Wonderland Way

pic12aI just got the first day’s report posted for a trip along southern Indiana’s Wonderland Way. On top of a fairly full agenda, I was treated to the arrival of one of the Run to the Wall caravans at the end of my day. The trip journal is here. This blog entry is to make blog-only followers aware of the trip and to provide a place for comments.

Trip Peek #12
Trip #75
Madonnas and Signs

Foot Print Rock, National Road, OHThis picture is from my 2009 Madonnas and Signs road trip. This was a short trip organized for a small group of friends. On the first day, we drove from Richmond, Indiana, to Springfield, Ohio, on the National Road then to Lebanon, Ohio, primarily on US-68 and US-42. The “Madonnas” in the title refers to the Madonna of the Trail monuments in Richmond and Springfield. The “Signs” in the title comes from the American Sign Museum which we visited on the second day. Since I was acting as a guide and the places we stopped were familiar to me, my journal for the trip is fairly sparse. Other folks on the trip took a lot more pictures than I did.


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.

Trip Pic Peek #11 — Trip #24 — East End of 62

Trip Peek #11
Trip #24
East End of 62

Me at Niagara FallsThis picture is from the my 2004 East End of 62 road trip. It started as a business trip and the first two days of the journal cover my time in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I finished my work early on the third day and set out for Niagara Falls. The picture was taken the next day on the Maid of the Mist after a safe but noisy and wet dance with the falls. I’d recently developed a real interest in US-62 and Niagara is where it starts. I followed it all the way to a previously driven stretch in Kentucky before turning home. It would be five years before I was able to drive the rest of the route to El Paso, Texas.

Trip Pic Peek #10 — Trip #72 — Christmas on the Alafia


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.

Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial

I didn’t turn my attention to the Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial in time to participate in the reenactment or even book passage on one of the cruises going out to watch it. That did not, however, stop me from going and seeing what I can see. By booking a day cruise to Put-in-Bay, I got to see some of the tall ships and I’ll get back for part of the festival. I think I’m going to see a little bit of Canada and the Dixie Highway, too.

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.

Trip Peek #10
Trip #72
Christmas on the Alafia

US 1 in Key WestThis picture is from the my 2008 Christmas on the Alafia road trip which was my third “Christmas Escape Run”. The Alafia is a river just south of Tampa, Florida, where my great-grandparents spent Christmas Eve in 1920. By sticking to expressways, I managed to get there on Christmas Eve 2008. I didn’t get to hang out on the river bank as they did but I did get to hang out with some of the wintering circus folk at the Showtown Bar in Gibsonton. I then drove the Tamiami Trail and a lot of Dixie Highway before reaching home on January 3. I slipped into Key West on the 27th but didn’t even spend the night. The END 1 sign was just about the last thing I saw before I started driving north looking for a vacant motel room I could afford. That didn’t happen until I reached Florida City back on the mainland.

Trip Pic Peek #9 — Trip #66 — 2008 Route 66 Festival


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.

Trip Peek #9
Trip #66
2008 Route 66 Festival

Tow Tater from GalenaThis picture is from the my 2008 Route 66 Festival road trip so it is quite fitting that it was my sixty-sixth documented trip. Because the festival was in Litchfield, Illinois, which is Sixty-Six’s nearest approach to my home, I was able to work the entire festival into a four day trip. There were appearances by both Beatles and Elvis impersonators along with the real celebrity in the picture. That is the actual truck that John Lasseter first saw on Route 66 and used as the model for Tow Mater in the movie Cars. The original in now named Tow Tater and is normally on display at 4 Women on the Route in Galena, Kansas. Tow Tater was trailered to Litchfield for the festival where he was a major hit with kids.

Trip Pic Peek #8 — Trip #85 — 2010 OLHL Meeting


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.

Trip Peek #8
Trip #85
2010 OLHL Meeting

Williamstown Pillar DedicationThis picture is from the my 2010 Ohio Lincoln Highway League Meeting road trip. The meeting was near Findlay so I booked a room there and made a leisurely two day trip out of attending. The first day was spent getting there on US-42 and US-68 and the second involved traveling west on the Lincoln Highway to cross the Dixie Highway and head home through Lima, Ohio. There was sightseeing and an interesting restaurant on each day and a museum visit on the first. The meeting itself had some interesting presentations and was followed by the pictured dedication of a reconstructed brick pillar.

Trip Pic Peek #7 — Trip #59 — Thanksgiving 2007


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.

Trip Peek #7
Trip #59
Thanksgiving 2007

Bellsouth Tower, Nashville, TNThis picture is from the my 2007 Thanksgiving road trip. It was my third Thanksgiving Escape Run and my second in Nashville. For a little variety, I began my trip on Thanksgiving day by heading west then entering Nashville on US-41A after spending a night in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I had ample time for exploring which included a visit to the unfamiliar east bank of the Cumberland River where this view of the very familiar Bellsouth Tower, a.k.a. Batman Building, caught my eye. Also included in this trip were my first ever visits to Music Row, the Lane Museum, and the Bluebird Cafe.

Trip Pic Peek #6 — Trip #1 — Rt66in99


Trip Pic Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the trip journal it is from.