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This makes me itch for a trip to CA. I could probably easily spend a week driving interesting roads, it looks like. Is that old alignment of 395 still driveable? jim

KTSOTR, Wow! Thanks for posting those images, Your Moderatorship! They will be very helpful as we make this trip. I'll be interested to see whether we cross the railroad at all the places indicated as we drive what I believe to be the old road. I had heard that the Indiana and Illinois portions of the National Road were never very good as funding ran out. I chuckled when I read on these images that this road was considered poor, with one section full of chuckholes! I can see that my life is not going to be complete until I get myself some of these guide books. BTW, I did a more detailed review of the satellite maps this weekend and saw lots of places where the current US 40 appears to be just yards away from the old Natl. Rd. (also labeled the Cumberland Rd.). Some of it appears to be officially drivable, some of it does not. Here's an example. Moderating would be fun, but I am pretty new around here and I do have a plate that's 120% full already; things keep rolling off it. (Like now. Because I chose to answer this post now, I will be 15 minutes late to work.) So let me continue to enjoy this ride for now. I'm so glad you enjoy my contributions. I'm more glad to find others of like mind. jim

Rick, I'm glad to hear that you get good results by practicing the fundamentals. It's encouraging to me because I'm just learning composition myself. I've been practicing the rule of thirds as best I can, and also trying to frame shots so motion is suggested, and am seeing improvement. I hope I learn the patience you seem to have, setting up so many shots just to get that one! jim

Rick, That last shot you posted of the bridge, with the road leading up to it, is wonderful. To me, a road running through a photo is like a verb running through a sentence -- it creates the action. That little curvy road segment says come-hither, and the object is the bridge. And then you can see some of the bridge's architecture from that angle! You have a nice eye for composition. jim

Thanks for the links, Denny! Even though I lived just on the Indiana side of the line, within spitting distance of US 40, for 9 years, I've never driven the road into Illinois! I'm going in with little idea of what I'll find. That's both exciting and daunting! Hey, I'll be in the Cincy area on the 4th for the big to-do in Blue Ash. (Heart is playing; I'm a big Heart fan. 4th time seeing them.) If I wore a hat, I'd tip it to you as I drove in. I'll be driving US 52 into town rather than I-74, of course. jim

I used to work in radio years ago, on a rock station, and I loved it when Radar Love came up because it was long enough for a quick dash to the restroom.

Yes, I am planning an Illinois National Road / US 40 trip (Indiana line to Vandalia), July 7th, with a friend who digs the National Road too. If there's a way for you to get me info from your book, I'd love to look for at least some of the stops and see what I can photograph for you. I haven't begun to research that trip yet beyond some cursory flythrus on Windows Live Local -- maybe this weekend. jim Oh, and by the way, I spent my spare time this morning looking at the IUPUI maps and barely made a dent... I work for a software company and my work involves automated testing of the software we make. Today, I'm executing some automated tests, and except for checking results and starting the next test there's not much else I can do, so it's a great day for looking at maps two or three minutes at a time in between. jim

Wow, KTSOTR, you are one researching machine! This is a fabulous resource. It's not surprising that US 36 was built on existing roads, but to see proof of that is fascinating. The question I always have is: At what point did the road cease to be a convenience for the people who lived there, and instead become the reason people settled? Thanks for finding these great resources. jim

