Originally Posted by jonwvara

Town roads in Vermont actually did not have official names until the state adopted an emergency 911 system in the early 1990s, came up with names, and put up signs. Up until then, road names were purely discretionary, and to some degree depended on which way you were going. For example, the road down the hill from me--now designated Route 215 because it connects Routes 2 and 15--used to be called the Marshfield Road by people in Cabot. People in Marshfield called it the Cabot Road. Part of the confusion for non-locals, even now, is that a lot or locals have never really taken to the new official names, and in a lot of cases don't even seem to know what they are.

There's the story about the visitor who gets hopeless and contradictory directions from a local, and finally says, in exasperation, "Say, you're not very bright, are you?" The local answers (you already know this; the joke is an old chestnut), "Nope--but I ain't lost."

Originally Posted by ascherer

Makes perfect sense, why should they change? The old names worked perfectly fine for a couple of centuries. Most New Yorkers call Avenue of the Americas 6th Avenue, and LaGuardia renamed it back in '45! I have a good friend down in Landgrove where there are two Cody Roads, depending on how you look at it. They kind of overlap for a while on Old County Road, if you know what I mean. You'll get there eventually.

Originally Posted by jonwvara

I used to lead bike tours for a company then called Bike Vermont, and we used to ride through Landgrove quite often. I forget its name (proving our point, I guess), but there was a back dirt road from the Landgrove Inn over toward Weston where most of the guests would get off and walk. I had super-low gearing--and still do--so I could always claw my way to the top, albeit at little more than walking speed.

All I know about Avenue of the Americas is that early in my freelance writing career I used to get a lot of rejection letters from publishers there. Lo these many years!

Originally Posted by jimmuller

There are some interesting old rail lines in New England. Periodically someone wants to start one up.

There were plans to connect the Kankamagus Highway to Lake Champlain. They were going to call it Kankamplain, just in case anyone questioned them staying on schedule.

Originally Posted by noglider

Did you want to hear what they'll be calling the merger between El Al and Alitalia airlines?

Originally Posted by noglider

Did you want to hear what they'll be calling the merger between El Al and Alitalia airlines?

Originally Posted by jimmuller

In other business news, the local supermarket chain Stop & Shop was supposed to merge with A & P, the new chain to be called Stop & P.

Originally Posted by noglider

Awright, if you want to know, vell I'll tellya.

(It works better if you say it outloud.)

Originally Posted by spiker

Just a note. The Rail Trail is undergoing repair. As of today from the 0.8 mile marker in Dennis past the roundabout to the 5 mile marker (Rt 124, Pleasant Lake General Store) is going to be de-bumped and closed until 5/13.