Gribblenation Roadcast

With the summer travel season behind us and the calendar turning to the days of leaf peeping and pumpkin spice everything, Dan spends this episode recapping his busy summer, including summaries of the major road trips (and other events) that made this past summer one of his busiest in recent years. Dan also looks ahead at what to expect from him here on the podcast, the blog, and the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel over the coming weeks and months.

The Hudson Valley region of New York State is full of scenic, memorable drives as well as impressive feats of engineering and architecture. In this episode, Dan is joined by fellow road enthusiast, sports fan, and Hudson Valley native Rob Adams of WGCH Radio to discuss some of the best, most nostalgic, and most memorable drives that this often-underappreciated corner of the Empire State has to offer. In addition to reminiscing about some of their earliest road trip memories, the two of them can't help but also spend a few minutes picking up the pieces of the disastrous state of New York football as the calendar turns to October...

Following the breakup of The Beatles in 1970, the individual members of the "Fab Four" went on to their own solo careers and continued to put out great material in their own rights in the subsequent years. In this episode, Dan breaks down his 10 favorite albums from the solo Beatle artists (John, Paul, George, and Ringo), albums that Dan wouldn't be without on his many road trips to all corners of North America.

The Beatles are largely considered to be among the greatest musical group of modern times and their music changed rock & roll and pop culture forever, with the bands of today always aspiring to recreate (yet have never duplicated) the popularity and "mania" of the 1960s that the "Fab Four" created. In this episode, Dan breaks down his 10 favorite Beatles albums, albums that he wouldn't be without on his many road trips to all corners of North America.

On the latest episode of Fresh Drives, Gribblenation's Doug talks about his recent vacation to Maine and some of the highlights, both on and off the road.

A new NFL football season is right around the corner and so let's mark the occasion on this latest Roadcast episode! Dan's guest on the show is Rob Adams, sports director at WGCH radio and Robcasting Radio. Rob and Dan sat down to break down the NFL landscape division by division, with some emphasis placed on our local New York teams. We'll also give you our playoff picks and a few parting words on the baseball landscape as we touch on the disastrous Yankees and Mets campaigns. If you like roads AND sports, this might be the episode for you!

In this episode, Dan is joined by fellow 'roadcaster' Doug as they discuss their favorite drives and places to visit in western New York State, including the city of Buffalo. They also took some time to talk about the upcoming Road Meet being held in Buffalo on July 29, 2023, including the landmarks you'll see on the Meet's driving tour and some of the other potential highlights from what promises to be a fun event for all who attend.

Information about the Road Meet being held in Buffalo, NY on July 29, 2023 can be found in the following thread on the AARoads Forum:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32325.0

For more information & commentary about western New York, check out this webinar on the Buffalo, NY metro area's roads & bridges that was broadcast on the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel in June 2023:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtWdtKATfgc&t=9007s

The Greater New Orleans area has seen its fair share of hurricanes over the years and its residents have ample stories to tell about their experiences with these storms over the years, with Hurricane Katrina still being top of mind for many who live in the area today. One of these residents is Jason Hoffman, creator of the "504RoadTrips" YouTube channel, who sat down with Dan in this episode to talk about his personal experiences and memories of Katrina and some of the other storms that have recently ravaged parts of the Gulf Coast.

A link to the "504RoadTrips" YouTube video "Drive Into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1e2ggMYfxE

A link to the trailer for the documentary "Closed for Storm":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rYzoskylbM

Cover Photo credit: New York Times

Gribblenation's Doug talks about his visit to Ontario's Cottage Country that happened over Memorial Day Weekend in 2023.

The history of the roads, bridges, and waterways of southeastern Louisiana and the Greater New Orleans region is a fascinating topic that doesn't generally get a lot of air time within the roads/travel enthusiast community. In this three-part podcast series, Dan sat down with Jason Hoffman of the YouTube channel "504RoadTrips" for a lengthy conversation about southeastern Louisiana and its many road-related highlights.

In Part 3 of this series, we talked about a variety of subjects, including more unrealized road-related projects around Greater New Orleans, plus a couple noteworthy drives to places such as Grand Isle and "The End of the World".

The history of the roads, bridges, and waterways of southeastern Louisiana and the Greater New Orleans region is a fascinating topic that doesn't generally get a lot of air time within the roads/travel enthusiast community. In this three-part podcast series, Dan sat down with Jason Hoffman of the YouTube channel "504RoadTrips" for a lengthy conversation about southeastern Louisiana and its many road-related highlights.

In Part 2 of this series, we talked about a variety of subjects, including discussion about the freeways of New Orleans proper, the history of the doomed "New Orleans East" development idea, and the long-lost "Interstate 410" proposal for a southern loop around the fringes of Greater New Orleans.

The history of the roads, bridges, and waterways of southeastern Louisiana and the Greater New Orleans region is a fascinating topic that doesn't generally get a lot of air time within the roads/travel enthusiast community. In this three-part podcast series, Dan sat down with Jason Hoffman of the YouTube channel "504RoadTrips" for a lengthy conversation about southeastern Louisiana and its many road-related highlights.

