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For links for truck driving and heavy equipment training, click here. |
Favorite Songs from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's | Go to the Contents page to see a sample photo from each state. |
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Trucking and Traveling: United States Road Trips
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How I took the photos on this site:
I started out with a Kodak Instamatic point-and-shoot camera using 110 film, or disposable 35mm. cameras. None of these cameras were good for showing distant objects or features. After driving for a few years, I bought a better zoom-lens 35mm. camera. The pictures it took were better, but I left the camera behind when I quit that particular company and moved my belongings from the truck. I then paid almost $300 for a digital camera, but it was a disaster. It used batteries like crazy, and focused too slow and was awkward to use with one hand as I drove down the highway. Finally, I bought another 35mm. film camera with a good zoom lens that did a fine job. The only problem was that I couldn't hold the camera still enough with one hand while I drove, especially with the zoom lens out, to avoid taking blurry pictures.
Imagine this if you can. I'm driving my tractor-trailer truck with a 10-speed transmission, pulling a 53' trailer, for a total length of about 70', along an interstate highway at about 60 mph. I look far ahead and see something interesting - a picturesque cliff or rock formation, a water tower, or whatever. Keeping my eyes on the road and one hand on the steering wheel, I reach my right hand down to the camera bag hanging from the arm rest. I carefully unzip the camera compartment, take out the camera, click the ON switch, and watch for a clear opening to the object of interest, an opening between telephone and electric lines, telephone poles, trees, billboards, buildings, etc. Most of the time, a clear shot never presents itself. Once in a while, I am able to see the object clearly, so I then raise the camera to an aiming position, watch the road ahead and keep the truck in its lane, press the button partway down to allow the auto-focus to work, then click the shutter. That's it. Then I wait until I get home, mail the film to the processor and wait for the prints to come back. By the time the finished pictures arrive, I often forget where the photos had been taken unless I am able to figure it out by using my old log books and trip-planning notes. The final steps involve scanning the best of the photos into my computer, enhancing the pictures with a good photo editing program, inserting them into a website page, and uploading the revised page to my web host's computer, ready to be sent around the wide, wide world.
Shenandoah Valley, western Virginia from I.81.
Understanding highway signs is essential if you plan to take any road trips in the United States. Signs tell you what road you are on, where it is going, where it has been, how far it is to the next exit, what towns are coming up, and what hazards or conditions you need to watch out for. Highway signs also tell you about points of interest, tourist attractions, historical information and geographical data. The shape of a sign will give you a clue as to what kind of information it holds, even before you can read the words on the sign. Rectangular signs carry general information: speed limits, parking regulations, distances. Triangular signs usually have something to do with merging lanes, and which lanes have to yield the right of way to the other lanes. Diamond-shaped signs are used to convey warnings or precautions, such as for sharp curves ahead, falling rocks, or slippery conditions. Octagon-shaped signs are usually STOP signs. Highway signs can be on posts on either side of the highway, mounted on frameworks, bridges or overpasses above the highway, or even painted on the road's surface. A careful driver needs to keep his eyes moving constantly to see important information while there is still time to react to it.
Driving on I.285, the Loop Road around Atlanta, GA.
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| Information Sign | Danger-Watch Out for This | Stop | Divided Road | No Bicycles Allowed | Speed Limit |
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This website contains links to each state's Tourist Information site, and to lists of special events and locations such as ethnic festivals and private museums. I was surprised when driving my truck from state to state to see signs advertising Czech Festivals in Oklahoma and Wisconsin, German Festivals in Texas and Pennsylvania, the Ava Gardner Museum in North Carolina, the Auburn-Cord-Deusenberg Museum in eastern Indiana, and many other specialized events and attractions. I figured it might be helpful for travelers to have access to such information when planning their own trips. Here is an example - a link to a site where you can get information on the 17,000 plus museums in the United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_the_United_States . There are also hundreds of cultural or ethnic festivals and celebrations in the country. This link will tell you of some of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Cultural_festivals_in_the_United_States . You will find links to these attractions as well as amusement parks, state and national parks and professional sports stadiums and arenas in this section of the web site.
State by State Photo Tour of the United States
| Alabama, | Florida | Kentucky | Mississippi | New Mexico | Pennsylvania. | Vermont |
| Arizona | Georgia | Missouri | New York State. | Rhode Island | Virginia | |
| Arkansas | Idaho | Maine. | Montana | North Carolina | South Carolina | Washington |
| California | Illinois | Maryland. | Nebraska | North Dakota | South Dakota | West Virginia |
| Colorado | Indiana | Massachusetts. |
Nevada |
Ohio. | Tennessee | Wisconsin |
| Connecticut. | Iowa | New Hampshire. | Oklahoma | Texas | Wyoming | |
| Kansas | Minnesota | New Jersey. | Oregon | Utah |
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About the questions: You will find questions on most pages of this site related to the subject of that page. You will find some of the answers on the page you are looking at, but for other answers, you will have to search in books, via Google or Bing or certain web sites. The questions are there to help make sure you understand what the pages are about. |
Note: You can also use any of the photos from this site simply by right-clicking on them and saving them to your own computer. I can send you larger, printable photographs at your request and for a modest fee. Simply write to me at the address below. |
| New Note: In order to discourage spammers and to eliminate the thousands of junk e-mails I get every week via my web sites' e-mail links, I have removed the links. If you want to contact me, you will actually have to copy my address (see below) and paste it into an e-mail form. (Replace "at" with "@" .) Sorry for the inconvenience. |
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truckermike at mikiemetric.net |
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