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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

mobilene

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Posts posted by mobilene

  1. Unexpected Stop In Logansport, Indiana

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I drove home from Thanksgiving in my hometown Friday evening. I decided to try a new-to-me variation on my usual Dixie Highway route, which was to stay on US 31 to US 24, and then take US 24 to Logansport and rejoin the Dixie.

     

    US 24 through Indiana is a big four-lane slab. But since it was dark and drizzly, I got a little confused and ended up on what turned out to be Old US 24, a winding two-lane. The sixteen miles zipped by in no time, and soon I entered Logansport, but in a part of town I'd never seen before.

     

    After I passed through the retail district on the edge of town and entered a residential area, traffic became thick. I made a turn onto what I thought was the Dixie but was very wrong as that road ended two blocks later. I wandered briefly through heavy traffic (in little Logansport? What gives?) until I found downtown. And then no matter which way I turned, I found the streets closed! I felt like the man in the old Electric Company skit, "No left turn, no right turn, tow away zone, no way home!" (Anybody here of the right age to get that?) I kept backing up, turning around, driving a block, finding a barrier, backing up, turning around, ...

     

    Finally I spotted a police officer by one of the barricades. I got out of my car and explained my plight. "I'm just passing through and with all these barricades I'm pretty lost! I'm just trying to get to State Road 29." I hoped he knew what I meant, because 29 hasn't actually run through Logansport in years. But it was the most modern name for the Dixie that I thought he might recognize. He thought my story was funny, so he opened the barrier and let me drive down the closed street. "Turn at 3rd St. That's 29." I could almost see it in his face that he knew it wasn't really 29, but that it became 29 when its modern path flowed back into the old Dixie Highway path. I was on my way.

     

    As I drove south on the Dixie, I searched for a radio station. I happened upon Logansport's lone FM outlet, which was broadcasting live from downtown Logansport for the annual Light Up Logansport parade! That sure explained the traffic and the barricades. If I wasn't now thirty minutes behind schedule to pick up my sons, I might have turned around to see!

     

    This happened only because I accidentally found myself on the two lane.

  2. Indiana National Road Documentary

    in National Road / U.S. 40

    Posted

    I met with Nancy Carlson, director of the Telecommunications Dept. and producer of this film, today for coffee. She happened to be in town. She is still in the figuring-out-what-stories-to-tell phase. She told me that she wants to tell the stories of people on the Road in Indiana, past and present, especially past. She admitted that she is trying to avoid an eastern-Indiana bias because that's where she's located, and is interested in leads from western Indiana. I told her about the house in Harmony and suggested the Clabber Girl museum in Terre Haute. She said she'd like to find a farm along the Road that has been in the same family for many generations, and find the story of a pioneer woman who could be a real-life Madonna of the Trail.

     

    I brought my 1916 and 1922 ABBs, my 1924 Auto Trails Map, and several 1930s-1940s gas station maps to tell the story of the road itself in more modern times. I told her about the resurgence of the road in the early 20th century, and showed her in successive maps how it was widened over time to its current 4-lane state, reflecting the need for a major artery across the middle of the country. I suggested that she could probably find any number of stories across the Road from the day that I-70 was opened, and how traffic and business immediately went from a gush to a trickle. I'm not sure she was that enthusiastic about this idea, but she did take plenty of notes. She really liked the 1916 ABB and it's description of the road from Indy to Terre Haute, and asked for permission to shoot photos of my copy someday if she decides to work it in.

     

    She is also seeking Indiana artists (music, painting, etc.) with links somehow to the Road to contribute. She's talking to a Bloomington-area bluegrass band today, for example; they recorded a song called National Road.

     

    Since she is still in idea-gathering mode, I'll bet she'd welcome further leads from this group. I can pass them on or put you in touch with her.

     

    I enjoyed the chat with her. She is clearly excited about the project.

     

    Peace,

    jim

  6. Driving The Brick Road In Illinois

    in National Road / U.S. 40

    Posted

    A friend of mine shot a little video of me driving my car down an abandoned, but accessible, segment of the brick National Road in eastern Illinois, just a few miles west of the Indiana state line. This gives a really nice idea of how close the old Road is to current US 40 (in most places), shows how narrow the old Road is (really -- it was the original US 40, folks), and shows me basking in the rumbly glory of its excellent brickness.

