as anyone who knows me will probably already be aware – i love the World Rally Championship. and the american SCCA Pro Rally series. i enjoy cars going at outlandish speeds on dirt roads. i just never thought that a combination of outdated map data, plus (in my opinion) irresponsible highway signage, would lead to me (and carrie) having a Rally experience in my focus … today.

the problem

first of all, carrie and i were navigating from traveling west on rt 101 to Suncook (Pembroke), NH. our Dash Express GPS usually routes us up Daniel Webster Highway, which has terrible traffic and red lights. so we asked the GPS for an alternate route. it found one. yay!

what’s in a name?

i am a stickler for consistent nomenclature. i pretty much make it my occupation. the GPS routed us down “Chester Turnpike.” now, in the parlance of road naming conventions, a “road,” “street,” or “avenue” is a thoroughfare which has an outlet. a “lane,” “place,” “terrace,” “park,” or “circle” have no outlets. and a “highway” “freeway” or “turnpike” are primary thoroughfares.

chester turnpike

this is a google map of the part of chester turnpike it routed us down. notice google shows the road ending at “N Candia Rd.” the GPS however believe that road continues for several more miles. in fact, there is a gate blocking whatever it is. the more accurate story also says, that right before it heads down into that valley that Clay Pond drains out through, at the top of a hill, the pavement … ends.

story in pictures

view approaching crest of hill

where the pavement ends – just over the hill

where we landed – hit the gravel pretty hard, the anti-lock came on and stayed on for at least 5 seconds

where they put the sign – a small sign designating that they didn’t maintain the road

road not maintained by town

no dumping – i guess dumping trash is more important than informing motorists that pavement ends over a blind hill

i plan to write to the town and ask them to please post a sign at some point farther in advance of reaching the end of pavement, that informs you of the upcoming end of pavement. maybe a nice diamond-shaped yellow sign that says “Pavement Ends.”

tomorrow i’ll inspect the suspension of the car, but i think i came through it okay. i built the car for this, really. i just didn’t expect to do it … today.