-volume roads. Loose dogs.

Getting rid of the truck I had with cap on it helps some with the first, but with any truck people think you are a burglar.

[hbelkins]

My current financial situation.

[formulanone]

- Bugs on the windshield.
- Rain on a day you'd like to photograph things.
- Having to take the same route twice.
- Lack of daylight before and after working hours.
- Massive windshield glare (you'd figure automakers might figure something out by now).
- Being completely oblivious to an old sign or something odd that disappears the next time you get around to it.

Yeah, they're first world problems. But they're the little things that tweak me. 

[1995hoo]

Having to drive further and further to find new roads.

[kphoger]

That the trips which afford me the best roadgeeking opportunities are those trips on which we're traveling in caravan with another vehicle and several people who have no interest in pulling over at random spots along the highway.

[signalman]

Not having enough time to get to the roads that I want to drive.  When I need to spend nearly all of my off time traveling via roads that I've already clinched just to reach new roads/counties.  Then once I reach said new territory, it's time to turn around and head back home.

This time of year is a great time to road geek since not as many folks are traveling.  Unfortunately, bad weather often stands in my way of leaving my house or going where I planned to go because the weather is shitty there.

Fortunately for GSV I can road geek vicariously.  I'd still rather actually drive the roads in question.

[jeffandnicole]

No one else "get's it".  Other people can talk about their hobbies, their kids, their desires, etc, and it seems normal.  If I were to talk about an interesting sign or road layout, if they even try to care, it would most like be with a blank stare as in "what are you talking about"?

[oscar]

State highways that end at or in restricted areas with no opportunity to U-turn, such that they cannot be clinched by the general public without fudging or risking getting in trouble. NJ 68, I'm looking at you.

What about MD 22? Runs through the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, past the gates that guard the entrance to the facility.

AIUI, that state highway ends at an intersection just before the entrance gate, so you can turn back there.  But there are several other Maryland highways which end at or before military base gates with no intersection at the endpoint, where you'd need to make a U-turn rather than turn off.  MD 246 is one such, though the gate was closed the weekend I was there so I could safely drive right up to the gate before turning back. 

My own pet peeve relates to sign photos.  Unlike doofy103, I usually prefer overcast days, so you don't have time your trip to avoid having the sun behind signs you want to photograph.  I also hate driving toward the rising or setting sun, so a nice gray day helps there (but best to have low clouds or lots of trees to block the sun on otherwise clear days). 

[bugo]

Pointless threads like this one.

[US81]

I would like to add: being prevented from tracking old roads because they have now become private property. I've tracked El Camino Real de los Tejas (Old San Antonio Road), the Bankhead Highway, old US highway alignments up to private property, not to mention old bridges.   

Make no mistake, I respect private property and do not trespass, but it does "irk" me.

[Zeffy]

AIUI, that state highway ends at an intersection just before the entrance gate, so you can turn back there.  But there are several other Maryland highways which end at or before military base gates with no intersection at the endpoint, where you'd need to make a U-turn rather than turn off.  MD 246 is one such, though the gate was closed the weekend I was there so I could safely drive right up to the gate before turning back. 

Yup, Google Maps is wrong - it shows it as extending into the actual base itself, while OSM and my maps show otherwise.

No one else "get's it".  Other people can talk about their hobbies, their kids, their desires, etc, and it seems normal.  If I were to talk about an interesting sign or road layout, if they even try to care, it would most like be with a blank stare as in "what are you talking about"?

Precisely why I don't even try to have a conversation like that, especially in my family where no one knows how to get from point A to point B without using GPS...

[adventurernumber1]

Running out of film.

Absolutely!!! And as first-world-problems as this sounds, having 12 GB of storage on my phone is barely anything!! 90% of my storage is pictures and videos in my camera roll (most of those road-related). The most irksome part of that is when you're in the middle of filming a beautiful stretch of road but you're halted by full storage. If I didn't have about 60 road videos I've taken in the past year or so stored on my YouTube channel (link is in my signature if anyone's interested) I'd be about 10 full storages in "debt" 

And due to that most of those videos are on my YouTube channel, and only 2 or 3 (shorter ones) are still on my camera roll, but all the road pictures (not to mention there are some pictures of other stuff too) still keep my storage near full on a daily basis. Also, on the note of storage, apparently for some very irksome reason, if I simply use the Google Maps app a lot, it'll build up cache and fill up my storage. To prevent a massive storage overflow, I have to delete and re-download my Google Maps app on a weekly basis. Over the course of a week using my Google Maps app only a moderate amount when I cannot access it on my laptop, I cache up an annoying several hundred mega-bytes. 

No one else "get's it".  Other people can talk about their hobbies, their kids, their desires, etc, and it seems normal.  If I were to talk about an interesting sign or road layout, if they even try to care, it would most like be with a blank stare as in "what are you talking about"?

I honestly don't give a crap if I am looked at weird for waking up for roads, but that is definitely irksome. My best friend (since 1rst grade) actually understands my avid love for roads (after knowing me so long), but he practically has to explain it to everyone who encounters me doodling a map or watching road videos during school (one time it took him 30 minutes to explain it to someone at Lunch) 

[roadman]

Running out of film. 

Wow, somebody out there is actually still using a film camera?!?

[Henry]

Getting stuck in rush-hour traffic!

[Brandon]

Getting stuck in rush-hour traffic!

If you plan it right, sometimes you can be going slow enough to really capture a photo of something.

[Pete from Boston]

Running out of film. 

Wow, somebody out there is actually still using a film camera?!?

No.  It was kind of a joke, but it was a much bigger problem than running out of flash memory is today.  Film cost a lot of money and came in finite supply.  Made me take better pictures.  And there was no "delete your least favorite" to get the perfect shot.  I missed at least one once-in-a-lifetime shot after using up the previous, and last, shot on basically nothing.