This is another short Lincoln Highway related trip that begins with music. Actually, it’s all about music. The reason for the trip is this afternoon’s Cece Otto American Songline concert in Hayesville, Ohio, and it started yesterday with a Carey Murdock concert in Van Wert. The journal for the trip is here. This will be the only blog entry related to the trip and will serve to hold any and all comments.
It didn’t start off exactly as planned but it did start and I’m on my way to the 2013 Ohio Lincoln Highway League meeting in Mifflin. The journal for the trip, which started in Columbus and will include a stop at Grant’s boyhood home in Georgetown, is here. This will be the only blog entry related to this trip and will serve to hold any and all comments.
I just drove to Nashville to see a movie. There’s actually a film festival going on and I’ll see at least a couple of movies but there is one in particular that brought me here. It’s a documentary named FOLK that focuses on three musicians including singer/songwriter Dirk Hamilton who I’ve long admired. This is its premier showing. The journal for the trip, which will include a little Dixie Highway on the way home, is here. This will be the only blog entry related to this trip and will serve to hold any and all comments.
That’s the steamship Delta Queen pictured to the right. The picture was taken on December 25, 2010 when Chattanooga got its first Christmas Day snow fall in 41 years. I don’t expect to see scenes like that again though I am returning to the Queen for Christmas 2012. Once the holiday is past, I’ll be driving a little Dixie Highway and spending a little time in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m now on the way and spent last night in LaFollette, Tennessee. The short journal for that first day’s drive is here with the overview of the trip here. As usual, daily journals will be posted as the trip progresses. If you would like to be notified of each day’s posting, look into the available mailing list or RSS feed. This will be the only blog entry related to this trip and will serve to hold any and all comments.
The Lincoln Highway Association was incorporated in Michigan in July of 1913 but the meeting that got things rolling was held in September of 1912 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was held in the building pictured to the right which was then called Das Deutshe Haus and now known as the Athenaeum. I am now off to a recreation of that meeting in that same building as part of the Indiana LHA centennial kickoff. There will be bus tours before and after the recreation plus I’ve got to get there and back.
The journal for the trip is here.
This blog entry exists as a place for comments on the trip.
Tomorrow, July 26, I start down Historic Route 66 for the third time. The reason, or excuse, for this trip is to attend the 2012 International Route 66 Festival in Victorville, California. For the first two trips, in 1999 and 2003, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as an International Route 66 Festival but since then I’ve attended six. The journal for the drive and the festival will be here. It will include the drive home which I expect to be largely on US-70 and US-80.
As I prepped the website for the trip, I added an FAQ page which might help in understanding the site. That page is here.
This blog entry is here to handle comments and questions regarding the trip.
I was part of a road trip today but it wasn’t mine. Roadie Fred Zander from Topeka, Kansas, is in Ohio visiting family north of Dayton and came down to Cincinnati for the day. Like many others, Fred has wanted to visit the American Sign Museum but its limited hours made him put it off. The ribbon cutting was yesterday. Today was the first “normal” day and Fred was among the first “normal” customers.
Although it was the Sign Museum that prompted the trip and Fred even commented that the museum alone would have made the trip worthwhile, this was also Fred’s first visit to the Queen City and an opportunity for me to do a little boostering. I think I did OK in that regard but really fell down in the picture taking department. I had good intentions and almost always had a camera nearby but, presumably since everything was familiar to me, whatever it is that makes me want to click rarely appeared. So, while I showed Fred what I believe is some Cincinnati “good stuff”, I’m going to have to tell about it with few visual aids.
I met Fred at an I-75 exit a little north of the city where he could leave his car. We headed directly downtown from there and drove by Music Hall, Fountain Square, P & G headquarters, and Cincinnati’s oldest bar, Arnold’s. On the way to the 1867 Roebling Suspension Bridge, we got a glimpse of the football and baseball stadiums and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. On the Kentucky end of the bridge, we pulled into a small lot beneath it that offers a good view of the bridge, the river, and the Cincinnati skyline. I even thought to get a picture of the skyline in addition to the picture of Fred backed by the Roebling Bridge. Before moving on, we took a look at the scenes from area history captured by large murals painted on the flood wall.