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about a variety of subjects, including the framework of the 1946 Master Plan for New Orleans, the never-realized and infamous Riverfront Expressway proposal, some of the road/bridge highlights of the "Westbank" region of Greater New Orleans, and the never-ending New Orleans International Airport Terminal project.

Gribblenation's Doug talks about his recent trip to Michigan, along with some of the best things he's seen during other trips around the Great Lakes State.

This episode was recorded in memory of late road enthusiasts Charles Kunz and David Backlin. They will be missed.

Gribblenation's Doug talks in brief about how food ties in with road trips we take and how that is part of the road trip experience.

Gribblenation's Doug talks in brief about traveling with his mother as we get close to Mother's Day.

David Corcoran is the webmaster of corcohighways.org and has been in the habit of documenting the state highway systems of the Mountain West states since 2007. In this Part 2 of a two-part conversation, Dan and "Corco" continued their discussion of the roads of Idaho and some of his favorite drives around the northern and eastern parts of the state. We also talked about Corco's beloved Seattle Mariners and took some time to talk about our experiences at Road Meets over the years; some of our favorite Meets were talked about along the way as we looked both to the past and future of the Road Meet as an event, and Dan gets candid about what inspired him to host his first Meet in 2021.

David Corcoran is the webmaster of corcohighways.org and has been in the habit of documenting the state highway systems of the Mountain West states since 2007. In this Part 1 of a two-part conversation, Dan sat down with him to talk about roads of the state of Idaho, some of his favorite drives around the southwestern part of the state, and some of his experiences and memories from his days as a planner in the rapidly-growing Boise metro area.

The year 2023 marks 250 years since the founding of Harford County, Maryland, which is located in the northeastern part of the state between Baltimore and the Susquehanna River. The year-long "Harford 250" celebration is now underway countywide and joining me on this episode to talk more about the county's history and some of the upcoming events you can take part in is Laura Bianca-Pruett, a town planner for the town of Bel Air, MD and current resident of the county (and friend of the podcast!). In this episode, we talked about a variety of subjects, including some of her favorite landmarks in HarCo, as well as previewing both an upcoming Webinar and Road Meet devoted to the county's transportation history!

Please join us for the "Harford 250" Webinar on April 22 at 6 PM ET, featuring a look at US Routes 1 and 40 across the county, being streamed *live* on the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnD7jx0Osc

Please join us for the Harford 250 Road Meet, to be held on May 6 at 12 PM ET, featuring a driving tour of some of the county's most prominent and important transportation-related landmarks. A link to the event page on Facebook is available at the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/596436615529026/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22home%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

A link to additional Harford 250 Road Meet event information is also available on the AARoads forum at the link below:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32713.0

Additional information about the Harford 250 celebration can be found at the website below:

https://www.harford250.org/

Gribblenation's Doug discusses the historic covered bridges in the three southern New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Find out a little bit about the history of these covered bridges from the era of Colonial America right up to UFO encounters.

A new baseball season is right around the corner and so let's mark the occasion on this latest Roadcast episode! Dan's guest on the show is Rob Adams, sports director at WGCH radio in Greenwich, CT, and a part-time public address announcer for the High-A minor league Hudson Valley Renegades baseball team in Fishkill, NY. Rob and Dan sat down to break down the MLB landscape division by division, with some emphasis placed on our local New York teams and the major rules changes that are expected to impact the game league-wide this season. If you like roads AND sports, this might be the episode for you!

In this episode (Part 2 of 2), Dan continues discussing his recent travels around the southern United States in the winter (January/February) of 2023. With 6 weeks to work  with, there was a lot of ground to cover and subsequently a lot of highlights to talk about! Dan was also joined by a special guest & friend of the podcast for this recap & discussion, which makes this episode worth a listen, regardless of the subject matter!

In this episode (Part 1 of 2), Dan talks about his recent travels around the southern United States in the winter (January/February) of 2023. With 6 weeks to work  with, there was a lot of ground to cover and subsequently a lot of highlights to talk about! Dan was also joined by a special guest & friend of the podcast for this recap & discussion, which makes this episode worth a listen, regardless of the subject matter!

When the 1968 Federal-Aid Highway Bill was passed, 1500 new miles were added to the Interstate Highway System.  The Chair of the House Subcommittee on Roads, John Kluczynski, asked each state's highway department to send him their list of desired additions to the system.  The states' responses of course varied, but they do paint a picture into how the Interstate Highway System got to where it is today.

Gribblenation's Doug talks a little bit about Arizona, as well as muses about ideas for future podcast episodes.

Gribblenation's Doug talks about driving across US 2 in Washington State, with some minutiae along the way.

After a bit of a hiatus, Dan "gets back" to podcasting with this latest offering concerning some of his favorite music to listen to while on the road. A very special  album by The Beatles is front and center for this episode, complete with a history of the album's various content releases, as well as a discussion about why this album means what it does to yours truly.

