Geography Challenge (or: how Janitor spent his summer vacation)

Janitor

I took a trip in August. I am curious to see if anyone can figure out the places where I took these digital pictures. Now if you figure Janitor as an international playboy jetsetter, these pictures could have been taken anywhere in the world. Otherwise, you can safely assume they were accessible by road in the western part of the lower 48 United States.

I'll start with the ones I think are easiest to guess.

Janitor

Item 1 - if I have figured out how to upload an image file.

Janitor

Um, image uploading may not be working for me, so come back in a couple of days.



(I'm not sure if I got all five images uploaded, or certain ones more than once, or none at all.)

Gokul43201

Looking forward to this....

The Bob

So am I.

The Bob (2004 ©)

BobG

It's obviously the "Lost Turnpike of Pennsylvania", the section that passes through Ray's Hill and (that other really long tunnel).

Unless you are a jetsetter, in which case it's Antarctica.

Gokul43201

Do you see something that I don't...or are you just spooking us ?

The Bob

He is trying to scare us.

The Bob (2004 ©)

Janitor

If they give out 'Science Expert' medals here, maybe they should also hand out 'Computer Doofus' awards. I think my problem was that my images were bigger than the 400x400 pixel limit. Give me ten hours to get back to the computer with my photos on it and re-size them.

{Fifty lashes with a wet noodle.}

Janitor

{Cracks knuckles and says, "Okay, this time I think it will work."}

I was standing just behind a safety rail when taking this photograph.

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Janitor

Free-of-charge to walk through this display of neat stuff.

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Janitor

A fancier camera would have allowed me to put on a wide-angle lens and get a more satisfying picture at this location.

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Janitor

Dust was blowing from the same spot the whole time I was there, though there was no vehicle there to stir up the dust. It must have been looser soil in that one spot.

I will be very surprised if anyone comes within 40 miles of this place.

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Janitor

Final photo. Not much here to distinguish this place from thousands of others as far as geology and flora go. But if you have had a class on American history, you may well have read about something that happened within a couple hundred yards of where I was when I took this.

Hint: historically, this site has something of a connection with the site at which the previous (dusty) picture was taken.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Moonbear

Ooh, I can't wait. At least this time I see attachments pending approval, so you must have gotten it right finally! Hopefully you weren't geography challenged on your vacation (unless getting lost is your idea of fun).

Janitor

I must have passed ten different places where the pavement was melted, presumably from vehicles burning down to cinders.

I saw a string of Union Pacific flat cars parked in a railroad yard at one point on my trip. Each flat had three cylindrical tanks mounted horizontally. The stenciled lettering on the tanks said: PHOSPHORUS, YELLOW, UNDER WATER, CLASS 4.2 ... RQ, TOXIC MARINE POLLUTANT. Sounds like pretty nasty stuff to me. Anybody know who would buy that product and what they would use it for? I don't know the answer to that.

Janitor

I only missed one exit on the whole trip!