DennyG

A bell carrying caravan is heading from Vandalia, IL, to Cumberland, MD, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the start of construction on the National Road. I tagged along with them yesterday as they traveled from Norwich to St. Clairsville. Some pictures and words here.

No needs just now but will certainly keep that in mind. So much for simplifying the collection, eh? Hope you're still targeting Ohio's National Road this month. It has some drivable brick sections, too.

I attended the Ohio Lincoln Highway League in Ashland over the weekend and I followed it up by driving a little of the LH. The report is here. The meeting is on day two with an LH drive from Mansfield to Beaverdam on day three.

I've no personal experience but the latest edition of the Route 66 Federation Dining and Lodging Guide that I have (which is, embarrassingly, a 2004) rates it as "exceptional". Things could, of course, change a lot in seven years.

Nope. No paddle shifters. It has very few options at all. Just a "magic" mirror with Homelink and some winter related stuff (e.g., heated things). The Premium model is, to my way of thinking, pretty well equipped with stuff like Bluetooth & USB connections, power driver's seat, and the aforementioned moonroof. I'm a little disappointed that the moonroof doesn't tilt but it's so big I guess I can overlook that.

The automotive shuffle has ended and the garage overflow is no more. The Vibe and Corvette have moved on and a Subaru Forester has moved in. It's a dark red Premium model which is the lowest level with moonroof and it's an automatic. Combining its four speed with the three in the Valiant's Torqueflite, I now have seven they-pick forward gears compared to the eleven I-pick gears I had previously. That's a bit of a downer but I can change. If I have to. I guess.

You really did your homework on that one. I know I saw the movie once but you make me wish I'd paid more attention.

Can anyone identify currently available Garmin GPS units that support downloading routes (not just waypoints) from a PC (e.g., via MapSource)? Or point me to some place this is available? Or identify a non-Garmin GPS unit with voice navigation that supports downloading of routes?

A timely post from my point of view since it restarts a GPS conversation just when I may be in the market. Rick, my use might be a bit different than yours. I imagine I've described it in a post around here somewhere but here's a quick review. My primary use of GPS it to feed back to me, via voice, a preplanned route while I'm driving. I prefer DeLorme software for plotting but they offer no GPS units with voice and the laptop-in-car method seems awkward to me. So I lay out my route with DeLorme Street Atlas, export it to a GPX file, import the file to Garmin MapSourse with CityNavigator maps, tweak and download to a Garmin Quest. Two things cause me to think about a new unit. One is that the built in antenna seems to have quit working. That's not a huge problem in a car since I have an external antenna but it rules out (or at least makes difficult) using it as a handheld on walkabouts. The second is that maps compatible with the Quest are no longer produced. When you're usually following eighty year old roads, that's another not huge problem but I do sometimes use the GPS for help finding motels, diners, and such and having out of date listings isn't all that good. So, any guesses what Garmin unit might be closest to my Quest? I realize that touch screens are "in" and I'll have to give up the push-buttons I've grown accustomed to but I NEED down-loadable routes & voice guidance and I WANT walkabout functionality. City Navigator, the current Garmin street map product, says you can plot and download routes to certain GPS units but, when I've looked at descriptions of specific units, all I've found were references to downloading way-points. Any insight would be appreciated.

Welcome to the forum. From my short visit, your website and maps look quite interesting. You must have some good tales about living on Sixty-Six as well as driving it. I've done some geocaching but not much lately. The forum administrators, Jennifer & Pat Bremer, were into it quite heavily at one time but I'm not sure if that has continued.

With the exception of some of the details, that's essentially the impression I had from your blog and your posts here. Three decades of medical advances should really help in seeing that the "interesting coincidence" doesn't go much farther. Since Athens, Ohio, is the target area closest to me, I'm curious about its connection with your parents.

Good stuff. The word "refreshing" came to mind almost immediately when I fired up your video with Angel Delgadillo. My impression is that you had only the vaguest of expectations when you reached Seligman and that Angel & Vilma were, at least to some degree, a real surprise. Most long-timers here and in other roadie groups preach the doctrine of preparation. It's a basically good doctrine that tries to let folks use time efficiently and not miss somebody's idea of a must-see. But it does that by downplaying discovery. Hearing from someone with an appreciation for the road -- and roads in general -- who stopped in Seligman without ingesting a ton of advance publicity was very cool. And very refreshing. And that Amboy sunrise and the fact that you put some effort into seeing it was pretty cool, too.