Gribblenation's Doug talks about his recent road trip vacation to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the beautiful mountain drives that can be found in the Old Dominion State.

Gribblenation's Doug summarizes a bit about his trips through the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

A new NFL football season is right around the corner and so let's mark the occasion on this latest Roadcast episode! Dan's guest on the show is Rob Adams, sports director at WGCH radio in Greenwich, CT, and a part-time public address announcer for the High-A minor league Hudson Valley Renegades baseball team in Fishkill, NY. Rob and Dan sat down to break down the NFL landscape division by division, with some emphasis placed on our local New York teams, while throwing in some roads talk here & there along the way. We'll also give you our playoff picks and a few parting words on the baseball landscape as well as the Yankees and Mets both race toward the postseason tournament in October. If you like roads AND sports, this might be the episode for you!

This past week Tom completed his largest East Coast Road trip in several years.  Said East Coast Road trip was centralized around the 2022 Philadelphia, PA National Road Meet and spanned as far west as Shenandoah National Park with an eastern terminus at Long Beach Island of New Jersey.  What roads did Tom see and what can readers of the Gribblenation blog series expect to see in coming months?  Listen in and find out on this episode of the Gribblenation Roadcast.  

A discussion and review of the 2022 National Road Meet held in Philadelphia, PA on August 20-21, 2022 (hosted by Gribblenation's Dan) is in order. If you attended this event, thank you so much for being a part of it! If you missed it, have a listen to find out what you missed:

Gribblenation's Doug talks about combining two of his interests... roads and hiking. With emphasis on Upstate New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Doug talks about some old alignments, recreational paths along bridges and some great hiking trails that bring you to wonderful views of roads.

Another weekend of travels around The Keystone State - a favorite northeastern U.S. interstate drive, a new bridge on the Susquehanna, and some Philly Meet scouting.

The annual Extra Miler Club meeting was this past weekend, which got Dan to thinking...

Gribblenation's Doug talks about US 20 in Oregon.

In Dan's latest roadcast offering, he reviews his late spring 2022 trip to Colorado, Utah, and the Mountain West region. New states and new major cities are the highlights of this ten-day trip, in addition to some incredible mountain drives and a few other things!

Adam dives into two slightly controversial topics in the roadgeeking community - the use of Google Streetview for content materials and the Texas-based, Texas-sized convenience store, Buc-ee's.

Dan's weekend trip to Virginia and the city of Lynchburg is the subject of this episode, which also includes discussion of the Lynchburg Road Meet,  the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park, and a trio of Maryland bridges near the Chesapeake Bay worth your attention and interest!

Gribblenation's Doug talks about his travels to the Canadian Maritimes, mostly in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but also on Prince Edward Island.

One of the more interesting and least talked-about major freeways across Appalachia, Interstate 26 features a scenic drive and some interesting historical happenings worth talking about. Dan is back to talk about his experiences driving this road over the years while also profiling the length of the interstate from the Coast to the Mountains.

Interstate 14 is one of America's newest mainline interstate corridors, but it doesn't look like much when you check it out on a map. Tune in to this episode and Dan will help you learn more about the existing I-14 corridor, its history as a high-priority corridor, and what path it's intended to follow in the future.

On the latest episode of Fresh Drives on the Gribblenation Roadcast, Doug talks about some roads that you can experience Vermonting, but perhaps not the roads that first come to mind in the Green Mountain State.

The Presidents Day holiday weekend gave Dan another opportunity to do a bit of traveling and explore a new part of the country previously unfamiliar to him and his "roadwaywiz" YouTube audience. In this episode, he recaps his adventures, thoughts, and travels in the Texas cities of Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi, including a recap of the road/bridge networks in each location and some non-road landmarks you may find interesting in each city as well.

Gribblenation's Doug talks about the road enthusiast hobby with the idea that there's an element of a scavenger hunt, whether we look for old signs, clinch counties or something completely different.

Gribblenation's Doug talks about the famed Mohawk Trail of Western Massachusetts. Today's MA Route 2, the road had its beginnings as a footpath for Native Americans, colonial settlers and literary masters before becoming the scenic auto touring route we know and love today.

The annual installment of America's biggest sporting event is upon us and in this episode Dan previews the matchup, the cities involved, and their respective road networks. All with the help of a couple "mystery guests"! It's a special Preview Show, geared toward road enthusiasts!

This is Part II of Dan's trip log, featuring the second half of his trip to Georgia and the southeast U.S. in January 2022. In this episode, Dan chronicles and summarizes his daily activities for Days 9-17, January 22-30 from metro Atlanta, to Appalachia, to Music City USA, and many places in between.

While Part I is not exactly "prerequisite" material, it's encouraged that you listen to the Part I episode first before diving into this one. I wouldn't want you to miss any references to places from the previous episode, nor would I want you to not know anything about how the trip has progressed thus far...

Gribblenation's Doug talks about his favorite parkway in New York State, the historic and scenic Taconic State Parkway through the prestigious Hudson Valley region. Learn more about this scenic road and why it was FDR's "baby" as far as the world of roads is concerned.