KTSOTR, I find those guidebook scans to be pretty exciting, actually. As I follow the paths they recommend, I can see those roads as they are today in my head. In the second one, at 3.7 mi, it says, "Fork, bear right, leaving National Road. Go under RR 4.2 ..." What this suggests to me is that this is directing drivers to branch off at where Rockville Ave. branches off, since it involves going under the RR, not at Rockville Road, which avoids it altogether. Maybe Rockville Road didn't exist then? That idea excites me. It looks kind of "tacked on," after all, on the satellite map. I also find it verrrry interesting that the guidebook said the best route to Terre Haute was through Rockville. That's madness today; I-70 gets you directly there in an hour. And it supports assertions I've heard that the National Road was iffy in spots through Indiana as funding ran out for its construction. Sounds like, for whatever reason, the PP-OO route out of Indy was better built or maintained or whatever. I found it interesting that the route between Rockville and Terre Haute did not involve any of what is or was US 41, not until it reached North Terre Haute, at least, and Lafayette Ave, and later where it said to bear left onto 7th St. I've driven some or all of that route between TH and Rosedale a few times. It's all farm roads out there, mostly (if not entirely) paved. What's REALLY interesting to me is that, among all the "5 corners" mentioned along Lafayette Road, there's no mention of a "12 corners" or "12 points," an intersection of a bunch of streets along Lafayette Ave. that creates 12 corners there. I used to live in the 12 Points neighborhood in Terre Haute, in a house three blocks away that existed at the time of this Guidebook! Maybe 12 Points wasn't so difficult to figure out and didn't need to be brought up. Pat, thanks for the link to the General Data Viewer. I looked up the house I had when I was married (just behind Broadmoor CC at Kessler/Cooper) on the 1956 map and was surprised by how much of the surrounding neighborhoods didn't exist yet. That thing is a little tricky to use, you're right. When I get some time I'll look up the property of the church I attend, which has been there since 1839. I'm told that there was nothing, but nothing, around it until about 10-15 years ago. Peace, jim

How cool! See, now, I'm willing to post my educated guesses about what is an old alignment, but it is just awesome that you have confirmed this one! I'd love to see the turn-by-turns from the 1917 ABB. I may have to look on eBay or something for one of these books. jim

Thanks, guys, for the nice feedback. It sure feels nice to share here and have people of like mind respond. Most of my friends in RL say, "US 36. Welllll. I'm sure you had a very nice time." I love to explore, I love to research, and I love to imagine what life was like before. I was born with these proclivities, as far as I can tell, and I have found great pleasure in them all my life. I get to do them all when I go looking for where the road used to go. Mr. Keep the Show on the Road, I'm still fairly young -- I turn 40 in August -- and I've fully come to the road hobby only of late. I can't imagine what this hobby must have been like 20-25 years ago when you were out there finding your way. With just a little bit of effort on the Internet, I've found all of you, all the old maps I can stand thanks to eBay, information about sleuthing methods, and even writeups of others' road trips to pave my future trips (so to speak) ... pretty much anything I could want to explore America's roads. I've had Internet access for 18 years, but this level of information hasn't been available until fairly recently, maybe the last 5 years, I'd guess. I do have a story from back then. I was driving US 40 westbound east of Columbus, Ohio, when suddenly I found the highway buried under a hill, atop which sat I-70! Here's a post I made to rec.autos in 1994 about that encounter: click here. Nobody in the Usenet groups seemed to know anything about this road then. Over time, I started to wonder if I'd really seen what I saw! But a couple months ago, I found photos of it on the Internet, at http://www.roadfan.com/national.html (search for Morristown on the page). You can imagine my excitement! When I drove it probably 17 or 18 years ago, the road was still in top shape, and there was a guardrail down the center of the road that ran right into the hill on which I-70 was built. Oh, and that 1920s PP-OO guide might not involve what is now US 36, since in the 1920s I understand that the road was routed to avoid pretty much every major city along its route. Maps I saw online show PP-OO going through Crawfordsville, which is a bit north of US 36. Denny, it would be my real pleasure if you were one day to drive those old segments now that I've pointed them out. I've found plenty of old segments because of the earlier work of others and I would be pleased to be a part of that chain of shared knowledge. Thanks for the link to Mike Buettner's site. BTW, I have crossed over into Ohio a few times. I drove US 35 to West Virginia in 1990 -- I guess they rerouted it since then, but when I was on it we stopped at the Bob Evans farm for dinner, and then crossed into my dad's home state of West Virginia. And I really enjoyed a drive I made along US 33 between Columbus and South Bend in 1993, I think. Alex, I've been no farther than Chrisman, IL on US 36, but in my opinion the character changes to bowling alley at about SR 63 in Indiana. Pat, I'll make a note to visit that saloon in North Salem! I adore those twisty little drives you can find in unexpected places in Indiana sometimes. Thanks for confirming my hunch about how old 36 used to flow just before downtown Danville. The perfectly curved segment of grass, bordered by trees on both sides, visible in the satellite map sure seemed like a big clue. I was kind of figuring that the Bellore alignment was decommissioned when the paved segment just south was built. I'd like to go see US 66 one day and will check out the resources you linked to. I'm up for a drive any time we can coordinate our schedules. Thanks, everybody, for reading my trip writeup! Peace, jim

