Chattanooga 1966

Here is yet another old photo I came across today. I took this with a cheap little box camera using 620 Kodacolor film. The photo has seen better days since it was damaged in a flood, but at least it is still viewable. What you see here is the view from Point Park on Lookout Mountain near Rock City. You are looking basically toward the north at the Tennessee River and the city of Chattanooga.

The freeway making the big, sweeping "S" curve along the river is Interstate 24. The interchange in the center of the picture is where US 27 peels away and heads north.

This picture was taken back in 1966, so that would make me 13 years old at the time. Hard to believe my oldest grandson is about to turn 14 this week!

Houston Freeway Videos

Freeway Jim, mentioned in my last post, also has a great video of driving through a few of the terrific stack interchanges in Houston (another of my favorite places). Below is his video, again courtesy of YouTube:



And below is Jim's downtown Houston freeway tour. The building to the left of the freeway at 2:20 into the video is where I worked at Houston Traffic Central, a radio traffic reporting service that provided reports to most of the radio stations in town back in the late 1970s. The shorter building just to the left of it was where I worked at KULF, AM 790. The radio station was in the penthouse suite. This particular section of road is I-45, and is locally known as the Pierce Elevated, since it runs above and beside Pierce Street.

Great Freeway, Great Video

It has been a little while since I have been able to post anything the least bit roadgeeky. Today while noodling around on the web, I came across a YouTube road geek who calls himself Freeway Jim. One of his videos is a trip westbound on Interstate 68 from its eastern terminus at I-70 in Hancock, Maryland; through to Cumberland. I have photos I took along this stretch of road last year posted here. However, Jim's sped up video gives you an idea of what it is like to travel through the beautiful scenery along this stretch of highway in rural western Maryland.

When I lived in Cumberland, I didn't have much in the way of money or possessions, but it was some of the best years of my life. This part of the country will always be a special place for me.

Below is Jim's video courtesy of YouTube:



Yet another YouTube citizen has a nice, real time video of I-68 Eastbound from about the point where Jim's video ends. It starts in the western part of LaVale and goes through the city of Cumberland. I have included it below. Items of note:

As the video begins, you are eastbound on I-68 on the side of a mountain. Just off screen to the left, on top of the mountain, is Sacred Heart Hospital. That is where my oldest son was born back in 1975.

At 0:17 on the video, the Exit 42 ramp is a long and very steep one that trucks should not take. You cannot really get a sense of how steep it is from the video. This is the exit to US 220. If you turn left at the bottom of the ramp, you are routed onto Greene Street into the city of Cumberland. If you turn right, it is McMullen Highway (both are US 220) and head southwest through Potomac Park, Bowling Green, Cresaptown, and on to Keyser, West Virginia.

At 1:46, the camera pans to the right across the Potomac River. Those houses are in Ridgeley, West Virginia.

At 1:35, you can see the road sign warning about the sharp turn at Moose Curve, which is visible in the distance. It is so named because of the Moose Lodge that was at the side of the road there.

At 1:55 TO 2:04, you are actually in Moose Curve. The old Moose Lodge is the red brick building right in front of the camera.

The radio station playing on the car radio is WKGO (GO 106). That was the first commercial station I ever was on the air at. It is the FM affiliate of WTBO (AM). My first job in radio was to be a DJ at WTBO, and I had to come in early to do local breaks on a college basketball game that was on WKGO.