Day 1
Illinois

Day 2
Iowa 1

Day 3
Iowa 2

Day 4
Nebraska 1

Day 5
Nebraska 2

Day 6
Wyoming 1

Day 7
Wyoming 2

Day 8
Utah 1

Day 9
Utah 2

Day 10
Nevada 1

Day 11
Nevada 2

Day 12
California 1

Day 13
California 2

Day 14
A Day by the Bay

Day 15
The Turnaround

Day 16
Parading On Track

Day 17
SLC to Denver

Day 18
Denver to Topeka

Day 19
Topeka to Evansville

Day 20
Evansville to the NCM

Day 21
Just a Few Miles

Day 22
Not Even a Few

One reason for adding a postlude is so I can say something about a couple of men and their writings. One is Drake Hokanson. I have mentioned Drake a time or two and had the opportunity to say more but I didn't have the time. I read his Main Street across America several years ago then reread it in the weeks immediately preceding this trip. What a great bit of pioneering. Yes, some details have changed and some things have gone missing but most of the information is still correct and all of the attitude is right on. I hope to drive all of the Lincoln Highway in 2013 and I plan to reread Main Street across America just before I do.

The other fellow I'm thinking of is Gregory Franzwa. I never met Gregory but I spoke with him on the phone a couple of times when ordering books. When I ordered the set of Lincoln Highway books, he graciously signed -- and personalized -- each one. He was interested in my trip plans. When I told him I expected it to be at least a year (this was in February of 2008) before I would get to any of the western states, he asked me to let him know about it when I did go. Gregory Franzwa died in March of this year so I can't tell him that I went and that his books really helped. But I can tell you and I can tell you that this was another guy whose attitude toward the road was right on.

So thanks to Drake & Gregory and thanks to Brian Butko for his books plus some real-time help on the road and thanks to Paul Gilger and everybody else who had a hand in the Lincoln Highway Association Driving CD. You guys helped me find my way to San Francisco. And thanks to everyone involved in planning & executing the Corvette Caravan. I know it's a mostly thankless job and that my gratitude won't go far toward changing that but I certainly appreciate your efforts.

ADDENDUM: Oct 5, 2010 - Although I couldn't let Gregory Franzwa know of my trip, I could let Kathy Franzwa, his wife, know. Kathy has taken over as editor of The Lincoln Highway Forum and saw fit to include my report of the trip in the Summer 2010 (Vol.17, No. 4) issue.

September 5, 2009 (day 22)
I ventured out just twice today. Once for breakfast and once for the Beatles tribute concert at the museum.

September 4, 2009 (day 21)
I stopped back a the museum briefly then hooked up with a few folks from the caravan chat group. When I'm within an hour of Nashville with nothing holding me back, the call of the Honky Tonks takes control. I finished the day with a very good and early ending visit to Music City.

September 3, 2009 (day 20)
Somewhat to my surprise, the route we took to Bowling Green used considerable two-lane. A fun arrival and a sizable crowd at the NCM.

September 2, 2009 (day 19)
Some rain to start the day and a lot more interstate. A detour in St Louis gave me an excuse to look in on a favorite bit of "concrete".

September 1, 2009 (day 18)
I lost a passenger to Amtrak, saw lots of interstate, and ate in my car.

August 31, 2009 (day 17)
A nice run that included US-6 through some of the canyons of Utah.

August 30, 2009 (day 16)
Near Tooele, Utah, we got to check out Miller Motorsports Park and do a couple of controlled laps.

August 29, 2009 (day 15)
Time to head home via Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Northern California Caravan to the National Corvette Museum headed out of San Jose around 11:00 PST.

August 28, 2009 (day 14)
No real travel today. I checked out another 1928 marker and killed some time back at Cliff House.

August 27, 2009 (day 13)
I've now gone all the way on the Lincoln Highway. However, I expect that to be just the first time.

August 26, 2009 (day 12)
US-50 Rocks! Between Lake Tahoe and Placerville, this is one of the most beautiful & exhilarating bits of highway I've seen. I managed to work in a couple stretches of older, less exhilarating, stuff, too.

August 25, 2009 (day 11)
The next couple of days will cover shorter than normal distances as I synchronize with the preplanned part of the trip. I got in a side trip, saw Lake Tahoe -- and Cave Rock -- for the first time, and found a motel next to a brewery.

August 24, 2009 (day 10)
I can't guarantee that having a root beer float for breakfast will lead to meeting sheriff's deputies, hearing singing deer, and sleeping above a fine drinking place that's also a final resting place but it worked for me.

August 23, 2009 (day 9)
A little rain, a side trip, a rollover up ahead, a ride on the salt, a lot of rain, a skyscraper, a casino, and a brothel. That was enough for my day.

August 22, 2009 (day 8)
From fort to temple, that was my day. Not much distance covered but some interesting sights along the way.

August 21, 2009 (day 7)
I spent part of the morning in Medicine Bow then headed off to close encounters with antelope. Saw some prairie dogs, too. Those guys are quick.

