Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: County Counting

  • A Big Milestone – 1500!

    My travels this summer fell into a distinct pattern as I completed recent Twelve Mile Circle articles. I didn’t even plan to mention the most recent long weekend excursion until I crossed an important milestone somewhat unexpectedly. This marked our annual visit to Madison, Wisconsin for the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival, our tenth straight…

  • Gulf Coast Weekend

    The college tours continued again last weekend although I didn’t go.  My wife and our older son headed towards sites in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The younger guy and I flew down to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi to visit with family instead. He didn’t get to go on the great road trip over the holidays…

  • Ithaca, Part 1 (Four Busy Days)

    We can drive from our home outside of Washington, DC to Ithaca, New York surprisingly easily.  All it takes is about six hours in the car over some pretty scenic roads.  I’ve loved New York’s Finger Lake Region for many years, one of the few places I’ve ever returned to for repeated vacations.  We didn’t…

  • Jersey Shore, Part 1 (Huh?)

    My wife and I took a little road trip over the Spring Break week immediately proceeding Easter.  We sent the kids away to stay with their grandparents.  Unencumbered, we found a rare opportunity to choose pretty much any destination in the world we wanted to explore.  Friends seemed perplexed by our ultimate decision though.  We…

  • Cross-Country, Part 3 (County Counting)

    I wanted to grab some new counties. That basic objective served as a guidepost, the unifying premise for the entire trip.  We would see other things along the route and during most of a week in Phoenix, Arizona, of course.  However, make no mistake, I wanted the new counties more than anything else.  As noted…

  • Rockies Loop, Part 1 (Route)

    I took something of a stealth trip. Normally I’d announce my upcoming adventure to the Twelve Mile Circle crowd well in advance and ask for suggestions. This time I just went out on my own. I knew what I wanted to do. In fact, only subscribers of the 12MC Twitter learned about it, watching the…

  • Finishing West Virginia, the Premise

    Sometimes events don’t unfold as one might hope. This weekend I planned to capture six remaining West Virginia counties that I’d not visited before. I figured April would be a safe time of year with beautiful springtime weather and minimal traffic. That dream will need to be deferred for a little while longer. The route…

  • Revisiting the Most County Borders

    I searched for and featured the United States county with the most neighboring counties during the very early days of Twelve Mile Circle. That article appeared in May 2008, almost ten years ago, reminding me once again how quickly time flies. Then in the waning days of the old blog, a loyal reader contacted me…

  • Before and After

    I’ve returned, in a sense. The decompression lasted a little over two months and I’m ready to start posting occasional articles again. However, the old Twelve Mile Circle remains firmly in the past where it belongs. I don’t want to go back in time although I do miss interacting with the wonderful readers of 12MC.…

  • Heartland, Part 1 (Why, oh Why?)

    Here we go again! I just finished a drive through the Midwest, all the way to Iowa and back, and returned on Saturday. We didn’t stay anywhere for very long and kept moving most of the time. We also stayed in different hotels for seven of the eight nights, and covered about 2,200 miles (3,500…