Gribblenation

Joe Babyak came up from Wilmington on Saturday, and we took a trip along some of the former US Highway alignments in the area. For the entire flickr set (149 photos) go here . We focused on old alignments of US 1 and US 421. US 1 from Apex to Sanford and US 421 from Sanford to Julian (between Liberty and Greensboro). We headed back along what some call the Old Football Road which is known as Greensboro/Chapel Hill Road. With the Raleigh Beltline finally seeing an upgrade in signage, I got hold of two shots of soon to be replaced signs on Western Blvd. Believe it or not. These signs are over top of even older overheads. (Be interesting to read those.) Camera flash through the windshield makes this appear to be button copy. This is an older overhead than the signs in the first photo. Our first stop was Apex. I spent a bit more time in Apex than this spring on the Bike 5 Trip to Wilmington. We walked around taking photos for a good 30-45 minutes. Apex has an intimate and very pop...

Since Duke wasn't playing today and I figured all the Raleigh people may want to stay and watch the NC State-ECU game, I decided to take a tour to see the progress of the I-74 freeway in Robeson County. Since there had been no publication about an opening date I assumed the best I would find was a change in exit numbers based on an e-mail I sent to the project's engineer earlier this year in which he acknowledged the numbers were wrong. I thus was surprised when I got to (still) Exit 320 on I-74/US 74 and noticed traffic no longer had to get off the highway to proceed on the interstate eastbound. When I got to Exit still numbered 226 I had another surprise.... The road was open beyond the exit. Thus curious, I decided to proceed on. The next exit as listed in the plans should be Dew Road, Pembroke. It was, but notice the exit number... It is now 203, 27 miles less than it should be and equal to the number for the milepost I sent to the NCDOT earlier in the year when I noticed t...

It's taken me awhile...but I took care of some updates from Vermont in my personal backlog, and updating Doug's New England wing of Gribblenation at the same time. The main pieces are three features along US 4. Woodstock - It is a small New England village that US 4 runs right through the heart of. If you are have ever traveled through there, chances are you ended up stopping here to look around. Quechee Gorge Gorge and Bridge - Another place along US 4 that you just have to spend a few minutes of your time at. The Village of Quechee - This little town is off of US 4, but it's well worth the detour. Of course, I was able to include a few roadgeek favorites of shield photos and guide signs . If you'd like to see the two flickr sets that these two updates are made of. August 2006 Vermont Excursion and Woodstock and Quechee Gorge, Vermont .

I'm combining all of the trips down and back into one post here. We were going to leave Friday evening, but because of the landfall of Tropical Storm Hanna, and the 5" of rain we received here in Raleigh. I didn't get on the road til about 11 am on Saturday. Trip Down - I-440, I-40, I-95, US 74, US 701. SC 9 Business, SC 9. Side Trip Sunday Afternoon - SC 65 - US 17, SC/NC 179, NC 179 Business, NC 179, NC 904, NC 179, NC 130, US 17, SC 9. Trip Back to Raleigh: SC 9 - US 701 - US 701 Business (Tabor City) - US 701 - NC 242 - I-40 - I-440. Accomplishments - Added mileage to US 74 and 76, SC 9 Business, NC 904, NC 130, US 701, and NC 242. Clinched: SC 65 and NC 179. The entire flickr set (133 photos) is here . No pictures on the trip down. I took a quick glimpse at the soon to be open I-74/US74 interchange with I-95. The overhead guide signs are uncovered on the South I-95 C/D lanes - and it's interesting to see I-74/US 74 shields next to each other on an overhead. A...

Last weekend, my family was down in Cherry Grove Beach, South Carolina. So I took a long weekend and went for a visit. (I'll have more on the roadtrip in Part Two.) Some of you know that I have started to do more experimentation with my camera settings. So early on Sunday Morning, I headed out during sunrise to take some photos. For the entire trip flickr set, go here. This one was done on the vivid setting: This was done with a Tungsten Light Balance: I really liked how these two photos that include the Cherry Grove Pier turned out. A few guys were out fishing on this early Sunday morning. Not sure if they were successful catching anything or not. Cherry Grove Beach on Dwellable