DennyG

Even though geocaching does appeal to the geek in me, I'm rarely looking for things to fill my time on a road trip so figured that I'd never have the pleasure. But, almost in sync with this thread, some coworkers, learned of a cache in the woods behind our office. But this particular cache has a twist: Several digits of the coordinates are buried inside a crossword puzzle. And the crossword puzzle itself is a bit twisted with every clue defined in terms of another clue. Devilish. By the end of the day, most of the company had copied the puzzle and was looking for a starting point. Not long ago I found such a point and twisted my way through the puzzle. I immediately emailed my solution to several of the others attacking it (to get that email time stamp, don't you know) and thought I'd post the puzzle URL here for anyone wanting to dive in. I'm tempted to head to the woods this weekend but will try to wait to seek out the cache with some others on Monday. I know it's not exactly the "cache by the side of the road" you guys have been talking about but it is a geocache and it will be my first. The puzzle is here.

By my count, this trip is about to launch. Hope all is set and that you'll update us in time. I'm always curious about Ohio visits.

Most excellent!

Yep. Just like I remember it. Our time on Sixty-Six actually begins after the big turn in reel #3 and those who are both very observant and know what they're looking for can catch a glimpse of the Cozy Dog sign on the left side. There is another Cozy Dog connection in reel #4 just beyond the big bus. Spot Bob Waldmire's Mustang on the left and you'll see Bob behind it trying to figure out who it was who just yelled "Hi, Bob". I wonder how Ken Burns will take this new threat to his documentary film making crown.

Had I seen it I might have bid on that guide but I'd have run away well before it approached $56. The prices of all three of thoses items are rather scary.

I'm no authority on road construction and I have no doubt that labor intensive brick pavement has a higher price tag than spreading asphault but $500,000 vs. $27,000? I'd like to see a second opinion and maybe this attention will result in that. Clearly some good LH folks such as Lichty & Buettner are now paying attention.

Me, too. And many of my answers were wild guesses.

There's a new museum south west of Dallas that ought to interest forum members. RoadsideAmerica, the website, reports on Roadside America, the museum, here.

Dang it! I scanned it so I'm going to post it even if it isn't needed. It's a bit from a 1935 Illinois map I forgot I had. It shows IL-10 connecting, as advertised, Decatur and Champaign. Incidentally, did anyone else notice that the Wikipedia link mobilene posted referenced a marker identified by "Route 66 researcher Carl Johnson" who happened to be at our Alamo confab just the day before our stop at the marker. It is a small world after all.

'Maven's Memory Matches Mate's Mention That didn't take long. Next to this morning's French toast, I found Pat's recollection of hanging out with the bears in Michigan. And not only has Pat evened the score, both Repps have caught up with Jennifer, too. Thomas precedes Pat with trees and Becky follows with a whale.

I've just started thinking about a Christmas trip and, although I'm looking first for somewhere new, a return to Natchez via Memphis isn't out of the question. I think we were both driving toward Memphis at the same time last year but I didn't stop as long as you.

I've only been on bits of four of the ten and only one of those in autumn. Of the four I have seen, two were recommended by some guy named Repp. Maybe I'll just have to go see if he knows what he's talking about.

We all know that old maps are often imprecise and that even modern maps can be inaccurate. So, when an amateur puts the two together, inaccuracy and imprecision abound. In the attached smashup, I didn't get the scale conversion quite right but I can get Monticello and Seymour to line up pretty close using the 1926 PP-OO guide and a DeLorme SA2008 screen shot. I think that east-west PP-OO run near today's exit 169 makes a pretty good case for either the road with the marker or the two lane next to it being part of the PP-OO. Some of the IL-10 to IL-47 morphing is explained here http://www.n9jig.com/41-60.html but there seems to be multiple routes for the short east-west chunk of IL-47 with no firm indication as to which one was IL-10. I vote for the cement road with the marker.

Hey, I'm an old guy too and, at least as far as my boss knows, haven't even had a nap today so I'll need a lot of guidance. I thought that one of the several conversations going on here did involve whether or not the "STATE R..." marker was on a PP-OO section. Then I thought that KtSotR said he was certain that the PP-OO closely paralleled the rail road and, therefore, was never near the marker. I thought the logic made sense but doubted his believe that RR and PP-OO were parallel in that area. But, before I could ask what evidence he had of their coziness, the wife and the mailman both entered and any hope I had of understanding the exchange was lost. So, I'm going to act like I didn't "hear" the last three messages (Old guys do that a lot.) and go ahead and ask what convinced KtSotR that rails and road passed through there side by side?

