Saturday, March 29, 2014

Wondering About Federal Highways.

There are a lot of different types of roads in the United States.  There are federal highways, state highways, county roads, township roads, private roads, lanes, jeep trails, long driveways. . . you get the idea.  Did you know who builds the roads designated as federal highways and have route signs similar to these:



(The difference in the two on the right is that the 1961 sign was just the white shield with the black number and the 1970 sign was square and included the black frame.)

They say they are U.S. roads but they are always maintained by state or local governments.  This all started way back in 1926.  It is a rule of thumb that generally the odd numbered roads run north and south and even numbered roads run east and west.  The lowest numbers are in the east and the north.

Let me tell you, even knowing all this, I can get lost.  Do you know I got lost one time in a town so small that it only had a couple of red lights?  Yep, but I didn't go too far the wrong way before I figured it out.  But then once I went the wrong way a whole state before I realized I was heading west instead of east.  My excuse was that it was a cloudy day.  Best reason I could come with in short notice.  Now, I bet none of you have ever been lost, right?  So, make all the correct turns today, follow the correct route signs, and have a great day, you hear?

14 comments:

  1. I've been lost and gone in circles, but a whole state? You must have really been preoccupied.

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  2. I was alone, and I guess I left my brain in the motel room where I spent the night.

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  3. I hope where you got lost was one of the New England states and not Texas ;-) We can travel through several of those in just a few hours... but Texas..... 3 days... a week.... seems to take forever!

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    1. We met in the middle of Alabama, so it wasn't the largest state in the U.S. but it was big enough to go the wrong way back through half of it.

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  4. I can truthfully say, i've never been lost. Taken wrong turns but NOT lost.

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    1. I guess it would depend on your definition of lost. I have, at times, didn't know where I was. . .

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  5. I got lost once and ended up in Quebec -without passing through a customs station. Reversed direction and crossed back into the the US on the same back road. Bet that can't be done by accident today.

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    1. That would be hard to do now-a-days. Yep, I used to go in and out of Canada all the time with no delays.

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  6. If I have to go around a large traffic circle, I get totally screwed up. Like playing Blind Man's Bluff with cars. East, west, up, down... who knows?

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    1. How many times to you have to go around those traffic circles before you figure how to get off? (grin)

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  7. HAHAAhaaaaaa … a WHOLE state? hahaa.. you did not… getting lost was what I did best. I ended up in some of the most beautiful, hairy, scary … fun places by doing such… I like it. BUT not a WHOLE state! … You must have been in the New England states… they're the smallest … y'kill me.

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    1. It was Alabama and I had an extra long drive that day. I was going to N.C., bot west. Yes I did that.

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  8. I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. - Daniel Boone

    I, like Daniel, have never been lost but admit to being confused a few times. Never as long as several weeks but certainly for as long as a few hours.

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    1. When you were lost, you were moving 55 mph or more, when Daniel was lost, he was slowly walking and trying to bypass hostile Indians.

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