Replies to post #6482 on Outdoor Adventures (OUTDR)

[ksquared]

Ah something good from the Johnsons...

<ggg>

I had no idea how big Houston is... The thing about Manhattan is that it is clustered on that tiny island. It is tall not wide. When you come out the Lincoln Tunnel and head toward the Meadowlands... there is "open space" I am blanking out on the billboard concentration. After a while you do not see them.

The "open space" is one of the reasons I've always preferred this area to the Chicago suburbs... you leave that city and go past house after house after house... very flat, no breaks or obstructions. We are blessed with our trees and hills. The housing is concentrated the closer you get to the city but you don't have that soulless grid feeling.

I was thinking about Monday's drive... the biggest farm I went by on the dirt road seemed to have construction activity. As I entered the road, I caught a sign saying that Lamington Farm construction vehicles were not allowed on it. They appeared to have cut there own road farther down. Asked my sister about it. She speculated more McMansions (area is not conducive to more townhouses and condos... too much money). This morning it hit me... bet that is Trump's Jersey place. I remember reading that he had bought in Lamington a year or two or three ago. My gut reaction was there goes the neighborhood... this activity may prove me right...

Dang. They'll probably wind up paving the road.

I really appreciated my little section of 80 and my drive yesterday... no superfluous advertising. <ggg>

P.S. You're right about TV program vs. advertising time... No wonder I always have something to read when I'm watching the dang thing.

anti.ads.ksquared

[Justin C]

Colt, I would agree that there are many rural areas of Texas that are relatively sign-free. Sometimes, though, there's an exception with those blue Adopt-A-Highway Litter Control signs that seem to be State-sponsored mini-billboards for businesses and organizations in the nearby town. I've never heard how they work, but I presume that the business or organization pays a fee to the State in return for getting its name on the sign. Whenever I see a proliferation of them in an area, I wonder if they aren't creating more visual litter than the sign fees can be used for cleaning up "real" litter.

I particularly enjoy driving in the rural parts of Texas that are within the first 100 miles or so west of I-35, as well as the area between I-10 and 290 out west of Houston. A real driving endurance test is the 600-mile drive out to Big Bend National Park, a place like none other in Texas or maybe anywhere else. I've done it twice and enjoyed the time in the park both times.

Houston has a billboard ordinance that includes some grandfathering, so it will take awhile to get rid of the worst monstrosities. The newer signs for services stations and other businesses are much smaller and lower in height, so there is some progress being made.

I haven't driven in Ksquared's NJ but have driven in most of the New England states, where billboards were rare or nonexistent, if I remember correctly. Interesting driving in that part of the country. The West has more spectacular and panoramic scenery but the long distances between "civilization" makes traveling there a little monotonous at times.

A part of the country I haven't seen is up thru the middle north of Oklahoma. Would like to take a driving trip up that way sometime to see if there is something more than cornfields in Kansas and Iowa, which I suspect there is.

Justin