With the Springfield festival behind me I've finally started reading a book that I picked up in July - Brian & Sarah Butko's "Roadside Attractions". I do most of my reading over meals (notice my well read waist line) and right in the middle of today's catfish basket I came upon Jennifer Bremer's recollection of Holy Land USA in Connecticut. Besides their own writing and photos, the Butkos' book is peppered with Fan Favorite sidebars like Jennifer's. Some are from folks I recognize and some are from people I've never heard of but all give a personal glimpse at one of the country's roadside attractions. A nice "guest appearance", Jennifer.

My goof . Here you go: http://www.dennygibson.com/temp/maps_etc/ (But, in my defense, I did get it right when I first posted it on Sep 16)

The GPX files are still up at http://www.dennygibson.com/public_html/temp/maps_etc/ as is a PDF that I originally put there for Rick's use. The GPX that begins with the upper case G is tweaked for Garmin MapSource and the other is straight from SA2008. But... because of the road chopping, my route through the White Heath area resorted to the expressway and it was only Rick's knowledge of the area that put us on those other roads. What is known is that, in this area, the PP-OO of 192x followed the IL-10 of 192x. Both Rick's Sep 26 post and Pat's Oct 4 post show the general route of IL-10 (and Rick's identifies it as the PP-OO) but neither have enough detail to show whether or not the segment beside the marker or any of the other segments were once IL-10. Satellite images and on site observations can show where some road went but not whether that road was IL-10. That, I think, requires some map/library work. Jennifer, if you'd like something other that the GPX (e.g., a DMT) I can get it tonight. Edited to correct links.

That reinforces the statement that, in 1925, IL-10 ran through Springfield and Monticello and points in between but it doesn't show which, if any, of the White Heath area roads not buried by I-72 was IL-10 of the day. I think a county (or finer) level map is in order.

OK, fellows. Here's some fuel for anyone wanting to get serious. The marker location is shown on the attached map. It's near I-72 exit 169 SW of White Heath. DeLorme, Garmin, and others label it Old Route 47 but you'll note that Old Route 47 labels are easy to come by in that area. The current IL-10 is a bit north of here but the IL-10 of today is clearly not your grandfather's IL-10. For one thing, IL-10 is described as going through Springfield in 1924 and it goes nowhere near there today. On the other hand, it seems likely that IL-10, ABB-53, and the PP-OO were one and the same for at least some distance immediately west of here. I believe that's the primary reason that Rick & I jumped to the conclusion that if this was a state road it would probably be IL-10. Anybody got a 1925 Piatt County map?

Yes indeed. I think there is much interesting poking around to be done in the Saint Joseph area. And other places, too, of course. The video is great and answered some questions I had about the power stations and interurban operation. Cool. Agreed that there is something betwee the 'R' and the 'O' or '0' but I'm not so sure it's a '1'. We may have to sneak out there in the dark of night with shovels and lanterns

I did and assume that's where mobilene got lost. I have photocopies of the 1925 and 1932 guides and there are some interesting differences between the three. Where the 1928 guide has "US ROUTE 40" in a big box, the 1925 guide has and the 1932 guide has nothing. I'm guessing that the 1928 guide replaces this with "US ROUTE 66" further west and maybe something else somewhere else. The 1932 guide actually includes US-66 in its title. In a conversation with roadmaven over the weekend, I mentioned that western folks tend to associate the NOTR with US-66 and eastern folks tend to associate it with US-40. Apparently that change occurs somewhere between Cincinnati and Indianapolis since this forum has a "National Old Trails Road / Santa Fe Trail / U.S. 66" sub-forum

I finally had time to play a wee bit and I like it. Zoomify seems a very good way to handle images of this sort. The layout looks good but I'm curious about growth plans. I'm guessing that a hierarchy will develop as content is added. For example, will the Indiana series of PP-OO Guide pages (nice pick, BTW;-) some day be moved down one level and accessed by a "PP-OO" button? Now, I must respond to mobilene's getting lost (virtually, I assume) in Ohio. The basic problem is that US-40 doesn't go through Dayton. Both the National Road and US-40 passed to the north of Dayton but the National Old Trails Road went right through it by following the "Dayton Cutoff".

The train almost certainly ran to Springfield but I don' know its official designation. I've scanned this article but have yet to accomplish a disciplined read. It may hold that detail. In Yorktown, IN, I noticed a new building with a sign reading "New Interurban Transportation for Eastern Indiana". It caught my eye and I've since done some Googling. It seems to be a good concept but not tied to rails. Some info here. Electric interurban transportation may come back any day now.

I made it home and have two days of PP-OO travel at http://www.dennygibson.com/rt66fest07il . Of course, it is preceded by a couple of days on some other road. Rick & I solved the Danville mystery (closed bridge) and I solved the intractable routing in Anderson (one ways) but uncovered enough new questions to more than make up for it.

I saw that posts were occuring but didn't have a chance to even read them until just now. But, instead of getting caught up, I see I'm now behind by one entire website Looks great, KtSotR, but as sorely tempted as I am, I don't dare go beyond the home page today. Good looking avatar, too. MGA?