Yellowstone Trail & US-20 at DennyGibson.com

Postlude 2 - August 4, 2021
Today I moved this trip from the "Fixed Leads" section to the "Done Deeds"-"Recent" section just as I do with every trip at some point following its completion. With the completion of this trip, the home page got one additional change. The Yellowstone Trail has been listed in the "Just Seeds" section since at least July of 2004. That's a long time to be a seed. It has now been removed but the Trail's "Just Seeds" entry can still be read here.

Postlude 1 - July 16, 2021
Somewhere along the way, I started referring to this as my CCCC (center to coast to coast to center) trip as opposed th my CCC (corner to corner to corner) trips. It was a dandy on two historic highways whose heydays occurred in slightly different eras. The Yellowstone Trail was an important pathway in the earliest days of automobile travel, while US-20's importance was probably greatest in the pre-interstate 1950s and '60s. East of Chicago, they often overlap or at least share a corridor. In the west they are totally distinct from each other and are often separated by a couple of hundred miles. I tried to follow the original alignments of both. For the Yellowstone Trail this meant stretches of primitive dirt and gravel roads that were bypassed quite early. This is not a trip for motorcyclists or classic cars drivers wanting to avoid gravel, ruts, and dust. It offers wonderful scenery and opportunities for early twentieth century flashbacks. Historic US Route 20 is more "modern" with fewer unpaved segments and classic motels and diners we associate with the middle of that century. The path of the Yellowstone Trail also has some wonderful motels and eateries but they mostly date from a a time after the Yellowstone Trail officially ceased to exist.

At 37 days and 9094.9 miles, this was my second longest trip in both time and distance. My 2016 Alaska trip covered 11108.2 miles in 41 days. The trip this one displaces for the number two spot is the 2013 Lincoln Highway Centennial trip. That was also a center-to-coast-to-coast-to-center trip but was positioned somewhat more southerly in the tapered United States and covered a mere 7341 miles over 35 days.

July 12, 2021 (day 37)
Thirty-six days after I turned onto US-20 and headed east, I returned to that point and headed south. If anything changed during my absence, I did not notice.

July 11, 2021 (day 36)
I met up with another friend to start the day then finished off Illinois with only light rain. The rain increased in Indiana, and slowly washed away my thoughts of getting home tonight until, in South Bend, they were gone.

July 10, 2021 (day 35)
After that long drive to Manchester, I set myself up with a couple of short days to recover. This was the shortest of the two and spending time with a couple of friends made it extra nice.

July 9, 2021 (day 34)
Presented with a photo op, I took it. I then visited a corn field with a label and a town without one, took a short ride on the rails, and attended the big game. All that was in Iowa, but I continued to Illinois where I toured Grant's home and went to sleep.

July 8, 2021 (day 33)
I booked a motel a bit farther away than I like and I spent more than eleven hours getting there. Of course, that time included pauses to photograph windmills, jet fighters, and old gas stations plus one each tire man, fifteen stripe flag, popcorn ball, and butterfly.

July 7, 2021 (day 32)
I entered Nebraska very early in the day and crossed about three-fourths of the state before it ended.

July 6, 2021 (day 31)
Wyoming never disappoints. Today contained hot springs, hot sauce, retired vehicles, large statuary, elusive breweries, tunnels, and a scenic canyon.

July 5, 2021 (day 30)
I passed through Yellowstone National Park today along with two national forests that border it. I was taunted by a bird, impressed by a waterfall, awed by scenic views, and surprised by a brewery.

July 4, 2021 (day 29)
It was a day of taters and craters and one very tall woman. It was also Independence Day, and even though my camera didn't record anything special today, there was something leftover I could use.

July 3, 2021 (day 28)
The day started near the Malheur River in Oregon and ended near the Snake River in Idaho. I checked out some old ruts before leaving Oregon lucked into a good motel in Idaho.

July 2, 2021 (day 27)
I can take the all-paved roads and seriously spaced-out turns every once in a while. The two breweries I can take every twice in a while.

July 1, 2021 (day 26)
I took in some Oregon coast, touched the western end of US-20, and started toward Ohio.

June 30, 2021 (day 25)
I spent time in two states today and visited a friend in each. Starting home tomorrow is soon enough.

June 29, 2021 (day 24)
While excessive heat warnings continued, I celebrated completing the Yellowstone Trail with chowder.

June 28, 2021 (day 23)
I got on the road fairly early and scurried back to where I left off yesterday. Although I didn't do it the right way, I did make it through Blewett Pass and on to the day's target at Snoqualmie Pass.

June 27, 2021 (day 22)
I relocated just a short distance to the west but drove quite a ways beyond my target before settling in. I'll make an expedited pass over the same area in the morning skipping the primitive roads and photo stops at motels and hotels.

June 26, 2021 (day 21)
I spent the whole day in Spokane but the temperature limited my exploring to purveyors of food and beverage.

June 25, 2021 (day 20)
This day started on the interstate as a way of eliminating almost certain future regret. I made it to and through Idaho's skinny part.

June 24, 2021 (day 19)
A day that started with a cool encounter and included interesting bars, sometimes impassable roads, and a century-old taxi ad ended on the interstate.

