Fallingwater and...
Day 1
Getting Through Ohio
Day 2
A Little Lincoln Highway
Day 3
Switching Roads
Day 4
The Wright Stuff
Day 5
PA, WV, OH, and Done
August 26, 2022 (day 5)
I stopped at a couple of retired bridges plus one that I hope still has
some life left in it. I thought this might be a two Madonna day but
pokiness and rain kept it down to just one.
August 25, 2022 (day 4)
Today I made my visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes that I had
planned over two years ago then spent the night in a place where I've
wanted to stay for over twenty years.
August 24, 2022 (day 3)
I made a really big U-turn to move from eastbound Lincoln Highway to
westbound National Road. I'm hoping that my E-ZPass worked at the two toll
houses I encountered.
August 23, 2022 (day 2)
Only after talking with a real Lincoln Highway expert did I actually reach
the Lincoln but then I proceeded to drive, eat, and sleep on it.
August 22, 2022 (day 1)
I ended the day in Steubenville after spending part of the afternoon
recreating a trip from a decade ago.
Prelude 3 - August 2, 2022
Twenty-eight months after announcing the postponement of a 2020
Fallingwater visit, I'm announcing plans for a 2022 visit. It reopened in
March but my schedule didn't open up until just now and tours are sold out
until late August. I have booked August 25 to see both Fallingwater and
nearby Kentuck Knob. I will be traveling some Lincoln Highway and some
National Road in addition to staying in historic lodging both familiar and
totally new to me. I'm starting to shiver with antici... pation.
Prelude 2 - April 2, 2020
Ain't happenin'. I constructed an itinerary that would have me spend the
night and enjoy my birthday dinner at the historic Century Inn in Scenery
Hill, PA. This attempt to reach Fallingwater was much better planned and
much further along than any of last summer's plans, but it is meeting the
same fate. The coronavirus pandemic has Fallingwater closed through, at
least, April 30, and the Century Inn has been reduced to carry out meals
only. For the moment, I'm going to leave it in the "Fixed Leads" section
even though the lead is the least fixed thing about it. I'm coming, Frank.
I just don't know when.
Prelude 1 - January 18, 2020
After staying in a Frank Lloyd Wright hotel while driving the Jefferson
Highway in 2018 and visiting a Frank Lloyd Wright office tower with the
Society for Commercial Archeology in June of last year, I decided it was
time to check out what is possibly the best known Wright creation,
Fallingwater. The
southwest Pennsylvania home is just a few miles off of the National Road
so I've been close to it several times but never actually reached it;
Probably because I was always in a National Road frame of mind. Not long
after that June 2019 SCA conference, I began to loosely plan an outing
where, although I'd certainly not ignore the National Road, I would
specifically target Fallingwater.
I never got around to buying tickets or otherwise committing to a specific date but I seriously considered several. Other options, like concerts and visits from friends, kept me moving the dates considered later and later until July and August had both slipped away and it looked like September wasn't going to work either. I finally admitted to myself that I would not be seeing Fallingwater in 2019 and set my sights on spring of 2020. Spring time includes my birthday so that is what I'm currently using as a schedule anchor. No reservations have yet been made but an itinerary is becoming firm and some tour and lodging commitments will likely be made in a few weeks.