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Showing posts from June, 2018

Agua Fria, California ghost town site

While looking for a way around the closure in California State Route 49 north of Bear Valley I stumbled about a couple historic markers for the Agua Fria ghost town on CA 140. Agua Fria was located just north of modern CA 140 along Agua Fria Road in Mariposa County.  Agua Fria is significant in that it was the first County Seat of Mariposa County between 1850 to 1851 before it was moved to Mariposa.  Agua Fria apparently had two sections called "Upper" and "Lower" Agua Fria which were centered around two springs.  Apparently the gold claims in Agua Fria quickly exhausted and frequent fires in the 1850s did the town in.  Agua Fria apparently had Post Office Service until 1862.

Highlands County Route 634 and Highlands Hammock State Park

Back in 2013 I took Highlands County Route 634 approximately 4 miles west from US 27/98 to Highlands Hammock State Park. CR 634 is an interesting County Route due to the fact that it may actually continue west of High Land Hammock State Park as a dirt surface part of Hammock Road.  The dirt segment of Hammock Road begins near the eastern entrance of Highlands Hammock State Park which continues as dirt westward to the western park boundary.  The only publication I've seen showing CR 634 continuing west of Highlands Hammock State Park is on the park on park brochure.  If the brochure is accurate then CR 634 is one of the few dirt Signed County Routes in Florida. Highlands Hammock State Park Brochure CR 634 was once Florida State Road 634.  The only year I can find a reference for a Florida maintained route 634 was in 1956 when it was signed as Secondary Florida State Road 634. 1956 State Highway Map On the 1964 State Highway Map I don't see a FL 634.  The map might n

Caliente-Bodfish Road/Kern County Road 483

Back in 2016 I took Caliente-Bodfish Road south towards California State Route 58 while leaving the Sierra Nevada Range after looking for the town site of Old Kernville. Caliente-Bodfish Road is also known as Kern County Road 483 which I believe is an internal designation for mountainous roadways within the Sierra Nevada Range.  Caliente-Bodfish Road begins at Kern Canyon Road (Old California State Route 178) at the southern extent of Bodfish and climbs over the southern most extent of the Sierra Nevada Range approximately 35 miles to Bena Road near Caliente.  Caliente-Bodfish Road is a full two-lane road despite traversing some narrow terrain in the Sierras.  The high point on Caliente-Bodfish Road appeared to be near 4,000 feet above sea-level and I would estimate that there grades as high as 10% in places. South of Bodfish Caliente-Bodfish Road ascends quickly above the community on a series of switchbacks.  There is no official overlook but there is a hell of a view of Bodfi

Shield of the day; US Route 1 Mile Marker 0

Typically my posts tend to be about an entire segment of a highway or things located on them.  To that I haven't done any shield only posts so I figured that I would change that.  From 2012 to 2018 I've had at least some interaction with the southern terminus of US Route 1 in Key West, Florida which is known as Mile Marker 0. The Mile Marker 0 US 1 shield is frequently stolen and vandalized.  Some of my pictures capture the evolution of the above shield and sign assembly between 2012 to 2017. At some point something happened to the "end" placard which resulted in the replacement shown above as headline photo for this blog. Of course I did do a much longer blog post on the Overseas Highway last year which included maps showing the difference between modern US 1 version versus the Florida State 4a alignment from 1928: US Route 1 the Overseas Highway and the Legacy of Florida 4a

Throwback Thursday; International UFO Museum and Research Center

While traveling through Roswell, New Mexico back in 2012 I stopped at the International UFO Museum and Research Center.  The museum is located on US Route 285 a couple blocks south of US 380 in an old movie theater from the 1930s.  The street light designs are suffice to say somewhat unique. Really the UFO Museum is pretty absurd and as one might expect it is dedicated towards the 1947 Roswell Incident (interestingly the crash sight is very far northwest of Roswell being more than halfway to Corona).  The UFO Museum was apparently founded in 1991 as a non-profit.  There are various odd display pieces that are alien oriented and a couple news articles of interest.  There isn't much to capture the interest aside from maybe a 30 minute stop but it was probably worth it just to get a photo of the above marque and street lamp.

Throwback Thursday; Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Although I have attended several events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the years it wasn't until 2012 when I was finally able to visit the infield and Speedway Museum. Indianapolis Motor Speedway ("IMS") is a 2.5 rectangle shaped raceway located west of downtown Indianapolis.  IMS was constructed back in 1909 and the first race was oddly a motorcycle event.  IMS is considered the largest sporting venue in the world with a expanded seating capacity of close to 400,000. The first Indianapolis 500 was in 1911 which has become the likely the most known race in the world with the Daytona 500 and Monaco Grand Prix really being the only other events near the same level in motorsports.  NASCAR currently races at the facility in the Brickyard 400 which has been run since 1994. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum dates back to 1956 but has been in the current facility in the center of the Speedway since 1976.  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum disp