Who messed up the road?

One of the biggest differences between Iowa and NC are the roads. In Iowa they are straight (usually), in NC, at least in these parts, they are always crooked, even if there doesn't seem to be a need for it. It must have something to do with a crazy-quilt pattern of property lines arising from the old English property laws.

I mentioned before that people always seem to drive faster than Iowans on those roads - an average of 10 miles per hour. Add to that the constant curves and frequent ups and downs, and it's enough to make you queasy. In addition, the highways are very narrow and have no shoulders at all.

Even in the city, Hendersonville has mostly what I would call rural roads - curvy roads with long stretches of no houses. A road may start somewhere, go north a mile, then fork. If you continue straight, you get lost. Any given road may have any number of unexpected turns, name changes, and what have you. Many intersections have no signs at all.

Add to that the total darkness after the sun sets. You'd think they'd heard of streetlights, but they are nonexistent for the most part. Even the exits from the Interstates are dark. So are the tunnels in the mountains, which is scary when you just drove in sunlight. And of course all those curvy roads with the confusing missing street signs and turns are pitch dark. No wonder that sales of GPS units are booming. It shouldn't really be necessary for a town of 12,000 - but this North Carolina, not Iowa!