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Yep, it's a Western and Transcontinental. It's not right in front of me but I do believe it also says Vol 4. Funny, I thought I detected that familiar chill that accompanies doom. I suppose that when my roadsleuthing eventually radiates beyond the confines of the midwest, I'll want to have more of these guides. As it is, I can see myself buying a smattering of midwest guides from various years just to compare routes. I know what it is to have a collection so large you lose track of what's in it, and then you find something in it and enjoy it anew. I used to have a very large collection of viniyl Lps, so large that I'd buy stuff, bring it home, go to file it, and realize I already had two copies. jim

I keep forgetting that when you use the same handle all over the Internet that you're not hard to find. As luck would have it, I found and bought a 1924 ABB, vol. 3, yesterday. The description says it covers "OH and KY over to Minn, Iowa, MO." So I should be good. I spent some time looking through my 1922 vol. 4 yesterday and just thoroughly enjoyed it. I mostly looked at the ads. But I learned that this volume does include certain major cross-country routes, including the National Road across Indiana. I was thrilled to learn that a road I wondered about, aboug halfway to Terre Haute, was the National Road in 1922. I photographed it last year (scroll to the bottom of this page). But I was really following a section that used to be US 40 in there -- in the photo, you can see how the pale cement curves off and, curiously, ends at woods. The cement road is old 40, while the Natl. Road kept going straight. Keep, perhaps you can identify with the elation I felt. Alex, I'll keep you in mind if I ever decide to ditch the 1922. jim

Hee hee hee! From the ABB. But I've got the PP-OO on the brain still after my recent trip.

Well, maybe a .100. In prep for my upcoming US 31 trip, I scored a c. 1930 St. Joseph County (South Bend) map and a 1922 Automobile Blue Book. Both arrived. Neither are what I thought. The ABB is Volume 4, which in the teens covered the midwest region -- but by 1922, as the number of ABB volumes shrunk, Volume 4 came to cover the entire western US. Not an Indiana road in sight. I knew about the volume shrinkage, but I didn't think to double-check with the seller before I bid. The St. Joseph County map is advertising supported -- and one of the ads is for Crosley and RCA televisions. That places the map as no newer than about 1948. In addition, the neighborhood I spent my first 9 years in is on the map, and those houses didn't go in until about 1950. The ABB is pretty much useless to me today, but I'll shelve it in case I ever motor west. The county map is still interesting. It showed me parts of the downtown South Bend route of the LH that I have never seen because since my memory kicked in the road has been removed in those areas. That was moderately cool. Well, I guess I'm learning. jim

You're a brave man, roadmaven. Or crazy. There's a fine line. ;-) jim

What? In this harrassment-crazed age?

niiiiiiiice. Thanks for sharing, Dave. Keep, back in my USENET days we would have said that bus was an "ObRoads" -- obligatory reference to the board's topic, here roads.

I was driving around 465 this weekend and saw one of the overhead digital signs saying, basically, "Because of flooding, stay the heck off of I-65 if you're going to Chicago." I'm sure sorry you had to deal with the bad weather up that way. Sounds like you experienced the textbook case of "white-knuckling it." jim

I really enjoyed a few of the photos in that blog. There's one of a brick segment, at road's-eye view, that I thought was a great angle on it. jim

Awesome!! Great story, and the shot at Schell Creek Range is really good. jim

I drove the last leg of this trip, Rockville to the IL state line, last Saturday. But this trip was much more a hunt for the PP-OO than it was a mere drive down US 36. A strip map from a 1915 TIB Guide provided a lot of clues. Just by the shape of the road on that strip map I was able to make some good guesses about PP-OO's alignment all the way to Chrisman, IL. I got to excited about the PP-OO that I forgot to take the obligatory photo of the Illinois state line, which marked the end of the US 36 trip. To pick up where I left off, in Rockville, go to this page and click "next" at the bottom of each page. On the last page, I've placed a link to a bonus page, on which I trace my drive along the PP-OO from Chrisman back to where the PP-OO rejoins the US 36 route just west of Montezuma. Let's just say there's not much more than corn on the PP-OO out there. Peace, jim

The morning news program I watch uses software for its traffic reports that still shows SR 100 running up Shadeland Avenue. SR 100 was entirely decommissioned years and years ago. jim

I always thought Trigger was the dog and Lassie was the horse. What do I know? I grew up on reruns of Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch.

Rest easy, my friend, the map I used appears to be right. I was jus sayin' that I was running a risk because I was using a source that I knew contained errors elswehere. I was just caught up in the heat of the moment. You know, Steubenville, where Dean Martin was from. jim

Yeah, well, I was using Google Maps, which says that US 40, US 31, US 52, et al, still run through Indianapolis. And I've never been to Steubenville. So I was only reporting what a source of questionable reliability was telling me. I was just excited to be sleuthing. jim

