Google Earth Adventures

Lately I’ve been put on a diet of long aerobic rides. Relaxing, yes. Boring? Also yes. In an attempt to add interest, I’ve taken to scanning Google Earth for “roads” that aren’t shown on the normal map. The result- discovery of the “remains” of the housing market that imploded upon itself circa 2006.

First, I found a couple of neighborhoods out in the Galloway/Hickory Withe area. These were projects by “Renaissance” Realty that were apparently cleared and subdivided for large estate homes. In two very large neighborhoods, I only saw a couple of houses, though. The streets were nice, but not really what I was after.
Next, I found Milton Wilson Road in Arlington. And yes, for you local people, I know that if you look on a map, Milton Wilson Rd. is on the other side of the city, but I’m just reporting the name that I saw on the street signs…

arlington

It’s essentially a 4×4 trail that goes from one spur of road to the other. The associated neighborhood has been under painfully slow construction since before I “learned” to ride a bike. I highly enjoyed the very non-road-bike-friendly trail (despite almost biting it when a stick momentarily lodged itself in my front fork), though it did employ some basic off-road handling skill. Proceed with caution.

The highlight of the ride, however, was the ruins of a Cordova neighborhood that I didn’t know existed until my sattelite view search. It’s a blocked-off road that I (as well as many other cyclists in the area) have ridden by hundreds of times on Latting Road without giving it much thought.

latting

What we found was pretty surreal. It looked as if the land was cleared and subdivided for small, close-together houses. However, that’s about as far as it went. In its current state, the road is now collapsing in on itself (including one road-width sinkhole that required some off-road excursion). Random piles of construction trash are everywhere, and trees are beginning to re-claim the asphalt…

trash

sinkhole

inthehole

tree

road1

road2

Sunday, my exploits took me north and east to the Lambert/Old Solomon Mill area. I ended up riding for just over 4 hours, and arrived home just before the sun started to set. I love the scenery in that area and need to get out there more often. The locals are pretty nice, too…

12_4n5_10 Gravel

One thought on “Google Earth Adventures

  1. one of my favorite types of riding… I call it noodling, like the catfishermen do… just kinda poke around the edges of the known roads to see what you can find.

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