Season's Greetings and what a great 2019 it's been!

Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, Season's Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy New Year and a Festivus for the rest of us! Whichever holidays you decide to celebrate, or not celebrate, we here at Gribblenation want to wish you and yours the best and happiest holiday possible, whether you are hitting the road or staying at home.

We also want to thank our fans and readers of Gribblenation, which now total over 1000 likes on Facebook alone. Thank you for your continued support of our blog, our Facebook page and our Instagram account. It has been a great 2019, with such things like the addition of our account on Instagram, being picked up by the San Juan Bautista Historical Society for a feature on Rocks Road/Old Legislative Route 22, articles for Old CA 120/140 Yosemite Entrance Road, the battle to build the I-95 bypass through Fayetteville, North Carolina, and going back to the future with “Where the Hell is Hill Valley US 8/US 395”.

What's on tap for 2020, you may ask? We have some material from Mexico, British Columbia and Alaska coming down the pike, along with more great features from all over the map. There will also be a recurring themed article or post on the 20th of each month for a highway with the number 20 in order to celebrate the year 2020. This could be for US 20, Autoroute 20 in Quebec, or any other highway with the number 20 anywhere. Plus there will be some other surprises along the way.

Once again, season's greetings to all!

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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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