DennyG

Ahhhh, the weekend and a chance to catch up on videos. It appears that some of the videos haven't worked their way through the Vimeo system yet but no matter. I'll be back. The videos I did watch, from both Vol 1 & 2, give a nice sense of the trip. From the orange workers practicing their synchronized kick dance atop the truck (Rockettes beware) to the guy at the drawbridge explaining to his daughter just where the road disappeared to, it's good stuff.

I've had no trouble (other than that 10 year backlog:-) with PennyFarthingWorldTour this morning but wasn't looking anywhere near the time you posted so can't say if there was a problem with the site or not. I'm guessing that your "Last Indian" comment refers to the Anthony Hopkins movie "The World's Fastest Indian". Even if it wasn't, I appreciate the memory jog. I recall seeing ads for that and thinking that I really should see it but didn't and had since forgotten. Your reminder may get me to a rental store in the near future. Good balloon stuff. With the sky color approximating this forum's background color, I thought at first glance that the balloon posted here was floating on the page.

Congratulations, Dave!!! A major accomplishment and one that is certain to provide memories and stories forever. Plus, as you've already hinted, inspiration other trips and return visits. Well done.

If you want to see the LH in Ohio, Mike Buettner's phenomenal online collection of articles contains just about everything you'll need. For the NR, I suggest getting a copy of the guide that RoadDog helped advertise here. Of course, Frank Brusca's site has a goodly amount of information and several NR trips are covered on my site though they're not really organized for trip planning. A good day trip for Indiana folks would be the two-Madonna Richmond-Springfield loop with one way using the NR and the other the Dayton Cutoff. The entire loop could be driven in three hours if that were your goal but there are plenty of places to stop to make it a full day (or longer) outing.

OK. I think I've finally caught up with all the HT posts and pictures and have acknowledged that I'll never get in all the replies that I thought of and which were abandoned with the next photo. Great stuff.

True, but some folks are going to more interesting places on more interesting vehicles than others. I'm just marginally keeping up with "Oasis" and now I'm hooked on reading about this penny farthing thing. And I'm 10 years behind!!!!!

Lookin' good! I remember reading of this project but came up empty when I went looking for it recently. Looks like there's a good chance that won't happen again. Alex, I understand your comment and would normally agree with you completely but this is, I believe, a special case. I'm certainly no fan of the mass posting of unlabeled photographs that remind me of the boxes of unidentified photographs that I (and you and you and you) have in the closet nor am I a fan of mechanical projects like Matt Frondorf's American Mile Markers (although it is interesting) but Brian's 89 project is different. He's got rules Of course, even with good "rules", the concept could easily be overused. Brian has a good eye and a good road and it takes both. Maybe he could do something pretty interesting with just any old road but using US-89 helps.

Yeah, it seems everyone but you and me had got that message and now even we have caught up.

Fantastic!! I need to be getting over there to sample the tenderloin and you (and lots of your neighbors) need to be giving them all the business you can.

I'm home from a three day outing centered around the Ohio Lincoln Highway League meeting in Galion. Friday was spent getting there along an original (and short lived) alignment of the LH. The meeting and some Galion sights filled the second day and the third day was used to take in some of the National Road then get home. All three days are at: http://www.dennygibson.com/ohlh0408/index.htm P.S., I occasionally saw some of the many forum postings that piled up during those three days but had no time to read them all or respond to any. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Big welcome, Ara. I honestly got excited when I saw beemerchef on a post. I've subscribed to your RSS feed since about the time I started this thread which was - can it possibly be?!?! - just over a year ago. I don't visit the blog with every new post but do get there somewhat often. Of course, when I do visit, I'm almost always hit with regret that I didn't immediately click each RSS entry when it appeared but sometimes that's just not an option. theoasisofmysoul.com is a wonderful blog and I think excerpts would be welcomed although that's not really for me to say. That "administrator" title was bestowed for a long completed specific task and no one's bothered to revoke it. (Jennifer, now might be a good time.) I'll keep watching and hoping our paths someday cross so I can accept that coffee offer.

