mobilene

Yes, Denny, that photo was the American Road Rorschach test; what do you think your interpretation says about you?

My Internet flashbacks stretch to about 1990, when I first got Internet access. I posted to USENET newsgroups like a fool, mostly in rec.radio.broadcasting, bit.listserv.techwr-l, rec.autos, and rec.autos.driving. The oldest USENET posting I could make Google find is from 1992, about the double-height radios in GM cars. USENET contains the first words I wrote about what was then a beginning-to-bud interest in the old roads. I was in eastern Ohio trekking back to Indiana from New Jersey when I dove off I-70 and followed US 40 for a while... right up until I unexpectedly found I-70 built right on top of it! US 40 in Ohio Story jim

The high gas prices have not at all kept me off the road. But I'm like you, Pat, in that I drive a gas-sipping car. Given that my trips are seldom more than a day from home, the trip cost difference between $3/gal and $4/gal gas has been entirely absorbable.

Alex, I upload my photos to Flickr. You can use any photo hosting site, though. In Flickr, I go to the page for the photo I want to upload here. There's an "All Sizes" button there. I click it, and then I click the "Medium" link, which displays the photo at the size you see here. There's an area at the bottom of that page with an address for the photo; I copy that, and then come to this forum, start a topic, click the Insert Image button, and paste that address in. jim

Chris, this is the second time I've used the directions, and they're good. I found myself confused by the route in a couple spots but I think that was more due to its chopped-up nature in a couple places. jim

A friend of mine and I made a day trip to Madison on Saturday, and we followed Chris Rowland's excellent Madison State Road directions on the way down. Where the Madison State Road keeps wandering around either side of US 31 north of Columbus, there's a bridge that is similar to some I've seen that I know to be from the 1910s and 1920s. It's a cement arch bridge with a closed cement railing; it is narrow, with no shoulder between the edge of the lane and the railing. Here's a photo of it southbound. Notice the new railing at the north end. Looking over the edge where the new cement was grafted on, I could see the old railing lying on the riverbank below! So I got a wild hair and went down to investigate. The pieces of railing made for excellent footing. The sun was almost directly overhead, making it hard to get a photo that wasn't washed out, but here's a photo of this old girl from below. The arch structure clearly showed the remains of the framing, which I assume was wood, into which the concrete was poured. Click through any of the photos to see them larger, and to see more photos from the site, on Flickr. I also geotagged the photos so you can see exactly where the bridge is. I don't have any evidence beyond my tingling Spidey sense to prove it, but I would be very surprised if this road is not an old alignment of US 31, or at least of State Road 1, its predecessor. But today, it's just 550 E, paralleling current US 31 by about 1500 feet where the bridge stands. jim

I visited the Madison-Indianapolis section of the Michigan Road again on Saturday, this time with a friend in tow. When we got to that stone bridge, we found that the creek had gone dry. So we took the opportunity to go under the bridge to see what we could see. It was clear that some restoration work had been done. Somebody had scratched "10-1-1997" into the concrete of the new support. I'm no restoration expert, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Here are some photos from under the arches.

Oh good heavens, am I that transparent? :P jim

You know, the most vocal of us here are, I think, pretty hardcore. We follow dusty old alignments to where they trail off into nothing, climb down creek banks looking for bridge remains, consider and evaluate highway construction methods, "clinch" entire highways, swap stories about the people and places that weave their way through a road's history, and so on. We are explorers and amateur historians and wannabe civil engineers. Yet the magazine looks to me to be about two-lane tourism. I see the magazine appealing to people interested in a jaunt down the old two-lane, stopping for dinner, staying in an old motel or a B&B, doing some shopping, taking in the historical sites, enjoying the local color. I'm sure somebody will let me know if I've not captured the essence correctly. I wonder if people in that audience come here, see the serious roadgeekery going on, say, "Nothing for me here," and move along. I wonder if the pump here at the AR Forum needs to be primed with more about two-lane tourism so that that audience finds something they can plug into. I don't think that means we roadgeeks need to tone it down or go away, just that both groups find something interesting to them when they come. Peace, jim

Round these parts the place to go for fall colors is Brown County (Indiana), but of course everybody knows that and so the roads are clogged.

That's great, Jennifer! I have good memories of one in my hometown, a bike ride away, that had a chrome soda fountain. It's gone now. jim

In Indiana, west of West Terre Haute and just before reaching Illinois, old US 40 follows the National Road's path until it ends in the fill where I-70 and modern US 40 merge. 70/40 lies on the National Road's path, then, for about 1.75 miles, and then just inside Illinois the road curves away. A mere 2,000 feet inside Illinois, traces of the old brick National Road appear. This is because when US 40 was first rebuilt in Illinois in the 1950s, it was built next to the National Road. I found the first traces of it inside a wooded area. If you dig down a bit with the toe of your shoe, you find brick: Years of decomposing leaves and such have covered the old road with about an inch of dirt! But the fact that no trees are growing show a clear path through the woods: As the road emerges from the woods, the bricks become visible through the grass: Soon, however, the old brick road is plainly and cleanly visible, and remains so for the next 25 miles or so: You can actually drive on some sections of the old road -- completely at your own risk, of course.

Many thanks to Becky Repp and roadmaven for setting up a place for us hardened roadgeeks to talk about the abandoned roads we've enjoyed. My post about the Abandoned Roads group on Flickr will be moved here, and then we can all share stories and photos of places where cars used to go! Peace, jim

That's tempting. I've wanted to see the NR in eastern Ohio for a long time. Kind of long for a day trip, and that's all the time I'd have. I'll have to think about it.

I'd never heard of the Delta Queen before this year, when it was waiting on the Ohio River during one of my trips to Madison to explore the Michigan Road. Seems wrong to bring this old ship's cruising days to an end.

I can see how a road might once have gone through there. How much you want to bet that tree just left of the violet line stands in the middle of the roadway!

I didn't think there were any Ben Franklin stores left!

This is just too cool. I'm almost drooling over the two-track goodness of the 11th St. alignment and the paved one-lane. Where did that paved segment go, northbound, from where it ends today? Did it once cross that river/creek? Any ideas? The old Nash Met is a nice surprise, too.

I've created a group on Flickr for photos of abandoned roads. I've found a couple other nuts out there like me who love to photograph and geotag 'em, and so far 289 photos have been added to the group, and less than half of 'em are mine. If you have some abandoned road photos and a Flickr account, geotag those suckers and add them to the group! I'm hoping that in time the group can be a resource for anyone looking for an off-the-official-road adventure. http://www.flickr.com/groups/abandonedroads/

I've always wondered about the Woodridge, too. I used to drive by it all the bleeping time, since I lived out that way for nine years. When I lived there, I'm almost positive, the rooms opened to the parking lot; today, the exterior doors are gone.

Unfortunately, that puts me out. :-( It was going to be a long shot anyway. jim

You might try sending that scan to the fellow who developed the Web site. He might be able to help you pinpoint the location.

I wonder if people at the University of Washington (or some other hallowed Pacific Northwest higher educational institution) would be interested in this.

That's really neat. I wonder if the summit's signed!

Wow! That's one of those moments when you feel all tingly as you're standing on that ground, knowing what it all means! What a great day! jim