They appear on signs along the route of any road trip. Sometimes they gleam brightly in the mid-day sun; sometimes they seem to emerge, phantom-like, from morning fogs; sometimes they are partially obscured by caked mud or by the random scatter pattern of a shotgun blast.

They are the strange names people have given to roads, canyons, creeks, towns, and byways along the US highway system. I'm not talking about the plain and predictable cartographer's numbers that make it easier to read the Rand-McNally state map you just bought at an interchange convenience store along with a cup of coffee and a Snickers bar. Those have no life to them: Hwy 101, 51st Street, Farm Road 7893-1/2, CR E0330, State Road BB, Interstate 70. Boring.

But every once in a while the true oddities flash by at seventy miles per hour. In bold white font on a sunburned green backdrop, they tickle the brain with questions as to their origins.

Some make sense. It's pretty easy to figure out how Echo Canyon Road got its name. Somewhere nearby there is a canyon. If a person were to go to the edge of the canyon and yell something philosophical such as "Halloooooooo!" there is probably an echo. Likely, Echo Canyon Road travels through said canyon at some point.

Similarly, McBride Road isn't hard to interpret. Either someone named "McBride" lived on it, duh, or there's a fast-food place specializing in quickie marriages somewhere along the way. Dirt Road isn't tough at all (though there are a suspiciously high number of these, especially in the desert southwest). Then there's Henry Miller Road. Did the person naming the road really like the author of the same name, or was his own name Henry Miller? Even Bob Cat Trail isn't that mysterious, assuming that bobcats frequent the area or that the comedian Bob Cat Goldwaithe takes strolls on it occasionally.

But what about Ojo de la Vaca Road? Ojo de la Vaca means "Eye of the Cow" in Spanish. What exactly happened on this road to earn it that particular name? Have chupacabras been branching out from goat-eating to wholesale cow slaughter, leaving bovine body parts lying around hither and thither? Is there a cursed gypsy cow set up in a tent somewhere along the road ("For five dollars I shall tell your future, my friend. Moo.")? Is it the name of some odd landmark?

Are the mosquitoes the size of VWs and the fruit flies as big as houses in Big Bug Canyon? Are there ghosts on Spook Road (which is conveniently located near White Church Road if that is, indeed, the case). What's the story behind Big Cynthiana Road? Sure, the town of Cynthiana is nearby, but just how big is this road, anyway?

The names of some towns along the back roads of the United States are hardly less interesting: Hornet, Cravensville, Cheek, Shatter. Does everyone talk dirty in Falmouth? Is North Pleasureville as interesting a place to visit as it sounds? What about Chewsville?

For every US 12 along a road to anywhere, there's at least one NE Wacky Nut Way. It's one of the things that makes travelling cross-country by car interesting.

But I still think that I think I'll stay on Interstate 44 rather than take a shortcut down Bloody Basin Road to get to the Superstition Wilderness.

If you know the origins of some strange place name, the author would like to hear them.