It looks suspiciously like the RoadsideAmerica.com folks are picking up tips by trailing American Road Magazine forum members. First they had an item on the new museum where Dave Reese parks his McLaren (or something like that) and now they've posted something about the Gangster Museum of America in Hot Springs just a day after KtSotR passes through town. Coincidence?

I'm guessing that you're passing through Eureka Springs on US-62 and US-62 is, as Michael Wallis would say "a road of my interest". It goes all the way across the country and its even number means east-west but it touches Canada and Mexico rather than Atlantic and Pacific. Like the better known US-66, it does this by angling from northeast (Niagara) to southwest (El Paso). But it does meander a bit and Eureka Springs sits on a section that runs toward the northwest. US-62 was one of the last roads I would have guessed would form part of the Hypotenuse Trail but there it is. Strange but true.

The museum got some attention from RoadsideAmerica.com with an entry here. And best of luck with the McLaren negotiations, Dave.

Although the automobile lanes of the old US-80 bridge have apparently been closed since 1998, Delorme, Garmin, and Google will all route traffic across it. Perhaps you could have bounced across on the railroad ties for an ultra-retro experience. Nice coverage of Utica & Georgetown. I've never been to either but I now know they're worth visiting. On a hunch, I did a web search for Utica & Kevin and found this Cambridge Antiques site. There is a link on the "About Us" page to a newspaper article from a few years back which I'm guessing is about your new friend. And now, a suggestion. The display sequence of topics in each sub-forum is by response date so that when someone comments on a post from an earlier date, it moves to the front of the line. After few more days, it's likely that even you won't be able to remember whether the "White Sands..." post came before or after the "...Gulf Coast..." post without some head scratching. Including the date or a number in the Topic Title, will let future readers easily reconstruct the sequence of posts and would even help dedicated "real-time" readers handle things when they come along after a reply or two has been posted.

I'm assuming that, by "Highway celebration events as the annual Route 66 Fun Run", you're thinking of events that celebrate some highway and have a significant automotive element. Events that meet that definition and which I've attended include one each San Bernardino Rendezvous and Woodward Dream Cruise and three Springfield, Illinois, Route 66 Festivals. I've also attended a fair number of car gatherings that had no connection with any particular highway and some highway related celebrations with little or no car culture connection. I've yet to attend the Route 66 Fun Run.

Yeah. Let me know how that works out. As I've said before, one of the reasons I can do what I do on road trips it that I'm usually alone and one of the reasons that I'm usually alone is because I do what I do. About the only place that technology is liberating on a road trip is on the road. A properly fed GPS can help you follow the course you've planned but first you have to feed it and plan the course, of course. But it's also enabling and there in is the surprise cost. In 1980, in order to do what you're doing now, you'd have to hurry your film through a 1-hour photo processor (available only in the larger towns), select a few photos to get multiple copies of, type or write out your trip report, get it copied (or write it over and over), stuff pictures and report into envelopes addressed to folks you think might be interested, put stamps (admittedly much cheaper then) on them all, and drop them off at the post office. Naturally, no one in their right minds would have even considered doing that in 1980 but, in 2008, quite a few of us (not necessarily in our right minds, either) have at it largely because of the technology. We appreciate what ever you manage to post and thank you for it. Good stuff all.

I suspect that's what woke me up because that is exactly when I first looked at the clock but nothing unusual registered with me. Co-workers have reported feeling some quite noticeable shaking.

We're sure glad you showed up. I was starting to fear that a 'gator had grabbed you or homeland security was still sorting through those digital maps on your hard drive. Food poisoning?! A rental contract with a 4 digit penalty clause !? And a kibosh on the Keys?! Well... at least you're having fun. Good photos. The Everglades may look like "grasslands", but they're not something you want to tackle with your Lawn-Boy Walk Behind. The Redland Hotel looks cool and so does the bridge. Those who follow are sure to appreciate the marked poles. Congrats on getting this journey underway.

