Skip to main content

2017 Southeast Trip; Part 1 (To Florida)

Back in May of last year I took a trip out to the Southeast region starting with Florida.  Usually I'm not a fan of flying but my flight path from Fresno to my layover in Denver is one of the more scenic that I know of in the Continental United States.  The snow pack flying east over over the Sierras and the Minarets region was massive after a stormy winter.






Mono Lake in the background and Crowley Lake in the foreground on the eastern slopes of the Sierras entering the Great Basin.   Crowley Lake is a reservoir in the Los Angeles Aqueduct Project while Mono Lake is a large salt water body with volcanic islands.





The White Mountains at the state line boundary of California and Nevada.  The high peak in the White Mountains is White Mountain Peak at 14,252 feet above sea level.





Traveling eastward into Nevada the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project could be seen to the north of Tonopah and US 95/6.   The Crescent Dunes Project was completed in 2015 but was turned off-line for about a year after completion due to leaks in the molten salt tank.





There wasn't much to see in Utah and the Colorado Plateau due to cloud cover but upon entering Colorado I could see Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.





There was cloud cover over Denver which meant for bumpy conditions but a good portion of the Front Range of the Rockies could be see poking above the clouds.











After a brief layover at Denver International Airport I bordered my flight for Tampa.  There wasn't much to be seen out the window as the cloud cover was thick but it cleared up enough by Louisiana to see the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.  The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is about 24 miles in length which carries traffic from I-10 in New Orleans to US 190 on the north side of the lake.  The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway southbound lanes were completed in 1956 while the northbound lanes were completed in 1969.







After crossing the Gulf my plane landed in Florida and thus the Southeast began proper.  This was a massive trip with about 3,000 miles planned in; Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Tale of Tollhouse Road, western California State Route 168 and failed Piute Pass Highway

Western California State Route 168 is entirely located in Fresno County and is linked historically to the Tollhouse Road corridor.   Tollhouse Road is one of the oldest highways in the Sierra Nevada range of Fresno County. The corridor presently begins in at Clovis Avenue in downtown Clovis and extends northeast to Huntington Lake. In 1866 the Woods Brothers established mining claims on Pine Ridge. In 1867 Fresno County would grant the brothers a toll franchise to construct a roadway to the desirable logging areas atop Pine Ridge and near Dinkey Creek. The Woods would establish a tollhouse at the start of their franchise road and lumber mill. The lumber mill attracted settlers which led to the establishment of the mountain town of Tollhouse. Fresno County would purchase the Tollhouse Road in 1878 and make it a public highway. The county would remove the tolls and incorporate the corridor into the existing county road network. Prior to the establishment of Clovis in 1...

Old Dunlap Road (former California State Route 180 in Yokuts Valley)

When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.  The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route...

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Thurmond

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is best known for whitewater rafting and other forms of adventure tourism.  Yet, found in the hollows and isolated valleys are quiet farms and former coal mining towns.  Well off the beaten path and isolated from much of its surroundings, Thurmond provides a unique view into Central West Virginia's industrial past. Thurmond began as a railroad town in the late 1800s.  Sparked by the arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the local coal industry, Thurmond quickly grew into a sizeable transportation and coal center.  When it incorporated as a town in 1903, Thurmond was a full-fledged community - home to two banks, two hotels, and many other services and stores. A CSX freight train passes the old coaling tower in Thurmond.  It was here that many steam locomotives would refill and refuel. Thurmond was home to a C&O railyard which serviced the numerous steam engines passing through the narrow valley.  Thu...