Sorry for the confusion. I'm using Google Maps, which might help with some of the naming disconnects. Google Maps shows the road I labels OH 43 as "US 22" from Wintersville east, as well. I assume this is old US 22, since current US 22 is to the north. The segment of OH 43 from current US 22 to where it Ts out in Winterville is not labeled US 22. But the road it Ts into is labeled CR 22A west of that intersection. So all of this suggests to me that this is US 22's original route through here. The TIB Guide map at FHWA makes it look like PP-OO goes through Steubenville, which OH 43 does, while current US 22 does not. I'm making a semi-educated guess that the PP-OO could have been simply numbered as US 22 here in 1926. So much of that went on across the country then that it seems a reasonable theory. Of course, I could be completely off my nut here. If you try this route, note that CR 22A ends at US 22 just east of Hopedale, and picks up agein a short distance later. It looks like you can climb up on US 22 for that short trip. I can see that I misunderstood CR 2 as OH 2; sorry about that. I agree that US 36 is probably PP-OO but I think that doesn't start until Ulrichsville; isn't that where US 36's eastern terminus is? That's why I'm guessing at US 250 or CR 2 as the PP-OO. CR 2/Deersville Ridge Rd sort of curves into Cadiz from the west, meets up with Main St. (old US 22), and curves on out of town from there -- and this sort of matches the curve that the TIB Guide map shows. US 250 does not make as graceful an entrance to Cadiz as the TIB Guide map shows. But US 250 could have been rerouted to intersect with US 22 better; perhaps Dennison Ave. there is old US 250. Boy. Cadiz is kind of a tangle isn't it? Out of Cadiz, I think that US 250 I found a Web site that shows the former Laceyville, OH as being under the southeastern tip of Tappan Lake, probably right where Deersville Rd. intersects US 250 there. Can't find anything on Franklin (except for another Franklin elsewhere in OH), but my guess is you're right, it's under water. That these two towns were on what is now US 250 suggests that, at least from the lake to Ulrichsville, US 250 (or perhaps an older alignment that is now under water) is the PP-OO. It seems likely that 250 could be PP-OO from Cadiz to here. If my Deersville Ridge Rd. thought is right, then the PP-OO would probably have followed it to Brough Rd, then Brough up to US 250. But that seems awfully circuitous. I hope this is helpful -- really, I've just enjoyed this as an exercise. jim

East of Cadiz? Here's what I'd drive. Coming from WV across the Ohio on 22, I'd get on OH 43, probably via University Blvd. Past Wintersville, where 43 bears right, I'd stay straigh on CR 22-A. My guess is this is old US 22. Take it into and through Hopedale, where it becomes Old Hopedale Rd. It becomes OH 5 east of East Cadiz, and then Main St. in Cadiz. I'm a little confused about where to go from within Cadiz. Seems like US 22 is the right route (though OH 2 to Brough Rd/Addy Rd could be it too). I'm just guessin', based on the PP-OO strip map available at FHWA and the shape of roads on Windows Live Local. jim

Just as long as I'm not right behind you in my little car!!! :-) Especially on a winding road, I like to open up the throttle a bit, see how my suspension holds the roads through the curves. I've been behind too many RVs for miles, wanting to curse the driver's name if I only knew it. Driving something as large as a school bus frightens the bejabbers out of me. I don't even really like driving a full-sized van, although I can do so competently thanks to a summer driving them for a courier service back in college. Give me a little car any day. jim

Hm, I thought White Castle had to be nationwide. They're tiny little burgers with tiny "steam-grilled" patties. I can't stand the smell of them so I won't eat them. My roommates from college used to drive an hour to Bloomington (home of Indiana University) to get them. They'd bring back a big bag of them and put them in the fridge, stinking the thing up for weeks. jim

Thank you for letting me live vicariously through your road trip writeup! What an exciting view of Dugway Pass. I love how the road stretches and then curves back. The section in the left of the photo is saying, "If you drive me now, you can be all the way out there soon enough, you know." A road in the middle of a photo is like a good, strong verb in the middle of a sentence. When I read your "Up Next" tag, at first I thought you were going to ask whether your GPS loses its flavor on the bedpost overnight. Looking forward to the next installment! jim

Thanks for cluing us in! Hard to believe you'd find such haute cuisine in such a small town. Hopefully you'll be able to add photos sometime. jim

These photos have me itching!!! I especially like the "classic view" of the Lincoln and the shot of Mistway Road. Thank you for sharing! jim

Heh. Walgreen's had 2G SD cards for something like $15 last week. They were no-names, but still.

I got an EasyShare Z730 on closeout. Mine sounds a lot like yours, Alex, except I got the exotic battery. The one that came with the camera was good for about 75 shots. I was constantly running out of battery in the middle of a trip. So I bought a second, fatter battery that lets me take about 300 pics. But I wish now I had given a second look to a camera that took AAs. jim

These are fabulous!!!!! A few reactions while I have just a minute. 1. The Official South Bend TIB Station at 200 W. Jefferson, Ross Martin's Garage, doesn't exist anymore. South Bend's big civic center, the Century Center, sits on that site. I remember when the Century Center was built in the late 1970s, but don't remember what was there before. 2. Perrysburg is an unincorporated town today, with a few homes along old US 31 just before it disappears into a farm field. 3. The SB-Kokomo route appears to follow old SR 1/US 31, although roughly in some spots. That funny jogover at Peru was part of US 31 until they rerouted it in the 70s, however. 4. The "left" Kokomo-Indy route may follow old SR 1/US 31, at least up to Carmel. My maps going back to 1930 show US 31 bowing wide west just north of Carmel to line up with Meridian St. in Indianapolis. This map shows entrance to Marion Co. (now Indy) on Westfield Blvd., which IIRC my old maps say was SR 431 years ago. SR 431 is now moved east of there a few blocks. 5. The "right" Kokomo-Indy route appears to use what was the first alignment of IN SR 37 from Noblesville south. SR 37 has been realigned twice and is now muxed with I-69 through there. Allisonville is no more -- where it was is now the site of the state's "most dangerous" intersection, with the most accidents per year anywere in Indiana. One day I'll take a trip up Allisonville Road with my camera. Anyway, I don't recognize the rest of this route, from Noblesville north, though I have been to Atlanta on a train ride, from the Indiana Transportation Museum in Fishers. Atlanta doesn't have much going for it anymore. Well. That took more than a minute. We cross posted! The map is wonderful! It shows the classic US 31 route, except that it may still enter Indy on Westfield Blvd. This is just the stuff I have hoped for! Ok, now I must close my browser and get back to work, or I will surely get lost in that map, tracing the roads I know exist today. I found Miami Road on it right off. jim