Then it was time for the sign museum to open so we headed back to Ohio. I actually remembered to take some pictures there. One reason may have been that the explanatory panels that stand near most signs were new to me. The text had been ready for the sneak previews but not the stands. I wish I had taken a picture of the face of one of the panels as an example. Tod wrote most or all of these and it’s no surprise that they are quite informative. Sharp eyes may have noticed the American Sign Museum sign at the museum entrance in the photo at the top of this article. That’s also been added since the previews as have some plaques and section signs inside. We were not on an official tour but Tod was always nearby answering questions and pointing out things so it was an “almost tour”.
Real tours, which are free, are given at fixed times. Space permitting, walk-ups are welcome but tours may be scheduled and tickets purchased through the museum’s website. The picture is of the first official tour at the new location. Most of the group is on the other side of the wall.
I also got a picture of Fred’s favorite sign and a picture of Fred taking a picture of Fred’s favorite sign.
After a couple of hours at the sign museum we drove a couple of miles south to the Cincinnati Museum Center. The museum center is in the 1931 Union Terminal and the art deco building with its murals and other decorative features is something of a museum itself. We did not visit any of the three real museums there.
It was beginning to get a little hungry out so we headed over to Terry’s Turf Club. I had originally wanted to stop at Camp Washington Chili which is just a few blocks from the Sign Museum but it’s closed on Sunday. Terry’s is known for its fantastic hamburgers and huge collection of working neon signs. It’s definitely a fitting place to eat after an American Sign Museum visit. Dessert was ice cream at the 1913 Aglamesis Brothers shop just a few miles north.
Although I didn’t do a very good job of recording the reverse road trip, I did enjoy the chance to show someone a little bit of my town. Fred clearly enjoyed his first visit here and declared his intentions to return. I’m looking forward to it.
I started toward Canton, Ohio, today. That’s where the 2012 Lincoln Highway Association National Conference begins on Monday. The conference actually gets rolling — literally — on Tuesday with the first bus tour but the opening banquet is on Monday evening and I’ve signed up for a pre-conference tour that launches from Niles, Ohio, at 9:15 Monday morning. Since that’s near the far corner of the state, I figured I ought to leave home on Saturday morning. Two full days to drive across Ohio sounds about right don’t you think?
The journal for the trip, with the first day posted, is here. This blog entry may be used for comments and questions concerning the entire trip.
This trip has been a tough one to get started. It has its roots in some decade old thoughts about driving US-22 end to end that morphed into plans for combining that with a drive of US-44, the only other surviving twin-digit even-numbered US highway. I’ve had it penciled in a couple of times then had it all down in ink at the end of last summer. The route was plotted and motels booked for some of the key dates. I had my voucher for a one day dash-in dash-out tour of Boston to separate the eastbound staging from the westbound drive. The ink, however, was not waterproof. At least not waterproof enough for a hurricane. When it became apparent that Hurricane Irene and I were headed for the same spot at the same time, I played the gentleman and let the lady have it all to herself.
Plans for a spring time reschedule have been a little slippery but they’ve finally been tacked into place and I am now on the road. The cover page is still here where it’s been since last year’s.almost trip but now the first day is posted and there’s more on the way. A couple of days heading east, a day in Boston, and a couple on the cape. Then it will be back home on US-44 + US-22 — a.k.a, 66 the hard way.
This blog entry is to provide a landing spot for comments on the trip.
I got into position on Friday for Saturday’s Sweetheart Cruise. The cruise will cover a bit of Route 66 and I visited one Sixty-Six bright spot on Friday. After the cruise, I’ll spend a couple of days getting home. The journal is here.
This blog entry is here to allow comments on the trip.
