mobilene

Unbelievable that this has been going on for 60+ years! Do you know how this got started? jim

I, like Dave, just click "View New Content," so I'll find your posts no matter where they are. I tend to talk about my trips in the forum about the road if there is one, or in "other highways" (whatever it's called) if the road doesn't have its own forum. I've never posted in Trip Planning. I'm very impressed that you wrote to, and heard back from, that county road department. jim

Lemme get this straight -- in LaVale, the old road is now in the front yard of these houses here, and the current road is more or less in the interuruban right of way? That's what it looks like on Google Maps, anyway! I love these shots, btw. Great stuff.

I tell you what, Alex, I don't know how I lived before the Internet. The vistas it's opened to me -- just amazing!

I finally managed to win an eBay auction for a Mohawk Hobbs Guide, a 1928 National Old Trails. It came today! Whee! And then I won another auction for a Mohawk Hobbs, this time a 1924 National Old Trails. I suppose I didn't need both, but I bid on both figuring at least one would ascend to the ridiculous price heights these things seem to go for. But I got them both for $10.50 each. I'm still awaiting the 1924 Mohawk Hobbs. I am dancing a little jig here in my computer room. Really. jim

Just wanted to say that you're inspiring some jealousy here! Keep us apprised as you continue to plan! jim

Sweet! You find some of the best postcards. I especially enjoyed seeing the "then" to some of the places I saw on my trip last year. You may wish to click all the links on your pages; I encountered a couple that didn't work properly.

Seriously, may you have 100,000 more trouble free miles.

85,000 miles? Hm, that's about as many as I had on my Matrix when the transmission bought the farm! Thanks for grabbing those shots today, Denny! It's remarkable to see the cabins still standing. jim

One of my standing eBay searches is "National Road," because I'm always looking for NR-related stuff. Today the search yielded an auction for this postcard: The back of the card said this was at the corner of US 40 and US 127 north of Eaton, OH. Postmarked 1934. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Google Street View? Because even though it's 25 degrees with snow on the ground, I can still take a virtual road trip. Please notice that the cabins appear to still be standing! I have GOT TO GET ON THE NR IN OHIO!!!!!1!!! jim

I'll bet that concrete "curb" is just the edges of the road pad onto which the bricks were laid, like the Illinois National Road. Anyway, vid of an old brick highway is a great way to start a Sunday!

You know I loves me some steel truss bridges! I'm a contributor over at Bridgehunter.com. You should consider adding your photos to their database!

That LaVale postcard is great! That guy on the fence looks so natural! (not.) What gets me about the LaVale postcard is how rural it feels -- nothing like what I remember from my one trip through LaVale!

Most of the cars do look drawn on!

I recently won an eBay auction for a short stack of eight cards, like postcards but smaller, of National Road scenes from 1920. I'm in that part of the winter where I am ABSOLUTELY ITCHING TO GET OUT ON THE ROAD, and so I thought I'd share these to help scratch that itch a little. Ah. I feel much better now!

Dave, don't worry about it. I'm used to it by now. jim

In my case, an eye issue at birth and a couple subsequent surgeries before I was 3 permanently robbed me of 3-D vision. I live in a flat world!

Thank goodness for the option to see only left or right image -- I can't see in 3D! But I enjoyed seeing the cars. jim

This is excellent! I've had to exercise serious restraint to keep from tracing each of these maps against Google Maps this morning (since I'm at work and should be, um, working).

That settles it then! jim

I'm telling you, it is high on my list to take a week off work and spend it on the NR in MD! My one-day trek across it in April just barely scratched the surface. jim

Great photos. We had quite a discussion about the Cities Service sign here a couple years ago. Nice to know it's still hanging in there. Is that driveway next to Hixson's Feed an old alignment? I'm trying to remember whether I followed Hixson Road when I made my trip last year. I think I missed that turn, and ended up following Natl. Pike up to McFarland Rd.

I failed to with the auction for a 1914 postcard of the NR in Bridgeport, IN yesterday. Bridgeport was a tiny town in far western Marion County, IN; it is now part of Indianapolis. On my trip last August down the NR in western IN, I drove through here and took some shots. The road was straightened in 1937 just west of Bridgeport. I followed the old alignment. I took photos from about where the postcard photographer did. Here's an eastbound shot from about this spot. If the postcard is facing east, then I may have taken my photo standing next to the house shown at far left in the postcard, which may still be standing; I see a house on Bing Maps bird's-eye view that could be it. Here's a westbound photo of the old alignment. This is maybe 100 feet west of where I took the other photo, on the other side of a removed bridge. The utility poles are on the "left" side of the road in both of my photos, and the utility poles are on the left in the postcard, making it hard to judge based on them. The road's curvature in the postcard fits whether westbound or eastbound.

Sure thing!

Hunh. I lost an eBay auction for a copy of that book just last week. Steve, are you looking for period photos/postcards, or are recent photos acceptable?