Today I go behind the scenes to show what I discovered while reviewing the 1st stage of David Guardia's ride to STURGIS.
Maps copied from Google Maps and edited using MS Paint.
Other images are sourced as noted.
TL;DR
- Introduction
- Initial State of #GHAWG
- #GHAWG during Early 2023
- Fun with Maps
12. Bangor, PA
11. Bloomsbury, NJ
10. Belfast, PA
9. Nazareth, PA
8. Bethlehem, PA
7. Easton, PA
6. Williasport, PA
5. Amsterdam, NJ
4. Harmony, NJ
3. Foul Rift, NJ
2. Saylorsburg, PA
1. Alpha, NJ - More Fun with Maps
Introduction
When I began writing the daily zapfic serial #GHAWG in March 2023, I was just looking for locations which had meaning and where I could tell story. From the beginning, certain locations shaped the route of the ride David Guardia would take on his way to STURGIS. The first stop of note after Bayonne, New Jersey was Allentown, Pennsylvania. The second stop of note was East Palestine, Ohio (a stone's throw from Pittsburgh, Pensylvania).
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 tonight upon further review of the start of the ride.
Initial State of #GHAWG
Act 1 of God's Hog: A Watchful Guardian establishes David Guardia's character and his desire to attend the annual motorcycle rally at Sturgis, South Dakota ("STURGIS"). This desire to ride to STURGIS needed to be deferred due to more pressing priorities.
Although he may be described as "middle-aged," he's still old enough (or young enough) to fulfill some dreams, and the time had come for him to make his ride to STURGIS. Act 2 of GHAWG shows how the ride begins.
For close to 87 miles, the most noteworthy places for David Guardia were those he left behind: his hometown of Bayonne, and New York City where he would work both sides of his job as a motorcycle courier. The first place of note which awaited him was Allentown. For this part of his ride, he rides alone; he was going to STURGIS no matter what.
#GHAWG during Early 2023
Currently, the riding takes place along the West Coast near the Pacific Ocean. This stretch covers Seattle Washington through San Diego, California. Between The Mongols and the people he picked up before reaching STURGIS, David Guardia was living to ride and riding to live.
Rewind back to the start of the ride, though, and he's by himself riding on the Interstates and turnpikes just to get from Point A to Point B. Much of this stage of his ride was through the industrial belt of the nation, so the dominant color scheme would have been shades of grey plus whatever colors the sky and rivers had at any point.
Now that I've gone back to review the Bayonne to Allentown part of David Guardia's ride, let's see what I've discovered. It's time for...
Fun with Maps
A few places on the map I had known about over the years. A few places are better known by their more famous alternatives. A few I just hadn't expected at all.
As I scrolled through the New Jersey-New York area of the digital map, there wasn't enough there to catch my interest. A place here, a place there, but not enough for me to write about.
That changed when the digital map is shifted to the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area. With Interstate 78 being an east-west highway, the interesting places (for me) were mostly north of I-78. A few were south of I-78 as well.
This is what I saw in that area:
Much of the state line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania is the Delaware River, and it was hard to see, so I added the black line over it. I also added the labels PENNSYLVANIA and NEW JERSEY on either side of the black line I drew on the map. Then I highlighted 12 locations. Here they are in reverse order of interest:
12. Bangor, PA
Until tonight, I only knew of 2 locations named Bangor: the one in Maine, and the one with the naval base near Washington state near Seattle. These two are equally well-known. This 3rd one? Not so much.
11. Bloomsbury, NJ
The only Bloomsbury I knew about was the widly syndicated politically-themed comic strip from the 1990s. It may still be "in print" or updated in an online format, but I didn't even follow it in its print incarnation.
10. Belfast, PA
The more famous Belfast is in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Many immigrants from Ireland settle here centuries ago.
9. Nazareth, PA
Mention "Nazareth" to anyone, and most will think of the one in The Holy Land and the New Testament. Mention this Nazareth, and most people will say I didn't know about it. I heard about Nazareth, PA long ago, and what I know about it is on screen right now.
8. Bethlehem, PA
Likewise with Bethlehem. Bethlehem, PA is more famous than Nazareth, PA because of Bethlehem Steel.
7. Easton, PA
Easton, PA is the home of Larry Holmes, known to many boxing fans as "The Easton Assassin" and to even more people as the heavyweight champion of the world in the era before Mike Tyson arrived on the scene. Unlike many athletes who "went Hollywood" after reaching the top, Larry Holmes used his status to benefit Easton.
6. Williasport, PA
The Little League World Series is played there. Until tonight, I had always thought it was further inland, not close to the state line with New Jersey. That's news to me!
5. Amsterdam, NJ
The most famous Amsterdam is in The Netherlands. The 2nd most famous Amsterdam is New York City, which was previously known as New Amsterdam when New York was a Dutch colony. The 3rd most famous Amsterdam is in upstate New York. I shouldn't be surprised to see another Amsterdam, although I should have realized that New Jersey would have its own.
4. Harmony, NJ
This is one of those place names I totally hadn't expected. There may be other places in the United States named Harmony, so this is the first one for me.
3. Foul Rift, NJ
This place is so close to the Delaware River I wasn't sure if it was in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. It's in New Jersey, so Pennsylvania dodged a bullet with this place. As surprising as it is for me to see this name, I'm even more surprised to see that it's not close to either Bayonne or New York City.
2. Saylorsburg, PA
The first thing I thought of was Michael Saylor, ex-CEO and a co-founder of MicroStartegy. He's one of the biggest proponents of Bitcoin cryptocurrency. While I know that the town in Pennsylvania is not named after him, that's how close the name is associated with him.
1. Alpha, NJ
InLeo (The Web Site Formerly Known as LeoFinance) is currently running in the Alpha stage. It's operational enough to be useful, yet it continues to undergo refinement and improvement.
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
The zapfic serial began from Bayonne, New Jersey. Although the focus of the story was STURGIS (in South Dakota), the ride taken by David Guardia went all the way to the Pacific Ocean (first to Seattle, Washington before ultimately reaching San Diego, California). That's over 3,000 miles of riding across 4 time zones. Tack on another 1,250 miles between Seattle and San Diego, and that makes it 4,250 miles
The story will take Our Heroes back east to Chapel Hill, North Carolina-- about 2,900 miles-- and also across 4 time zones. Then they swing back to Iowa, yet another 1,000 miles across 1 time zone.
That's more or less 8,150 miles of motorcycle riding. 2,000 of that ride will take place on various roads built over the iconic Old Route 66.
I had fun with maps while composing the early stages of GHAWG, and things got more interesting even after leaving STURGIS. Over time, I'll alternate the Fun with Maps subseries between places covered in the Weekly Summaries and those noted in my zapfic entry queue (currently reaching 2024-January-18).
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.