Wrong Directions

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

Recently, I discovered a "back road" route to get to our club launch field that is a bit shorter than the main highway, but takes just about as long, since the road twists and winds.

Most of Ohio is flat as a board, with a gridwork pattern of roadways between the farms and fields, except for our side of the state, which never saw a glacier pass over to flatten the hills or compress the land.

As a result, if you stray off the major highways, your roads become two-lane twisty-turny local highways that follow creek beds, rivers and natural land forms.  This can be annoying, and my wife refuses to ride along on those roads.  She says it feels like she's on an amusement park ride getting thrown around.  But it can be enjoyable in a small car or a motorcycle during certain times of the year.

So it was that I turned off from the middle level two lane highway to cross about a 6 mile diagonal connector that followed a major creek and approach the launch field from behind.

I was pretty sure I knew the route well enough without a map, and would make good time. The mile posts clicked by, dropping from 10 mile post, to 9 mile post...and then it happened.

I'm not certain how to describe this, but my pleasant drive along the broad creek suddenly made me uneasy.  

Was I lost? No.

Why did I have the feeling something was wrong?  Was the road going to slip into the creek? No.

I couldn't figure out what was bothering me, as I kept pivoting in my seat, following the road, looking about.  Everything was as it should be, but something had put me on edge.

I got to the launch field and forgot about it as we set up for the day.

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Next launch day, I packed the car and started my cross-country trip once more. I got to the turn off, and started counting down the mile posts to marker #4, where I'd turn off at the T-junction and up to the launch field.

Once again, as I passed mile marker #9, I got this funny feeling that something wasn't right. I slowed down and took the left hand turn away from the creek, and kept trying to figure out what was bothering me.   I never found the cause, and got to the launch field just a few moments later than I normally would.

I put it out of my mind and enjoyed the launch.

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The next time I had to make the trip, I was on a motorcycle, carrying just a backpack to retrieve a low power rocket that had been found in the field, and bring it home again.  I wasn't going to launch or do anything else.  It was a pleasant drive through the warmth of summer along a shady, cool creek bed. 

I was paying more attention to the road and the curves, as I was on a small motorcycle, and as I passed marker #10, I started to pay even more attention to the signage, the road, and my surroundings.   Yes, I was on the right road.  

I slowed and banked around the curves, leaning with the cycle and avoiding the gravel patches.

As I got to the stretch along the creek by mile marker #9, my full attention was on the roadway. What was it that had bothered me so?  Why couldn't I find it?   I slowed along the stretch and read the signage as I passed.  

The babbling brook continued in the creek along the right side of the road. On the left was the white square for Mile Marker #9. On the right was the bright yellow diamond warning sign for the sharp right turn ahead.  Nothing else.  Nothing was out of place.  So what was it?  I looked around at the heavy trees, the carpet of leaves along the creek side, and the clear roadway ahead.

As I passed the sharp curve sign, it suddenly hit me, and I braked my cycle to a stop at the top of the slight rise and the sharp curve in the roadway.   Now I knew what had been bothering me.

Something in my subconscious had picked up on this but since nothing had gone wrong, it didn't come to my full attention until this very day. 

I looked back behind me, and saw both the mile marker 9 sign and another sharp curve sign facing me for anyone traveling the opposite direction down that relatively straight section.  Nothing wrong there.

I carefully turned around and back tracked a quarter mile and came at the stretch once more as I always did.  The 9 mile marker was there on the left side of the road, and the sharp turn sign was on the right.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was a sharp RIGHT HAND TURN sign.  But the roadway turned LEFT, away from the creek.

The sign was warning motorists to prepare to turn right, INTO THE CREEK, when the roadway actually turns sharply left, away from the creek. I shook my head in amazement that some road crew had installed this bright yellow sign and never thought about what they were doing.  

It was a perfect set-up for a fatal crash under dark, rainy or foul weather conditions.  The state would be liable for a crash or death of someone drowning in the creek in the event of a crash.

I continued motoring along my way and completed my mission. When I got home, I made a phone call to the county engineer's office and reported the incorrect signage. There could be no error... it was directly across from the 9 mile marker on the state highway. 

I kept an eye on this sign each time I passed over the next several months.  It was two months before the sign was changed to a LEFT TURN sign in the same spot on the same pole. 

I've never experienced anything like this before or since.  Have you?

The Thrifty Rocketeer would like to know.