June 23, 2021 (day 18)
I'm sure glad that the screw I started the day with was a small one. A bigger one might have kept me from finishing a climb that I started five years ago.

June 22, 2021 (day 17)
I checked out more old cars, both inside and out, then ended the day at a hotel and bar even older than the cars.

June 21, 2021 (day 16)
I got to see the outside, but not the inside, of where Joe Parmley once lived and the spot where Sitting Bull might be buried. The day really was a lot better than that sounds.

June 20, 2021 (day 15)
The day started with a surprise car show then I saw a Viking, a bell, more cars, an anchor, a windmill, a rock, and some birds.

June 19, 2021 (day 14)
I found a great place for breakfast, a good place to sleep, and "A Unique Shopping Experience" in between. A sign at that unique shop said I was had 1487 miles of Yellowstone Trail behind me with 1635 to go.

June 18, 2021 (day 13)
The travel day was somewhat shortened by a delightful visit and surprise but I still made it out of Wisconsin and beyond the Twin Cities.

June 17, 2021 (day 12)
Wisconsin has musician murals, skating car-hops, weird horses, old breweries, and really cool neon signs. I saw one of each.

June 16, 2021 (day 11)
I finished off Indiana, began and finished Illinois, and got a decent start on Wisconsin. Indiana was mostly Gary, Illinois was almost all Chicago, and in Wisconsin Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee kept that city thing going.

June 15, 2021 (day 10)
Indiana has great weather and, at least in certain areas, people who are aware of the Yellowstone Trail.

June 14, 2021 (day 9)
Rain greeted me as I reentered Ohio. It had stopped by the time I reached Cleveland and I then had a dry drive to within about fifty mile of where I first picked up US-20 nine days ago.

June 13, 2021 (day 8)
After meeting a long-time friend for the first time, I battled my way through Buffalo and almost through New York state.

June 12, 2021 (day 7)
I started the day by driving through some real rain for the first time on this trip. It was dry, however, by the time I left Albany after visiting a friend and his personal museum. I looked over, but didn't entirely comprehend, a site with several layers of canal transportation history before ending the day at a wonderful motel in the New York tropics.

June 11, 2021 (day 6)
It's pretty obvious where you have to start if you want to drive "A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound", and I did. Of course, much of the day was through the same territory I covered yesterday, but I did find a few things to take pictures of.

June 10, 2021 (day 5)
I met up with Historic US-20 guru Bryan Farr in the morning, then (after a few on-the-fly itinerary revisions) made it (more or less) to the eastern terminus of US-20.

June 9, 2021 (day 4)
After a great breakfast in an awesome diner, I encountered an almost tiny detour then rolled into Massachusetts.

June 8, 2021 (day 3)
If you like straight down the road shots along with diners, drive-ins, and old garages, today is for you.

June 7, 2021 (day 2)
I crawled through Cleveland, dashed through Pennsylvania, and eased into New York. I ended the day at a familiar motel and a new-to-me restaurant.

June 6, 2021 (day 1)
I started barely an hour after sunrise but did not make it out of Ohio. I didn't really expect to since I had to get from the bottom to the top of the state just to reach my planned starting point. Good weather, good food, and a few interesting sights contributed to a very satisfying first day on the road.

Prelude 2 - May 22, 2021
Less than a month after Prelude 1 was posted, the world came to a COVID-19 induced halt and this trip, along with others, put on hold indefinitely. Aided greatly by vaccines, things are starting to loosen up and I've dusted off and updated my plans and am looking at a departure in early June. The updating included refining my route using maps at Yellowstone Trail Association and Historic US Route 20 Association.

Prelude 1 - February 18, 2020
OK, so this is really just a sorta-fixed lead trip. I certainly intend to drive the Yellowstone Trail this year and August seems the most likely time for it to happen but I haven't nailed down a specific day and I acknowledge that means that even the month could change before I actually start rolling. The Yellowstone Trail has been in my "Just Seeds" list for many years and it's still there. I'll remove it only after I get home from this trip. A Yellowstone Trail guide book from John and Alice Ridge is anticipated this year. While it had nothing to do with me starting to think about it being time to tackle this "Seed", it is definitely a reason to continue thinking about it and for thinking the timing is extremely good.

A big consideration with long end-to-end drives is getting to and from the ends. I know some folks fly and rent or have their favorite car trucked in. I firmly believe that getting there is half the fun even when "there" is the start of the core mission. In this particular case, there is a natural solution in a road that just about matches the Yellowstone Trail in length and whose end points don't differ by all that much. The Yellowstone Trail runs between Plymouth, MA, and Seattle, WA. US-20 connects Boston, MA, with Newport, OR. Plymouth and Boston are less than forty miles apart, Seattle and Newport a bit more than 200. The two routes get pinched together as they pass the Great Lakes which means they are very close or actually touching as they pass through Ohio. My general plan is to pick up US-20 north of my home and follow it east to Boston. Then I'll do the Yellowstone Trail end-to-end and finish off US-20 with an end-to-middle run.

[Site Home] [Contact]