GHAWG Behind the Scenes: Fun With Maps 3
Today I go behind the scenes to show what I discovered while reviewing the area around Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Maps copied from Google Maps and edited using MS Paint.
Other images are sourced as noted.
TL;DR
- Introduction
- #GHAWG around Allentown
- #GHAWG during Early 2023
- Fun with Maps
A. Bethlehem, PA
8. Bath, PA
7. Little Gap, PA
6. Apps, PA
5. Coplay, PA
4. Ancient Oaks, PA
3. East Texas, PA
2. Rising Sun, PA
1. Allentown, PA - More Fun with Maps
Introduction
Fun with Maps 2 showed Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as the westernmost of the places I noted. If David Guardia was near Bethlehem, then technically he was still on riding the first stage of his ride to STURGIS.
However, it turns out that Bethlehem was roughly 6 miles east of Allentown, Pennsylvania, his first rest stop.
This time, the map area shown includes both Bethlehem and Allentown.
Although the trip would have been shorter, more efficient-- and cheaper-- had David Guardia traveled the path shown by the mapping app, it also would have been a much more boring ride.
Maps are a vital part of The GHAWG Universe, both for me as storyteller and for the characters. As much as I want to have scenes take place at certain locations, the ultimate decider if the map: If the location doesn't make sense for the story, then I can't use it for that story. On the other hand, the map may show me a location I hadn't considered before but makes perfect sense both for utility and symbolism.
While reviewing digital maps, there are times I find locations which get me scratching my head and scruff, get me laughing, or even get me wondering "WTF is this??" This post features what I discovered in the vicinity of Allentown.
GHAWG around Allentown
Act 2 of GHAWG shows how the ride to STURGIS begins for David Guardia. The road distance between Bayonne and Allentown is about 87 miles.
Fun with Maps 2 was about 5 miles shy of Allentown.
Fun with Maps 3 includes Allentown as well as Bethlehem.
#GHAWG during Early 2023
Rewind back to the start of David Guardia's ride from Bayonne to STURGIS, and he's by himself riding on the Interstates and turnpikes just to get from Point A to Point B. At least through New Jersey and then Pennsylvania, there wasn't anything to write about. David Guardia wanted to at least pass by Allentown only because he was already familiar with the Jersey Shore.
Now that the map area actually shows Allentown, let's see what I've discovered. It's time for another edition of ...
Fun with Maps
As with earlier editions of Fun With Maps, a few places on the map
… I had known about over the years;
… are better known by their more famous alternatives; and
… I just hadn't expected at all.
As I scrolled through the Pennsylvania-New Jersey area of the digital map featuring Interstate 78, there wasn't enough there to catch my interest. A place here, a place there, but not enough for me to write about. For me, things got interesting when I was a few miles shy Allentown
After reaching the area which included Allentown, this is what I saw in that area:
Just to remind myself that this map was part of Pennsylvania, I added the label PENNSYLVANIA. Then I highlighted 9 locations. Here they are in reverse order of interest:
A. Bethlehem, PA
It's on this map only for reference, to tie it back to the previous map. That's why it's circled ina dark green. Think of this location as the map equivalent of the hash for a the previous {blockchain}() {transaction}().
8. Bath, PA
As a place name, the only Bath I knew about previously was located in England, as a place built by the Romans over two thousand years ago. Even in those days, the town was famous for its baths.
7. Little Gap, PA
This name reminded me of the fictional town in Maine made famous by Stephen King, in his novel Storm of the Century. Little Tall (itself based on the real-life Mount Desert Island in Maine)
6. Apps, PA
As popular as iPhone is worldwide, it would be useless without the App Store service. Apple knew this, and in most of the early advertising for iPhone there would be someone asking if the phone could do this or that or the other; someone else would answer by saying "There's an app for that.")
It's the same way with {Hive blockchain}(). As powerful as the Hive development platform is when it's used by people who know what they are doing on the development side of things, it's just a curiosity until its potential is realized and actualized by {dApps}() (decentalized apps).
5. Coplay, PA
This place name could be mistaken as a typo for at least two other names familiar to more people:
- Coldplay, the British pop and alternative rock band formed in 1998;
Cosplay, the portmanteau for the term "costume play" which is popular at conventions and at costume gatherings.
That's what came to my mind when I saw this name on the section of digital map.
4. Ancient Oaks, PA
A place name like this makes sense in a place known for its woods and forests. After all, the name "Pennsylvania" means "Penn's Woods"; and Penn refers to William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania during the reign of King Charles II.
3. East Texas, PA
Besides being states within the United States, there's no official link between Texas and Pennsylvania. So how did East Texas end up in Pennsylvania?
Various immigrant groups settled in Pennsylvania during the early 1800s, but the largest of these groups hailed from Germany and Ireland. Workers from these groups-- miners among the Germans, and railroad laborers among the Irish-- got into so many fights due to their heavy drinking that people compared their behavior to what they would imagine it was like in Frontier America. So these people began to refer to the area as New Texas, then East Texas. It turned out that Pennsylvania had within its borders places named Texas and New Texas, so the state incorporated East Texas.
2. Rising Sun, PA
Besides the literal rising sun, the term "Rising Sun" is best associated as the nickname for Japan. This is a related association I have with "Rising Sun":
Source: IMDB.com
As an actual place name, Rising Sun, Pennsylvania is the first one I've seen. It turns out there are many other Rising Suns in the United States with that name.
As for the one in Pennsylvania, it replaces the original one which is located within the current boundaries of the state of Maryland. This was one of the side effects of defining the famous Mason-Dixon Line. More details can be found at the preceding link.
1. Allentown, PA
| GHAWG's 1st planned stop on the ride to STURGIS |
|---|
|
As noted in the zapfic entry noting the stop, usually it's people going from Allentown to visit the Jersey Shore for sun and surf. Just as most people visiting The Empire State Buuilding are tourists rather than Native New Yorkers, it was similar for Allentown. In this case, David Guardia played the role of tourist. Allentown itself was the subject of one of Billy Joel's more famous songs. The song of the same name can be found on his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain.  Source: Wikipedia It was sad commentary on economic conditions and shattered expectations during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The content of this song made it a natural selection for Billy Joel's milestone tour of the USSR in 1987.  Source: Wikipedia Essentially the atmosphere of the early stages of David Guardia's ride to STURGIS is one of tiredness over so many years. It's what he was feeling, and it's what he was leaving behind. |
If I go down the rabbit hole while studying maps to find story content for GHAWG, it's usually for reasons like what I wrote about here.
More Fun with Maps
At the time I wrote this portion of GHAWG for the daily zapfic serial, he jumped from Allentown to his next destination just west of Pittsburgh, PA and inside Ohio; there was no story about the places in between Allentown and Pittsburgh.
What sorts of place names can I find within this stretch of Pennsylvania? Let's find out together as I continue my research and we have more fun with maps.
As more posts in this series are published, they will be added to the pinned post "GHAWGnav: Navigating The GHAWG Universe". Thanks for taking time to see how this part of The GHAWG Universe is being built.
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