Glad you asked. I've been thinking of some sort of post here but just hadn't got it together. I believe this is what has transpired: The weekend of May 17-18 was selected and the intent was to run west to east with a stop at the Clabber Girl museum in Terre Haute. The Saturday night motel had not been selected. While the voting was taking place, another commitment came through for me that weekend and some unexpected expenses prompted the Bremers to curtail travel plans in general. With neither of us actively involved and other area residents probably held to only participating for one day, the thing lost steam. I think the last accounting had you & Susan plus Bliss & Mary Sue ready for any weekend and mobilene & Chris in for one day each. Well, I still can't do the 17th but could probably do another weekend in May. I believe the 10th & 11th is out because of Mother's Day and the 24th & 25th are part of Memorial Day weekend. The 3rd & 4th may be too close and apparently wasn't popular anyway but that or the 31st & 1st is all that would work for me. If you and Bliss and maybe at least another car (Chris, mobilene, Bucfan, RoadDog, mmarkley, Kip?) or so want to do one of those weekends, I'll try to do some coordination. If not, maybe as Bliss suggested, we can do it in the fall. P.S., I see that Pat posted while I was thinking about it. Maybe just letting this simmer until more interest builds is the better idea.

Do you have your route all planned? Maybe you could start a topic with your plans and, if you have any, questions. Be sure to tell us about the trip once you get underway.

Methinks you are correct regarding 66 & LH. Don't know about 6 & 52. It occurs to me that Joliet could be a candidate for "Crisscrossroads of America". US 6, 30, and 52 enter Joliet from the east in nice north to south numeric order just as AASHO intended. But when they exit on the west side, 52 is in the middle with 30 heading north and 6 heading south.

Yep, those hill folk sure can be obstinate and they do seem rather fond of split routes (31, 25, 41, 62, etc.). I've noted before that Tennessee might lead the nation in split US highways but Kentucky has its share, too. I didn't know that they actually battled AASHO over them. Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum.

That is a pretty good stretch. Besides the "Y" bridge, there are a couple of "S" bridges, Ohio's Madonna of the Trail, at least one very nice brick section, and, for your next pass, the National Road Museum at Norwich and the Pennsylvania House in Springfield. If, as I'm guessing, you took I-75 at Vandalia, you missed the Dixie Highway East & National Road "Crossroads of America" by about half a mile but you did drive over one of the "dam dents" created in response to the 1913 flood. Matt's family (actually his parents, I think) own Bunker's and either he or his sister (whose name I still can't remember) are usually there when I stop. Almost always on a Saturday. Seems odd that a bartender wouldn't know him but maybe my weekend only visits give me a very narrow view of the place. Glad you liked it. BTW, Springfield, Ohio, was home of the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company from which a certain 1960's rock group took their name. Neil Young - National Road: well under six degrees of separation.

"the earth is curved" "there is civilization in Key West" "they are too many convertibles in Florida..." "...and not enough in Seattle" Despite these clearly outlandish claims, I wish you loads of success in this venture. In particular, I hope you find a magic spot to let Dad serenade the Mighty Mississippi. I wish I knew the area well enough to suggest a spot but I don't. I do know that the river will probably be at or near flood stage when you're there so it may come to you rather than you having to seek it out. Maybe just let the music blast as you cross at Helena. It looks like you've got the route pretty well defined. That map looks like DeLorme and, although I know you said you were working with their topo maps, I'm wondering if you've got something going in Street Atlas. If so, and you'd care to make a dmt or other file available, maybe some of us could follow along. Also, be sure to get a picture of yourself with whichever, sow's ear or silk purse, you decide to travel with. Either would surely make a good photo to use in the autographed glossies you'll undoubtedly be called on to hand out once the trip is complete. Bon voyage.