Gribblenation

Joe Babyak, of NC Road Videos Fame, came up for a video and photo road trip Saturday. Since Joe hadn't spent time in the Northeastern part of the state - and I wanted to visit the two free small river ferries that I had not crossed. It was a good opportunity to roadtrip and visit some of the backroads of North Carolina. Route: I-540 - US 64 - US 264 - NC 39 - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 13/17- Woodard Road - NC 308 - NC 45 - US 158 - Woodard Road - US 258 - US 258 Business (Franklin, VA) - US 258 - US 158 - US 301 - NC 46 - NC 48 - NC 581 - NC 58 - US 64 - I 540. For the flickr set of the trip - Go here . The first stop was at the old US 64 bridge over the Tar River. I have this bridge featured on Carolina Lost , but I figured to show Joe, and also revisit for the first time in nearly five years. The former alignment of US 64 here - now called Quiet Waters Road - appears to still have some remnants of the white center lines used years ago. Our next sto

...I do believe it. I do believe it's true. (Simon & Garfunkel) That's right! We took a trip out to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro on Saturday. A fun trip and a small side adventure down the Pottery Highway (NC 705) - more on that later. As always the entire flickr set is here . Over 140 photos! But up first, photos from the NC Zoo! The North Carolina Zoo is split into two sections - North America and Africa. It takes about five hours to see everything, obviously with younger kids - you'll want to add more time. For adults, admission is only $10 and it's $1 less with AAA. Say hello to Mr. Gator. I certainly wouldn't want to wake up this guy from his nap. The sea lions were a popular attraction on Saturday. My favorite areas of the NC Zoo is the Prairie (home to Elk and Bison) and the African Grasslands (more on that later). The prairie didn't disappoint as we found this elk with an amazing rack! Just prior to the entrance of the Aviary are the pi

I attended Thursday's (8/14) NCDOT public meeting on the eastern section of the Winston- Salem Northern Beltway or officially the "Transportation Corridor Official Map Act and Design Public Hearing" and Pre-Hearing Open House. Both took place at the East Forsyth High School in Kernersville. They had large posters of the roadway design plans posted along the wall, blown up versions of those found at the project web site plus a couple additional handouts. I'll first describe the project according to the handouts, then the public comments NCDOT heard, and finally my comments on those comments. (I will bring the handout to next week's Raleigh meeting, whether it's an incentive to attend, I guess we'll see). The Beltway meeting handout described the basic portions of the project which are actually 2 TIP projects U-2579, the Eastern Section of the Northern Beltway, 12.4 miles from just east of US 52 (the US 52 interchange is actually part of the western section

Well, it seems like every now and then someone within the hobby starts their own blog. And today is one of those days. James Mast, who lives in PA, started a new blog called simply rickmastfan67's Stuff . His first entry takes a roadtrip look at I-99 in Central PA , go give it a read.

The photo hosting site Flickr coined Friday, August 8 as another 24 hours of flickr day. And using it as an excuse to take some photos, I headed out after work yesterday to take some pictures. I had a few ideas in mind, but I decided to check out Old NC 75 aka Old Oxford Highway which were predecessors to US 15 in the area. I'm glad I decided on this trip, and you'll see why soon. For the entire photo set (71 in total) , head over to flickr . I picked up the Old Oxford Highway from Business US 501 north of Durham. Old Oxford Highway is well marked, and there's reference to Historic Stagville as well. Once you turn onto Old Oxford Highway just follow it all the way to Oxford, it changes names to Old NC 75 once entering Granville County. Not long into the journey, I had my first photo opportunity. An old Country Store just outside of the Durham City Limits. I have a feeling fellow Surewhynoter, C.C. Slater, will enjoy that picture. This was the photo I used for the