Tag: I-10
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Southern Heat, Part 1 (Road Trip)
It feels like I just got back from Costa Rica and then I’m right back on the road again. True enough, we made it home for only a couple of weeks before we began an extended drive through the southeastern United States. However, those were the only dates that worked with everyone’s schedules this summer.…
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Florida I-10 Time Zone Crossing
I’ll bet you’re checking your phone right now, driving along Interstate 10 in Florida and wondering where the time changes. I think I can help you. It happens between Mile Markers 160 and 161. If you’re driving westbound, going from Eastern Time into Central Time, set your coordinates to: 30.633557°, -84.904119° If you’re driving eastbound,…
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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…
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Atlantic to Pacific
Regular readers of the Twelve Mile Circle seem to enjoy vicarious road challenges. Those include shortest routes, fastest times, greatest distances over specific times, and things of that nature. I featured the highway path from Canada to Mexico a few weeks ago. Now I’d like to explore the other direction across the United States. So…
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Longest Distance in an Hour
It’s the easy questions that seem to be the most difficult to answer sometimes. The search engine query captured in my web logs appeared to be a simple affair. “What is the longest distance someone can drive in an hour.” I figured the answer would probably be the portions of the Autobahn in Germany that…
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The Park You Cannot Visit
The U.S. National Park Service currently has 394 units, with one more arriving soon. These include all manner of parks, monuments, historic sites, battlefields, seashores, recreation areas, trails and various other interesting designations. Each one is a beloved national treasure. They include the famous like Yellowstone National Park. But they also include the more obscure…
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Hurricane Katrina: Family Memories 5 Years Later
Has it really been five years already? The memories are starting to fade but they come back to life in ghostly form on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, when the news media forces me to pay attention to them. Our family was one of the lucky ones. I can’t and won’t compare our story to…
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Texas: Is Everything Really Bigger?
I’ve been to Texas many times. I have family there, I have business there, and I’ve driven across its width. I don’t underestimate its gargantuan size. There’s a reason why “Everything is Bigger in Texas” has become such an iconic boast that borders on cliché. If Texas were still a country as it was when…
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Split in Two: St. Martin Parish
St. Martin Parish, Louisiana poses an odd situation (map). Neighboring Iberia Parish jabs straight through the middle of St. Martin and cleaves it into two completely different portions separated by several miles. The St. Martin Parish Clerk of the Court explains that, “In 1868, Iberia Parish was formed from parts of St. Martin and St.…
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Interstate Highway Numbers in the United States
Did you ever wonder whether there was a plan behind the numbering of interstate highways in the United States? It makes sense that someone has to handle it to avoid repetition or confusion. So how logical is the process and what are the rules? The interstate highway network, or more properly the “Dwight D. Eisenhower…