Category: Roads
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All Ways South
I noticed a claim on the Intertubes, primarily because someone using a search engine landed on Twelve Mile Circle seeking more information. It asserted that one can travel due south from Missouri to enter each state that borders it. That doesn’t seem logical so that’s why the claim attracts attention. Missouri and Tennessee are the…
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Mardela to Delmar
I’ve expressed my enjoyment of geographic portmanteaus previously. These are place names created by mashing together two or more other place names. Delmarva is a perfect example. The Delmarva Peninsula on the east coast of the United States is bound on the east by the Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west…
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Longest Google Maps Routes
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Google Maps changes its algorithms over time. Many of the solutions developed when the article was written in 2012 no longer work] I received an email message from 12MC reader Andrew a few days ago. He said that he and a friend have been playing a game using Google Maps. The rules are…
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Loudoun Wine Adventure
Fair warning. This article is going to resemble a travelogue more than a discussion of geo-oddities. I figure I can change the rules occasionally for self-indulgent reasons so I hope you don’t mind. Come back in a couple of days if you’re more a fan of the usual content on Twelve Mile Circle. The in-laws…
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License to Map
I guess I didn’t know until this morning that license plates, those little identification signs we attach to our automobiles, are more generically called vehicle registration plates. Right now I’m sure my North American audience is wondering why I even bothered to define “license plate” when the meaning is so intuitively obvious. That’s because the…
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Gravity Hills
Many years ago I had an acquaintance who was an accomplished magician. Fortunately I got to see him practice various magic ticks as he perfected his craft. So of course I learned the secrets behind many of the illusions. The human brain likes to believe what it thinks it sees. The magic tricks often reveal…
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Semi-Practical Exclaves Galore!
I mentioned a semi-practical exclave in Australia a few days ago. This was a spot in New South Wales where a resident in an automobile could exit his neighborhood without ever leaving NSW. However, he could return only via Queensland. I noted somewhat tongue-in-cheek that the “…situation becomes very special, perhaps unique, meaning I didn’t…
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Australian Semi-Practical Exclave
I had an interesting exchange of email messages with reader “New Taste” recently. It involved a little corner of Australia where Queensland and New South Wales hit the Coral Sea. The discussion had been triggered by one of my earlier articles I called “What Crosses an Airport Runway?” Well, a surprising number of unexpected things…
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Devil’s Highway
Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six. — Revelation 13:18 Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia –- Fear of the number 666 A national highway in the western United States carried the “number of…
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Political Access
No less than the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) made an interesting claim. They called it “Other Interstate Trivia, but I considered it Gold. “All but five state capitals are served by the interstate highway system. Those that are not served are: Juneau, AK; Dover, DE; Jefferson City, MO; Carson City, NV;…