When I first read "to make the journey that was originally planned by my parents back in the 1970s" in the first post of this thread, I thought that a specific route may have been plotted but never followed. I figured the idea was to follow that route as faithfully as possible on current roads. Then, when I read the first entry in the "Mac and Phyllis take a trip" blog, I realized that "planned" didn't refer to a single vacation outing but a hoped for extended period of driving about the country. (See the USA in your Mercedet.) That's a whole lot different but maybe you can still follow some of their likely/possible routes. Did they talk of specific places they wanted to see? If so, maybe you can include some of them. What landmarks would have existed and been popular during their '70s planning and their '80s driving? I'm certainly in favor of some of the other suggestions about learning the even older history of areas and I'm a big fan of named auto trails but, having spent significant effort and money duplicating your parents ride why not try to duplicate part of their route. Get a 1982 road atlas ('82s are a lot cheaper than '28s) and try following the roads it contains as much as possible. Most, but not all, expressways existed by then so it won't be radically different from a current map ('82s are a lot easier to follow than '28s, too) but it may give you a better feel for their planning process. It probably won't alter your final route much at all but it might alter your perception.

Good story. I hope the New Yorker finds a home and I agree that the library & Museum near Independence would be a good one. I know they didn't fit the story but I'd still like to see some of the other Creason treasures.

A bologna topped 'burger. Wish I'd thought of that. Sounds good and it's now on my list.

Very cool. A couple more museums, Dave, and you'll never have to leave home.

Great find. Those were the days when roads had knotholes rather than potholes.

That is indeed that sort of trip that tends to make some of the folks around here, me included, drool. I live in Ohio and I see that Athens is on your itinerary so maybe I can help with that section of your trip. Or maybe somewhere else. I also see that KtSotR has already asked some questions to help focus things. I'll probably have more to say after your response. For now, welcome to the forum. You certainly have a great adventure in front of you and I hope we can help.

Yes, as luck would have it, the most recent post in the blog is one of the least inviting but even it was funny and both Tom & Jan are clearly less intimidated by guns than Dave or Denny. The preceding post was quite different. Curiously, you have to go to the archive link to find it as something else entirely appears as the previous post on the main blog page. This is the blog post that trully preceded the Nicaragua border crossing though it's a bit out of geographic sequence. It's mostly video and posting those tends to be delayed a bit. I started following them when they were in the southwest USA and have continued through Mexico, Belize, etc. I'm sure I'll never follow in their tire tracks but it's fun to watch.

I recall reading about this but it was many miles and at least a couple of kids back. Since then, those kids have certainly learned a lot more than I have. They mention "meals that included monkey and live ants". Well, I've had meals with live ants, too, but I try to brush them off the picnic table before I've eaten many. There are neither old cars nor young kids involved but here's the blog of another world traveling couple that I've been enjoying.

The article at least leaves some hope that the building might be saved.

Thanks for the photos. I'm guessing that last shot is of the abutments that Jeff describes as "sitting right in the median". If so, then I'm further guessing that they are near the point where the unnamed road running west from Empirita Road turns north to pass under the expressway. Is my guessing close?

Yep, I have thoughts so serious that they're almost plans. You might even say I'm making an exactly half hearted attempt to keep up with the Reeses. Even before the purchase of the Valiant moved the Vibe outside I had thoughts of doing a two for one swap on the part of the fleet built in this century. I hadn't really considered a Mini as a long distance some-times-on-expressways traveler until Dave bought a Clubman and declared it a great road trip car. It's been on the short list since then and yesterday I finally drove one. The highway ride was indeed better than I thought it might be and, since I drove a Hardtop, I know the longer Clubman would be even better. Then I drove the other top member of the short list, a Subaru Forester. Since then, I've been rotating the two cars through the number one spot just about hourly. The Mini would be a lot more fun and its gas mileage would be better (35-27) while the Forester gets the edge in practicality and would enable me to drive some of those roads that have scared me off. Neither my budget nor my garage allows both a Mini and a Forester so, unlike Dave, I'll have to pick up on one and leave the other behind.

Hmmmm... I can't find Ohio State on the schedule and I'm afraid to wait any longer. I'm now a member of a PBS station that I can't pick up no matter which way I point the rabbit ears but my Red Green ticket is on the way.

It's now close enough that I can be sufficiently confident in a clear schedule to get a ticket. Shows are sold out through the preceding weekend so I best not be waiting too much longer. Since there were a couple of maybes here I figured I'd post this then wait a bit to see if anyone wants me to bundle their tickets with mine. If you do, let me know before Ohio State tips off against North Carolina or (maybe but not bloody likely) Marquette on Sunday.