RoadNerd.com

Confessions of a RoadNerd by Sandra Krebs

I was on the road a lot in 2013.

When ever I am on a road trip and I see a mountain or some geological feature I think,

"How did that get there? Was it a volcano?  Did this used to be at the bottom of the ocean?

What forces of nature were at play to make this look like it looks?"

Then I'll pass a road sign for something with a funny name, like Hungry Mother State Park,

for instance, and I'll think, "How did that place get it's name?"

Then I'll see a river and wonder who was the first to navigate it.

Then a stand of trees and I'll wonder if they are indigenous.

Hey, speaking of indigenous...I wonder who the first people were who lived on this land.

And the inner dialog goes on and on.  By the time I get to where I am going, the moment has passed.

The burning questions I had to look up when I got to where I was going have somehow faded from memory.  

It was on a major road trip, about 1800 miles into the trip, I was going through Arizona, and there was a beautiful sunset.

In stunning relief, there was a mountain range that looked like a pregnant woman laying on her back;

I dubbed it  Pregnant Girl Mountain.  Then  my mind started doing what it does..."I wonder what the real name is,

and how did it get that shape, was it erosion, was it....".  In a flash, I thought,

"Wouldn't it be cool if there was a mobile app that answered all these questions."

I wasn't thinking about an app that tells you where the next gas station is, or where the closest Venti Caramel Macchiato is,

or even if the five-0 is waiting behind a fence around the next corner.  As important as all those things are,

there are already apps that do that.  I was thinking about an app that uses GPS to know where I am,

and knows what I am seeing, and tells me about it.

As I began to develop this idea (by then I was on mile 1850) I thought,

"Wouldn't it be cool if people could tell their own stories.  People love telling their story."

It would be like Wikipedia, but linked to a GPS location.

Something like..."My great, great uncle Mike built a mill here in 1899. That's how this place got the name Mike's Mill Road."

I could also get corporate sponsorship (but not from McDonald's; they already have plenty of billboards, and they kinda suck).

I could get Native American groups to talk about the history of their people and places.

I could get towns to talk about their museums and parks and history and events.  And so on.

That night, when I got to where I was going, I got on-line and on my mobile device to see if anything like this exists.

As it turns out, I am the original RoadNerd.        

Embrace Your Inner Nerd!

Our Mission:

Building a community that shares information about geography, history, people, places, and things.