Canarsie

I have learned a great deal from fellow FlyerTalkers, who happen to be a very knowledgeable, generous, honest and friendly group of people with a terrific sense of humor. FlyerTalkers are also known to tell it like it is and not hold back on how they feel.

I thought I would start a thread which would be both informative and fun at the same time.

This thread is the place where FlyerTalkers can ask trivia questions related to travel, for the purpose of imparting knowledge, stumping other FlyerTalkers, having a laugh - or perhaps for all of these reasons and more!

I will start this thread with an easy question that I was originally going to post in the What Are Your Travel Goals? thread, but decided to post here instead:

One of my travel goals is to visit the following locations:

• Cape Wrangell, Alaska
• Point Barrow, Alaska
• Ka Lae (South Cape), Hawaii
• West Quoddy Head, Maine

Can anyone guess the significance of these locations?

Canarsie

By the way, I have already been to:

• Butte County (west of Castle Rock), South Dakota
• Smith County (near Lebanon), Kansas

Can anyone tell me the significance of these locations?

B747-437B

West, North, South and Eastern extremes of the 50 states.

obscure2k

Sean, you may be right, on all accounts, but I know that the significance of Barrow, ak, is that Canarsie dipped his toe into the artic.

Rudi

why are so many men 'pissing' right on top of the Eisenhower Tunnel (the pass above the tunnel) in Colorado?

flamboyant 1

Rudi: because it is a continental divide, the water flows into the atlantic to the right and the pacific to the left when facing north while p******.

Do you know where the two triple continental divides on earth are ? I was standing at one of them (hint: it is cold at both places). But I did not p*** there due to the temparature!

Rudi

Do you know where the two triple continental divides on earth are ?

I don't know, without looking it up somewhere. Let others try here, before finally telling me.

magic111

I know that you can take charters to the poles but what are the furthest north and furthest south for scheduled air travel?

Cholula

Canarsie....fun topic! Here's the answer to your question:

Rudi

In what country, except Switzerland itself, is the Swiss Franc still the (only) official currency?

Rudi

what do have Campione (Italy) and Büsingen (Germany) have in common?

mikey1003

Lichtenstein... Where I paid 2 Swiss Francs for the honor of having my passport stamped.

Rudi

in which European state, outside Switzerland, does the only army present consist only of swiss citicens (men only)?

obscure2k

Vatican City?

Canarsie

I do remember crossing the Continental Divide for the first time years ago while driving eastbound on Interstate 10 in New Mexico. There was nothing there but a sign demarcating the significance of that spot. As it was the first time I crossed the Continental Divide on the ground, I took a boring picture and drove onward.

I did not realize I crossed the Continental Divide while passing through the Eisenhower Tunnel. I do know that when heading back to Denver, there are official road signs which read:

Truckers!
Don't Be Fooled!
Still One Mile of Downgrade Left
...or something similar to that phrasing.

When he first spotted those road signs with the flashing lights, my brother was amazed that the road sign actually had complete sentences in it. He also imagined the wording of that sign being uttered with the famous inflections of the voice of Captain James Kirk on Star Trek.

By the way, does anybody know:

• the official typeface or font for the road signs throughout the United States, Australia, Canada and many other parts of the world?
• from what country that typeface or font originated?
• the new experimental typeface or font that is being used for the official road signs (I personally do not like it), and in what state(s) they are experimenting with it?

I know some of the answers to the three questions I just asked, but not all of the answers.*

That is the correct answer, B747-437B.

That is correct. I have been to one of those four places so far, which is Point Barrow, Alaska. I even have an Arctic Ocean toe-dipper award with my picture of my foot in the Arctic Ocean hanging on the wall!

The air temperature was in the 30s (with the wind chill below 0°), so the water felt warmer. By the way, this was in August. The next day was much milder and the wind had subsided. The temperature was in the low 50s - downright balmy!

The answer is Liechtenstein.

I found this out while researching one of my trips to Europe, as another travel goal is to visit as many countries and autonomous republics as possible, including (but not limited to) San Marino, Vatican City, Monaco, Luxembourg, Malta and Andorra.

Arrgh! mikey1003 beat me to the answer and has been there as well!

Finally, Cholula is correct with the following answer to my question:

• The geographical center of the lower 48 states lies outside of Lebanon, Kansas, in the middle of a hog farm.
• The geographical center of all 50 states is located 17 miles west of Castle Rock, South Dakota.
• The geodetic center of the U.S. is found approximately 42 miles south of Lebanon, Kansas. (Note: A geodetic survey makes corrections to account for the curvature of the Earth.)

And I have been to the third location also.

At the South Dakota location, they removed the official marker demarcating the significance of that spot because, according to the locals, too many people were getting bitten by rattlesnakes there.

At the Kansas location, on a dirt road across from a corn field about one mile outside of Lebanon, next to the official marker is also a small church which can probably fit 8 adults. It is always open but it is unoccupied. There is even a guest book in which one can sign!

Thank you for the terrific comment, Cholula!

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Two other notes

• The trivia does not have to be in the form of a question. Contributors to this thread are certainly more than welcome just to state trivia that they would like to impart to other FlyerTalkers.
• *Feel free to ask a question to which you do not know the answer, but make sure you state that you do not know the answer to the question which you are asking. Someone should eventually answer it for you.

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Let's keep the trivia coming!

[This message has been edited by Canarsie (edited 05-03-2003).]