Farewell to 2020! Hello to 2021!

We want to thank our fans and readers of Gribblenation for your support during the past year. 2020 has been a challenging year for most. While not everything we hoped to see or travel to went as planned, we made the most of it and still have a lot of fun exploring and sharing our stories with you.

Thank you for your continued support of our blog, our Facebook page (now with over 2000 likes!) and our Instagram account. It has been a great 2020, with such things like the recent addition of a new columnist Dan Murphy, who also runs the popular roadwaywiz channel on YouTube, learning about possible alternate routes for I-77 in Closing the Gap - How Interstate 77 in North Carolina and Virginia Came To Be, visited the glorified highway stopover in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, checking out some great drives in the Sierras, such as Horseshoe Meadows Road; former California State Route 190 and the legacy of the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road and Onion Valley Road; former California State Route 180 to Kearsarge Pass, explored the old Route 75 Tunnel in Ironton, Ohio, and was clinging to the edge of a cliff with a drive down the Storm King Highway.

What's on tap for 2021, you may ask? Given that a lot of what we wanted to do in 2020 never got off the ground, well, because it was 2020, we want to leave what we have planned for the next year as a surprise. We will leave you with a teaser that a podcast series is in development.

Once again, we wish you and yours a Happy New Year and a great year ahead! In the meanwhile, enjoy some great photos from Dan.

Update Log:
December 31, 2020: Added to gribblenation.org.

Comments

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Mines Road

Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area. Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County. The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte. The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom. Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail). La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora. The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River. Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207. Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939. Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune . Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903. The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba

Gribblenation

Search This Blog