Throwback Thursday; Montezuma Castle National Monument

Back in 2012 I visited Montezuma Castle National Monument located just of Interstate 17 exit 289 near Camp Verde in Yavapai County, Arizona.

Montezuma Castle is a preserved Sinauga cliff dwelling on a limestone cliff above Beaver Creek which was occupied between 1100 AD to 1425 AD. Montezuma Castle was rediscovered by European Explorers that it had some sort of connection to Aztec Emperor Montezuma. Montezuma Castle is located 90 feet above the terrain below the cliff-face and has approximately 4,000 square feet over five floors. Montezuma Castle was set aside as a National Monument in 1906.

Approximately 11 miles northeast of Montezuma Castle is a detached area of Montezuma Castle National Monument located on a sink hole known as Montezuma Well. Montezuma Well is located above a fresh water spring which chewed through the surrounding limestone to create a 386 foot in diameter sink hole. Being one of the few locations in Arizona with easy access to fresh water Montezuma Well was obviously an attractive location for settlement which apparently date as early as the 8th century. Montezuma Well is also surrounded by cliff dwellings much like the nearby Montezuma Castle.

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Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

Hawaii Route 50

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Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...

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