I had Memorial Day unexpectedly to myself this year, so I piled into my car with a stack of maps printed from Windows Live Local and headed west down US 36 to Rockville, seeing as many segments of old alignments as I could find along the way. I started at US 36's original eastern terminus at old US 40 in Indianapolis and, from there, saw two covered bridges, a two-mile segment of a dirt/gravel road, and watched old US 36 go into a lake on one side and come out the other. As I was researching the trip for my writeup, I learned that an older alignment of the old Pike's Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway followed the general path of US 36 through here. The PP-OO's path looked a lot more jagged than US 36's, even on my 1927 map, so it's hard telling what parts of US 36 or the old alignments I found were part of the PP-OO. But it is satisfying to think that travellers have passed through this corridor for at least 90 years. Read all about it at www.jimgrey.net/Roads/US36West. Peace, jim

You gots lighting secrets and you's willing to share? Lay them upon us. But your composition shows skill. Look back at the photo of the Waterville Garage and look at how the lines of the hotel sign are in the same direction as the side wall of the garage. This creates good perspective, and guides the eye across the photo. jim

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm putting the finishing touches on the writeup of a trip down old US 36 in western Indiana and you all will be the first to know when it's posted. I'm planning on doing the National Road in Illinois on July 7, and a leisurely, nostalgic drive down as much of old 2-lane US 31 still exists between the Michigan line and Indianapolis on July 28. jim

I'm amazed by the quality of the light in your photos. You must have built some skills to have captured the dusk and morning light so well, and to have the neon and incandescent light pop! jim

Denny, thanks for all the photos of the Plymouth. Some of the best I've seen. I also especially enjoyed the photos of the abandoned segments of old 66, but I can never get enough of that stuff! jim

Loved the pics of the old road stretching out. I think my favorite is the 2-lane ending for I-40 (was it?) and picking up on the other side. jim

Wow, I had no idea C. W. McCall had so many albums. I had the "Convoy" (b/w "Long Lonesome Road") single as a kid and about wore it out. jim

Consider it sucked up, sir!

Thanks for the link, man. Just what I need, another reason to kill a whole evening on the Internet! ;-)

My mom, bless her heart, cut out an article for me from IN Michiana Magazine about the Lincoln Highway in South Bend, where I was raised. The article itself is pretty lightweight but it does have two old photos from the road, one of a streetcar stopped along the road in town, probably from the 1930s, and another of the road being built, parts unknown. The photos were supplied by the South Bend Mayor's Office, which seems like an unlikely place. The magazine is available in its entirety as a PDF file online. Go here: http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs....GORY=inmichiana Until the July, 2007, issue comes out, click the "current issue (PDF)" link to read it. Otherwise, click the "past issues" link, and click "June, 2007" on the page that appears. Then scroll down to page 40. My main memories of Lincolnway through S.B. as a kid were of when I had to go to the doctor -- his office was on Lincolnway West. So I didn't much care much to be on Lincolnway when I was little! jim

Thanks for posting it! I glanced through it and like what I see. I'll set aside more time to look through it tonight. jim

It's been a long time since I read the article. If I recall correctly there was mixed success, with some bikes being stolen. I tried to search for info about it on the Net, but a couple minutes of searching didn't turn up anything. Wish I remembered more. jim

Didn't they try something similar, but with bicycles, in Seattle a few years ago? Bikes were left around the downtown area, and if you saw one you could ride it to your destination and leave it for the next person who needed it. jim

Let me make clear that Bainbridge is not the kind of small town you describe. It is too small! There's nothing really there -- no hospital, that's for sure, and probably no school. Main Street is decaying storefronts, not viable businesses vital to the town. Well, except for the bars. You know what I mean. jim