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Roadside Obscurities - Printable Version

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Roadside Obscurities - timio - 04-26-2018

A thread to share interesting/obscure sights on the side of the road.

1.  Quicksand near Mississagua

A friend recently told me about a sign that was just west of Mavis along the 401 until recently warning of quicksand.  No longer there, but here is the Streetview of it from the past.

2.  No Trespassing in Kitchener

On my walks through Forest Heights, there is one house that screams of an interesting backstory.  There is a No Trespassing sign on the front lawn near the property line, along with a camera pointing towards said property line and a light pointed at the sign.  What makes this somewhat ridiculous, in my view, is that the sign is pointed not at the sidewalk, but at the neighbour's front door. I'm not going to share exact location (also the sign isn't visible from the latest Streetview pass in 2014), but it's off Westheights.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - plam - 04-27-2018

(04-26-2018, 10:39 PM)timio Wrote: A thread to share interesting/obscure sights on the side of the road.

1.  Quicksand near Mississagua

A friend recently told me about a sign that was just west of Mavis along the 401 until recently warning of quicksand.  No longer there, but here is the Streetview of it from the past.

2.  No Trespassing in Kitchener

On my walks through Forest Heights, there is one house that screams of an interesting backstory.  There is a No Trespassing sign on the front lawn near the property line, along with a camera pointing towards said property line and a light pointed at the sign.  What makes this somewhat ridiculous, in my view, is that the sign is pointed not at the sidewalk, but at the neighbour's front door. I'm not going to share exact location (also the sign isn't visible from the latest Streetview pass in 2014), but it's off Westheights.

I was recently stuck in a bit of traffic on the 401 (pretty lucky on the whole, the 401 has been broken a lot this week also) and noticed a disused rest stop in Mississauga:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Argentia+Rd,+Mississauga,+ON/@43.6008614,-79.7702975,558m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x882b6a8a44e67959:0x263b8691fc382e2!8m2!3d43.6001617!4d-79.7679345

Specifically I noticed the "washrooms" sign in the woods. As this urbantoronto thread discusses, it's pretty close to Toronto to be a rest stop these days.


https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/401-mississauga-road-service-centre.9965/


RE: Roadside Obscurities - tomh009 - 04-27-2018

That must have closed maybe about 10 years ago? Or maybe more?


RE: Roadside Obscurities - jamincan - 04-27-2018

We used to always stop at that one in the 90s. I never really notice it when passing on the 401, but I always get a wave of nostalgia when passing it on Argentia.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - ijmorlan - 04-27-2018

(04-27-2018, 06:03 AM)jamincan Wrote: We used to always stop at that one in the 90s. I never really notice it when passing on the 401, but I always get a wave of nostalgia when passing it on Argentia.

It was unusual in that it was only on one side of the highway — there was no corresponding one for the westbound lanes. Presumably because of this, there was a fence on top of the Jersey barrier down the middle of the road for some distance on either side of the location to discourage people from crossing over from the other side. The last time I went through, that fence was still there. Of course it serves no purpose at all now, but it would seem there is no need to remove it so it stays.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - clasher - 04-27-2018

I used to go to Grand Bend/Port Franks a lot and between Exeter and Dashwood there's a Deep Water sign along a fence that just looks like a random woodlot... turns out that there's a dump back in there but I wonder if there's actually deep water and if so why is there a dump right beside it? I only realized it was a dump by looking on streetview just now...


RE: Roadside Obscurities - KevinL - 04-27-2018

I never understood why that rest stop was built. Rest stops are supposed to be between cities, where local facilities aren't convenient to the highway. I'm not surprised it closed as quickly as it did.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - jamincan - 04-27-2018

I seem to recall it was more of a tourism welcome centre thing. They had all sort of info inside about activites and places and events and what not besides the gas and restaurants.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - Canard - 04-28-2018

I loved that rest stop. As a kid it was so futuristic to me, with the big Ontario government sponsored tourism touch-screens.

Later, when it was basically just a Wendy's, it coincided with when I got my G2 and was going to Canada's Wonderland very often... so made a great dinner stop before heading to the park for the evening. Smile

Always got a kick out of the "CUTOMER PARKING" sign, which stood there at the off-ramp into the parking lot until only recently.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - Canard - 04-28-2018

This thing always made me wonder what it was, especially lit up at night:

https://goo.gl/3m5BfA

It almost looks like there's a footbridge or something in the foreground. I've wondered about this ever since I was a kid...


RE: Roadside Obscurities - notmyfriends - 04-29-2018

(04-28-2018, 10:54 PM)Canard Wrote: This thing always made me wonder what it was, especially lit up at night:

https://goo.gl/3m5BfA

It almost looks like there's a footbridge or something in the foreground.  I've wondered about this ever since I was a kid...

https://hikingthegta.com/2015/11/16/the-gap/


RE: Roadside Obscurities - timio - 04-29-2018

I love hiking that stretch of the Bruce Trail despite having to cross that bridge and deal with my fear of heights.

Easiest way to access is from Hilton Falls conservation area.  If you want to go a bit farther, there's a parking lot in Speyside just west of 25 with direct access to the trail heading south.

Edit:  Picture time!


RE: Roadside Obscurities - TMKM94 - 04-29-2018

There is a Mack Truck on a tall pole on someone's farm near Owen Sound that amazed me when I saw it.
https://goo.gl/maps/PbZJqqGCS7t

https://goo.gl/maps/KtiqZgjTDZk
Concession Rd 5
Sorry it's zoomed into the road I can't figure out how to get it to be pointed directly to the truck.


RE: Roadside Obscurities - jeffster - 04-29-2018

(04-29-2018, 12:36 PM)TMKM94 Wrote: There is a Mack Truck on a tall pole on someone's farm near Owen Sound that amazed me when I saw it.
https://goo.gl/maps/PbZJqqGCS7t

https://goo.gl/maps/KtiqZgjTDZk
Concession Rd 5
Sorry it's zoomed into the road I can't figure out how to get it to be pointed directly to the truck.

It seems that if you hit the back button on your browser it shows the Mac....very interesting find!


RE: Roadside Obscurities - KevinL - 04-29-2018

There's an old TTC streetcar by a farm's driveway just south of Morriston.

https://goo.gl/maps/A9hboVg7SMT2