mobilene

Outstanding! The road you pointed out in your video, that goes northwestish out of Carlyle, is labeled "Old State Road" on Live Search Maps. There are addresses in Carlyle of "such-n-such-number Old State Road." Maybe this road was an early Illinois-funded route, like the MR in Indiana, which leads to its "Old State Road" name. But it occurred to me that it's not far off aurally to say "Old Stage Road," too. Now check out this fabulousness. I found a 1907 USGS topo from Breese westward that shows the Old State Road going through west of Breese. What later became US 50 passes through Aviston and dead ends before it reaches the Old State Road: And today's Live Search Maps image shows US 50 going through and curving south a bit at the point where it would have merged with the Old State Road, if it still existed -- but check out that trace of the road's original alignment just north of that curve: coooooool! Wonder if I can get permission to go look at the old road that's left behind.

I took a trip in 1990 with my dad to the place he was born, Handley, WV, which is between Charleston and Montgomery on WV 61. He took me on a seriously hair-raising drive one afternoon, where he was just hurling and whipping my little car down this seriously twisty road (that had no guardrails). I'll bet my bottom dollar today that it was WV 16, which is just "down the road a piece" from Montgomery. jim

Wowowowow! Dave, you rock! I was wondering how deep into Illinois to go and now I absolutely must go as far as Carlyle. I could tell from aerial maps that the road had at one time jogged a block north going into Carlyle but I couldn't make out anything about the bridge there. I wonder if it was ever part of US 50. I am more than happy to consider this route's pre-1926 alignments and features. That the stage followed this corridor is fascinating to me, and I'm curious to know the stage's actual route. I'll bet it followed "the Old State Road." jim

Oh, ps. There's a road that exits Carlyle, IL, westbound labeled "Old State Road." It dead-ends at new US 50 and picks up again on the other side, then ends at some farm -- but you can see how it used to go through that farmland, across new US 50 again, and then merge into the path of old US 50. Very cool.

I'm going to have to figure out how to do Google Earth overlays. I spent some time the other day playing with this route. I'm really mostly interested in 50's original route, which merges with the current route somewhere in the middle of Illinois. I really want to see those bridges! Live Search Maps has better resolution maps of Illinois than Google Maps does, to my surprise. Anyway, I'll let you know when I get around to scheduling this trip. I'm still working on the Washington, DC trip with my kids, to happen in a couple weeks. I wrote Christopher Busta-Peck for recommendations about driving the National Road home and he gave me a lot of excellent tips.

Someone I follow on Flickr has made a number of visits to sites on old US 50 in eastern Illinois and has uploaded photos of some very cool bridges. US 50 was significantly rerouted in portions of eastern Illinois, and in other portions new 50 was built right nex to old 50, which is now used as a frontage road. Unlike along the National Road, Illinois seems to have left a whole bunch of old bridges standing on the old road. Here is one example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seinfeld99/3316151991/ Here's another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seinfeld99/3316950938/ These bridges are taunting me, daring me to drive out there to see them, and by George I think sometime this spring I'm gonna take that dare. If you dig old bridges, I recommend you check out this dude's Flickr pages. He seems to have made it his mission to document every old bridge (rail and road) in eastern Illinois and western Indiana. He has found some amazing stuff. http://www.flickr.com/photos/seinfeld99/ Peace, jim

I think we've talked a bit about a bridge on old US 52 in Indianapolis being demolished. I've been there taking photos this weekend and last, and if time permits I'll keep going back until she's gone. I've written about it on my blog: http://jimgrey.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/worn-out/ http://jimgrey.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/deckless/

What I can't get over is how small the building looks in the modern photos compared to the old photos.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090302/LOCAL1804/90302023 A bridge along old US 52 in Indianapolis is going to be demolished starting this month and then replaced. I live not far from this bridge; I think I ought to go over there with my camera before it's gone! I have had a hankering to do a US 52 trip from Indy north. A lot of this road was left behind when its routing was run down I-65. There's a few miles of a four- and five-lane segment on Indy's Northwestside that at certain times of day is just barren, but at one time was a major way into this town.

Found this link with photos of the old bridge. Maybe I'm wrong -- maybe what was being built is a replacement for the replacement. http://www.gribblenation.com/swparoads/ess.../mdtoyough.html

Is the Youghigheny Lake example fairly recent? Live Search Maps shows two bridges while Google Maps shows the old bridge with the new one under construction.

