Today I go behind the scenes to show what I discovered while reviewing the area west of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Maps copied from Google Maps and edited using MS Paint.
Other images are sourced as noted.
TL;DR
- Introduction
- Fun with Maps
10. Tuscarora, PA
9. Lake Wynonah, PA
8. Molino, PA
7. Auburn, PA
6. New Philadelphia, PA
5. Hometown, PA
4. Palo Alto, PA
3. Hamburg, PA
2. Frisbie, PA
1. Windsor Castle, PA - More Fun with Maps
Introduction
After leaving Allentown, we next see David Guardia about to exit Pennsylvania into Ohio. The story jumped 325 miles west.
How or when he made the jump in distance wasn't a consideration at the time the event took place in the zapfic serial. At this point for me as storyteller, it's still not a consideraton. Even so, it's safe to say he had been looking at digital (or even paper) maps.
What was he looking at? What caught his eye? What surprises did he find?
While I can't answer those questions for him, I can answer them for myself.
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 shortly after Allentown scrolls a couple of pages off the screen.
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.
While it's true that David Guardia jumped over a huge chunk of Pennsylvania after leaving Allentown, that's not to say there was nothing interesting in the digital map. It just means that either
- what I saw didn't fit into the story I had in mind; or
- that I couldn't mold the story to take advantage of what I had seen on the map.
While in Ohio, David Guardia was always going to end up at East Palestine. However, it was by dumb luck that he would end up in Defiance.
This is the first time I look at the 325 mile stretch the story skipped over. Here is the first set of discoveries in this section which I had skipped:
Just to remind myself that this map was part of Pennsylvania, I added the label PENNSYLVANIA. Then I highlighted 10 locations. This map isn't directly tied to any other map, so I added the label Allentown ▬►► for reference. Here are the 10 locations in reverse order of interest:
10. Tuscarora, PA
When I was in grammar school in New York City, I had learned of the Tuscarora tribe as one of the 6 tribes of the Iroquois Confederation which lived in what is now New York State; the other 5 tribes are Mohawk, Oneida, Onandaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. Although the names of the other 5 tibes have been recurrent over the years in contexts related and unrelated to them, I hadn't seen the name Tuscarora repeated until reviewing digital maps for #GHAWG. Since Pennsylvania is to the west of New York State, I shouldn't have been surprised that the Tuscarora had an influence in the history of the colony-turned-state.
9. Lake Wynonah, PA
"Flagstaff, Arizona / Don't forget Winona"
-- Lyrics to "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66"
Given where I have the zapfic serial set up through January 2024, this is what came to my mind.
Wynonah, meet Winona.
It turns out that Lake Wynonah, Pennsylvania is a private gated community of about 2,858 people as of 2020.
As a real estate development, it's hard to say how much of Lake Wynonah was pre-existing and how much was developed for its current state.
8. Molino, PA
In Spanish, the word molino means "mill" or "grinding apparatus". It could be as small as a kitchen tool or as large as an industrial machine or even a facility.
It hadn't occurred to me that it could be used as a place name, yet here is Molino, Pennsylvania.
On top of that, there are several place names called Molino in the United States. Will I encounter other Molinos as I have fun with maps covering David Guardia's ride to STURGIS and beyond? We shall see.....
7. Auburn, PA
Just as with the search engines, the first thing to come to mind is Auburn University. It's one of the top academic and college football schools in the nation, so it's no surprise that this is what people think of on hearing the name.
Next is the shade of hair color and the products used to bring that color to hair.
While the name Auburn can be found in numeroud locations across the nation, I expected this to be the case (unlike with Molino).
6. New Philadelphia, PA
It wasn't enough for Pennsylvania to have a city named Philadlphia. It also as a place called New Philadelphia.
Despite its population of around 1,000 as of 2020, New Philadelphia has the feel of a college town for seniors. Looking for a tall lager or a fifth of bourbon? New Philadelphia will have it.
5. Hometown, PA
If you've never been outside the boundaries of your city or village, then it is your home town. If you were born elsewhere but you've been at your current place for years or decades, your current place is your home town. Alternately, if you're living in a place temporarily, then where you come from is your home town.
What if your home town is called Hometown? What do you tell people? Will people look at you funny if you say you're from Hometown? Does this turn into a geographical version of the Abbot and Costello comedy skit "Who's on First?"
4. Palo Alto, PA
Palo Alto sounds like one of those names you can only find at one location and nowhere else. As I've been noticing while working on these Fun with Maps posts, there are multiple places with this name.
When most people hear the name "Palo Alto," they think of Silicon Valley near San Francisco, California. Xerox had its famed PARC labs in Palo Alto.
The Palo Alto in Pennsylvania is more of a residential community than a hub for professionals (tech or otherwise).
3. Hamburg, PA
The more famous Hamburg is in Germany (for people of a certain age, West Germany). Many parts of Pennsylvania were influenced and developed by German (or Prussian) immigrants, so it's not surprise to see a place with this name here. It just adds to the game of traveling the world and the seven seas without leaving the country.
2. Frisbie, PA
Frisbie, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community in Schuykill County.
This place caught my eye purely for the sound of the name ("friz-bee") rather than it's spelling (similar to the disc used for recreational sports, the "frisbee").
1. Windsor Castle, PA
Like Frisbie, Windosor Castle is an unincorprated community. Unlike Frisbie, Windsor Castle is located within Berks County.
I'm used to seeing more famous place names as names of towns here. In this category are Hamburg and Amsterdam.
Windsor Castle is famous in its own right, but most of us would recognize it as one of the residences of King Charles III (and formerly Queen Elizabeth II). Did either of these monarch's know of this town in Pennsylvania? For QE2, we'll never know. For KC3, we shall see.
More Fun with Maps
Given that 325 miles of Pennsylvania roads were crossed without comment in the zapfic serial, I will go back to review the maps to see what David Guardia may have missed on his ride, and what I may have missed
What other 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.