April 11, 2006 - Ed Takes a Pole

You can’t miss them as you speed down Cathedral Oaks Road. They’re the tallest things around, except for the mountains behind them. They’re the telephone poles that line the mountain side of the road like spectators at the Tour De France.

As you drive past the poles it almost seems as if you’re sitting still and the poles are moving. One at a time, they approach. At first they move slowly, but as they get closer, they speed up. And then, they go by in a blur. But, don’t look now! There’s another one on its way.

Edhat subscriber Burger Jeffrey tells us that these poles are not actually telephone poles at all. In fact they are called utility poles because not only do they carry telephone lines, but lines for electrical and cable TV as well. And of course with both Cable TV and phone lines (DSL and dial-up), the poles on Cathedral Oaks are also part of the Information Super Highway. Many Daily Edhats and Pets of the Week have traveled this path.

Yesterday, the dedicated staff of edhat.com went to count the poles. We picked up some clickers, got into our green car, and drove down Foothill Road just past the old abandoned gas station to where it meets THE 154 and turns into Cathedral Oaks. And, once on Cathedral Oaks, we started counting.

On the 1.7-mile stretch of road to Turnpike, we counted 40 poles. These were mostly the big utility poles that prompted this story. Our In-House-Statistician (IHS) tells us that this equals one pole every 224 feet. And going 45MPH, it’s one pole every 3.4 seconds.

On the 1.1-mile stretch of road from Turnpike to Patterson there were 33 poles. These were shorter, more conventional poles. The IHS tells us that this equals one pole every 176 feet. And, going 40MPH, it’s one pole every 3.0 seconds.

After Patterson, there were 9 poles in succession, but just before Kellogg Road the utility lines suddenly dove underground, and in a blink of the eye, the poles disappeared from the landscape. On the final six miles of road from Kellogg to Calle Real, there are 18 holes of golf, hundreds of citrus trees, and lots of beautiful mountain views. But, on the mountain side of the road for that stretch there are only 21 poles.

The final pole count was 103 poles on 8.9 miles of road – one pole every 456 ft and at 45MPH, one pole every 6.9 seconds. Yesterday, Edhat subscriber Gr8tr channeled the power of the poles. With a guess of 103 exactly, he/she wins an Edhat t-shirt.

What‘cha doing after work today? Come to Cellar 205 (205 Anacapa) at 5PM for the March Ed-Ness awards ceremony. The official activity will begin at 5:30 sharp.

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