Alex, South Bend is rich in well-kept older homes along some of its grand avenues and boulevards. And Studebakers were common in South Bend even through my 1970s kidhood, even though the plant had been closed for years. As for Quinn Trail, maybe it is just that simple: they wanted a straighter route. Denny, it's been 24 years since I've lived in South Bend, but I'll help as much as I can. I have heard that the South Bend Motel is decent, but that's old info. I grew up near this motel and in all the years I lived there it always looked well kept, for whatever that's worth. I don't know anything about the Lincolnwood or the Kenrose. There's also the Drake Motel on South 31, south of the South Bend Motel. As for local eateries, my family used to really enjoy Barnaby's, a pizza/sandwich place on East Jefferson Blvd. near downtown(http://www.southbendbarnabys.com/). People say Bruno's (www.brunospizza.com/), another local pizza place, makes better pizza, but I loved the crispy edges on Barnaby's pepperoni a ton. Even though it's been 25 years since I've eaten there, friends in town say it's still as good. Hacienda is a local, homegrown chain of Mexican eateries and their signature "wet burrito" is really good (http://www.haciendafiesta.com/). If you're looking for something a little nicer, the East Bank Emporium (http://www.eastbankemporium.com/Emp/index.html) overlooks the East Race of the St. Joseph River and you can walk along the river from there. The downtown river walk is nice if the weather cooperates -- there's a series of paths and an old railroad bridge turned into a pedestrian walkway to take you over the river. South Bend has some wonderful bridges downtown, all done in the City Beautiful style and, IIRC, many designed by George Kessler himself; you can see them best from the river walk. IIRC, the river walk even follows, or runs right next to, the Lincoln Highway's original downtown path in spots -- the road has long been torn out next to the river. If you want dessert and coffee, the South Bend Chocolate Cafe (http://www.sbchocolate.com/locations.html) is on Michigan St. There are a number of bars and restaurants along Michigan and Main Sts. downtown, more than I have ever been able to experience. As for Bonnie Doon's, I haven't been to one since before the one on South Michigan St. closed, but my understanding that the one surviving store on Lincolnway in Mishawaka still does car service, still serves food, and still does ice cream -- your basic drive-in. My mom says the ice cream isn't as good as it once was, but it's still the brand she buys (you can get it at local grocery stores).

It's more or less done. I mean, I have to go back through the whole thing and clean up all my typos, and fill in some missing research, and add a couple postcard images I got since I wrote the pages. But all the photos are laid in to every county along the route. Man alive. http://jimgrey.net/Roads/MichiganRoad/13_St_Joseph.htm http://jimgrey.net/Roads/MichiganRoad/14_La_Porte.htm

I'm considering road trips for the coming season and this has put the YT on my radar. Thanks! jim

Wow! Elevates Mississippi as a place I might go someday, just because now I know where the roads used to go.

Check this stuff out! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ME:B:SS:US:1123

St. Joseph County is up, minus the historical research (which is to come). http://jimgrey.net/Roads/MichiganRoad/13_St_Joseph.htm

"Penguin Point, we're gonna put a smile on your face At Penguin Point, the people pleasin' place! Yeah!" Or so went the jingle in the 1970s TV commercials. They're a small chain in smaller north-central Indiana cities. Despite growing up more or less up there, I've never eaten at a Penguin Point! Schoop's: Sign's even gone. Waaay closed.

A post about the YT from my cohort in Plymouth: http://hoosierhappenings.blogspot.com/2008...ellowstone.html Too bad Schoop's closed in Plymouth; Pat tells me they were worth a visit. We'll have to find another spot for lunch when Dave jaunts on out.

Plymouth is a real gem among Indiana small cities. Even though all the highways bypassed it long ago, people have cared for the city pretty well. But make no mistake; Indiana's small cities and small towns are all in decline. In Indiana, only the Indianapolis metro area is growing, in population and economy. The entire rest of the state is shrinking. My guess is that in 10 years, towns like Argos will be a shadow of what they are today -- which is a shadow of what they were 20 years ago. jim

Marshall Co. is updated with the usual historical stuff: http://jimgrey.net/Roads/MichiganRoad/12_Marshall.htm I'm working on St. Joe County now. Then LaPorte Co. and that's it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=130286327314 This auction for a Mohawk Hobbs Guide to the eastern branch of the Dixie closes in a few hours, but I thought I'd mention it here. I'm not bidding on it. These things don't appear on eBay very often. jim

I love driving a manual transmission, so I seek them out. Anyone driving a manual-transmission Matrix or Vibe, the clue is that you'll start hearing a scraping noise and it will get louder over time. Mine scraped that way for something like 18 months. My mechanic told me he thought it was a bad throwout bearing and that I was ok to drive it until it got loud enough to really bother me, but he didn't know about The Flaw that made the tranny expire one day (when I was 75 miles from home). He said that once he learned about The Flaw that acting on it sooner would not have made much difference -- I was going to need a new tranny, period.

Manual. There's a known flaw in the manual transmissions from the first year or two of the car that makes them all crap out. Mine died at about 75,000 miles. I would have been fine with a used or rebuilt xmission, but those are hard to come by as Matrixes have proved to be otherwise hardy cars with few in junkyards yet. So I ended up with a brand new xmission from Toyota.

I like my '03 Matrix, I just wish that I didn't have to put a $3500 transmission in it last summer.