     

    Jim on the National Road

     

    I'd like to embed the video here, but the forum doesn't seem t handle HTML.

  16. Thanks For The Great Posts On This Forum!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'm taking the Fall Foliage Tour with Pat, Jennifer, Denny, et al on Saturday.

     

    Then on Nov. 10, an old friend and I are going to go over the brick portions of the National Road in IL with a fine-toothed comb. We figure a lot of leaves should be down by then, helping us see stuff otherwise hidden by them. My friend showed me a brick segment of the road a couple months ago that I didn't find on my last trip -- on the other side of US 40 from where I thought the Road went through there.

     

    jim

  19. How To Drive The National Road In Maryland, To The Extent That Google Maps Will Allow

    in National Road / U.S. 40

    Posted

    Beautiful!

     

    I dove right into the first section. About four years ago I was in Baltimore on business (I worked for a Medicare contractor then; Balt is the world's epicenter of Medicare) and, quite by accident, ended up on US 40 and drove it all the way through town. It was quite an adventure. But I wasn't aware that it didn't follow the route of the old Road!

     

    And to think I was this close to the Road; Medicare imperial worldwide headquarters are on Security Blvd. just west of 695; a short jaunt down Rolling Rd. and I would have been there! Grr! Alas, this was before my roadgeekery went into full gear.

     

    Instead, I drove the other way up Rolling Rd. and had a fabulous meal at the Windsor Inn Crab House, which the government paid for. Not bad.

     

    Anyway, I appreciate your effort to document the route as best as possible given the tool you used.

     

    jim

  20. 1937 Road Movie

    in State Highways & Other Roads

    Posted

    Seriously, the two lane roads in the movie do look like I remembered them, with the concrete split in the middle and the white posts for guard rails. Note the absence of white lines in many cases.

     

    Who needs a stripe up the middle? The crack in the cement does the job!

     

    While driving at night, I live by the white line on the edge of the road. Especially in the rain. I honestly think I'd have to stay home at night if there were no white lines.

     

    I recently saw a 1939 photo of an Indiana numbered state road in Posey County that had no lines on it whatsoever. Seems odd to me, but I guess a paved road out in the sticks might have been a big deal then. Stripes were unheard of luxury.

     

    jim

  21. Milestone Maps

    in National Road / U.S. 40

    Posted

    Hey, it's been said that I wouldn't know humor unless it smacked me in the face. Then again, if it smacked me in the face, I probably wouldn't find it funny, either.

     

    Which was a funny thing to say! Which, if you think about it, creates a paradox. Unless you didn't know you were saying something funny, of course.

     

    Anyway, Chris, I'm glad you found us here. I have found that it doesn't matter how far into the depths of my road-geekery I reach, if I bring it up here, people respond enthusiastically!

     

    Now, Denny said that only two IN milestones exist, and none in IL. I was not aware that IL or IN had any! I surmise that the two left in IN must be out east, probably close to OH. I haven't followed the NR in eastern IN yet, in no small part because my research shows that US 40 follows the old road pretty closely. As anyone here can tell you, I live for the old alignment, and if it's abandoned, all the better. That's why I've enjoyed your photos -- lots of old road.

     

    I would very much enjoy a CD of the USGS topos along the Road. I'm in no hurry, though; I've got a couple short trips planned for Nov, but after that I'm hanging it up until the spring.

     

     

    I can't find a "view on map" button. Do I need a Flickr account? If not, maybe you can give me the button's coordinates.

     

    On the right side of the page, scroll down to the Additional Information section. Under the copyright notice there's an item telling where the photo was taken, with (map) in parentheses. "map" is a link; click it to see the photo's position on the map.

     

    Peace,

    jim

  23. A Few Approaches To Replacement Milestones

    in National Road / U.S. 40

    Posted

    I certainly agree that it is better to replace a stone, when necessary, with something as close to the original. But given the order-of-magnitude cost difference between the fiberglass and iron markers, wow, I'm not a bit surprised that some places go with the fiberglass. I think the history is lost when the original marker is lost, and that replacement markers are a mere shadow. I'm just glad that there is enough care to replace them at all. jim

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