August 20, 2009 (day 6)
This was a monumental day. By the time I bedded down in Medicine Bow, I'd seen the Ames, Russin's Lincoln, and Henry Joy monuments. I'd also strolled around Cheyenne a bit and spent time idling in a construction zone.

And today is an anniversary. On this date in 1999, I went "live" with a "from the road" website even though I wasn't exactly on the road. That was the planned departure date for my first drive down Historic Route 66 and, even though the drive was delayed a day, I posted the promised page. The next seventeen entries will include some ten year old news.

August 19, 2009 (day 5)
I crossed I-80 on foot and crossed the 100th meridian by car. I saw Scout's Rest but didn't get to see some wagon ruts I'd been looking forward to. It rained overnight and a few drops hit the windshield as I hurried out of Kearney but it was dry & sunny after that.

August 18, 2009 (day 4)
I drove a little dirt, walked a little concrete, met a friendly gas station owner, and just generally had a nice first day ever in Nebraska.

August 17, 2009 (day 3)
I crossed into Nebraska after a dry & sunny day in Iowa. I ate pancakes, found footprints, saw bridges, and went up a carillon.

August 16, 2009 (day 2)
If you've read much about the early days, you'll know that what I saw today, rain in Iowa, used to strike terror in the hearts of Lincoln Highway travelers. In my case, it wasn't terror but common sense that it struck. I stayed off the unpaved roads and made it to Ames with some "honest food" from Mount Vernon and a Maid-Rite from Marshalltown in my belly.

August 15, 2009 (day 1)
After picking it up just about where I left off, I followed the Lincoln Highway to the banks of the Mississippi; Got in a little Dixie & Route 66, too. I had a fun stop at the Lincoln Highway Association National Headquarters in Franklin Grove.

Prelude 3 - August 3, 2009
I have an addition, or at least an experiment, planned for this trip. Among the various new gadgets and gizmos sweeping the web, one, Twitter, seem like it might have some value here. The journal pages for each day usually appear the following morning though a few days can sometimes go by before the posting. The absolute best case is at the end of the day they describe. Twitter offers something closer to real time and I've decided to give it a try. Twitter messages, called Tweets, use Short Message Service and that's available to many devices including mobile phones. Messages can be no longer than 140 characters They are broadcast almost immediately. I anticipate sending no more that a couple messages each day I'm on the road and none when I'm not. It will replace nothing I'm already doing but will give me a way to announce the occasional event. Give twitter.com/dennygibson a try if you're into that sort of thing and let me know what you think. Tweeting could become a regular part of DennyGibson.com. Or it could be a one time thing. We shall see.

Prelude 2 - July 29, 2009
Things are progressing quite well and I've even reserved a few motels. The caravan stops are known and that makes some of those at the western end of the drive predictable, too. Most of the westbound schedule is, and will remain, flexible. It looks as if I'll have company for part of the ride east. My oldest son, who lives in San Francisco, will be with me when we leave San Jose and will ride along to Denver or Salt Lake City or... somewhere else. I've added road, route, and return pages and placed links at the top of this one. The route page includes GPX files that some might find interesting or even useful.

Prelude - July 8, 2009
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has tried to have a big party to celebrate every fifth anniversary of its opening. The Corvette's own 50th anniversary arrived just one year ahead of the museum's ten year mark and General Motors threw a truly major party of their own so the NCM substituted a 9th anniversary in 2003 for a 10th anniversary in 2004. This year the museum's back on its own schedule with a 15th year anniversary party planned for Labor Day weekend. Preceding each of the previous celebrations, caravans traveled from across the entire country to converge on Bowling Green. Same thing this year. I did both the 5th and 9th anniversary caravans and have been considering doing the upcoming one for quite some time. I've finally decided it's a go and made my first official move yesterday by registering for the caravan.

In 1999 and 2003 I headed to the west coast on Historic Route 66 then came back to the museum with the Southern California Caravan that originated in Los Angeles. The caravan that I registered with yesterday is the Northern California Caravan which will set out from San Jose. I'll get there on the Lincoln Highway. I won't be able to drive all of it like I did with Sixty-Six. It's much longer, for one thing, and, for another, its eastern end is farther away and the wrong direction from my home. But I've chipped away at it so that when I reach San Francisco's Lincoln Park this time, I'll honestly have clinched it.

It's been piecemeal but I've driven at least one Lincoln Highway alignment between Times Square and the Illinois line. On Friday, August 14, I'll hightail it to some spot at the western edge of Indiana near the town of Dyer. I'll start driving the rest of the LH come Saturday. I'll have two weeks to reach SF. That's more time than I've had for either of my full length Route 66 runs but I'm sure it still won't be enough. Each day should see 150 to 200 miles go by. The caravan leaves San Jose on August 29. The run to the museum will have just five overnight stops and that means 500 mile days. I think the contrast is part of the attraction. A scary amount of details remain but I've paid my registration fee and have my confirmation number. There's no backing out now.

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