Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Roads

  • Jamestown-Scotland Ferry

    Crossing the James River near Jamestown, Virginia (October 2007) I wanted to avoid heavy traffic on Interstate 64 during my drive to Williamsburg, Virginia, electing instead to hug the rural southern bank of the James River. It took longer and I went farther, but I wandered empty winding ribbons of rolling terrain, woodlands, plantations and…

  • Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry

    Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island, North Carolina (March 2012) We drove down 75 miles of North Carolina’s Route 12, the Beach Road, along the spine of the Outer Banks. This was a long slog even during the winter when the length of highway was blessedly free of tourist traffic. Patience is a virtue. It took…

  • Green River Ferry

    Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky (July 2013) While visiting Mammoth Cave National Park — and with an interest in ferries already — a slight detour to the Green River Ferry seemed in order. It was easy. The ferry can be found southwest of the Visitor Center. Drive out of the Visitor Center on the Mammoth…

  • Ferry Wahkiakum

    Crossing the Columbia River between Cathlamet, Washington and Westport, Oregon (July 2012) It used to be difficult to cross the broad Columbia River between Washington and Oregon, especially as one moved closer to its terminus at the Pacific Ocean coastline. Even today with the Astoria-Megler Bridge near the mouth and the Lewis and Clark Bridge…

  • Belle Chasse Ferry

    Belle Chasse, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (April 2010) I’ve been to the New Orleans area on numerous occasions but somehow the Belle Chasse Ferry in Plaquemines Parish had eluded me. Finally I made a special effort, traversing the Crescent City Connection bridge towards the West Bank, and drove down through the suburbia of Gretna before arriving…

  • Cassville Car Ferry

    Crossing the Mississippi River between Wisconsin & Iowa (June 2009) The Cassville Car Ferry (map) crosses the Mississippi River between Cassville, Wisconsin and Turkey River, Iowa. Bridges across the Upper Mississippi are scarce. The river is wide and in these rural areas making it difficult to justify the cost of construction and maintenance of bridge…

  • Dorena – Hickman Ferry

    Between Dorena, Missouri and Hickman, Kentucky (April 2014) No direct roadway crosses the Mississippi River between the states of Kentucky and Missouri. In fact the river lacks a single bridge crossing for a distance of nearly 85 miles (140 kilometres) from Cairo, Illinois to the Interstate 155 bridge west of Dyersburg, Tennessee. The Dorena-Hickman Ferry…

  • Aircraft Carrier, Part 1 (Getting to Norfolk)

    I’d been on-and-off the road repeatedly for weeks, taking one brief trip after another for the entire summer.  The latest stretch brought me to six different places over twelve days.  I just wanted to get home and sleep in my own bed for awhile. That lasted barely three nights.  Then I headed right back out…

  • Jersey Shore, Part 5 (Positive Signs)

    I have a thing for signs and I noticed that the Jersey Shore had plenty of interesting things to tell us.  They displayed a tale of my week-long visit down the coastline in words and pictures.  I didn’t intend to search for signs, nor did I have any particular plan to remember them.  They appeared…

  • Cross-Country, Part 8 (Bonus!)

    Finally the end. Or was it? We’d driven most of the way across the United States. Then we spent a full week in Phoenix, Arizona. However, we weren’t completely done. Our rental home agreement ended two days before our return flight so we needed to spend a little time somewhere else. Originally my wife figured we could go down to…