DennyG

I just finished John & Lenore Weiss' "As the Story Goes..." over breakfast and I thought everyone would want to know that:-) Actually, I'm hoping that someone has an update on one of the stories in the book. For those who don't know, "As the Story Goes..." is a collection of stories with a Route 66 connection ( see http://www.il66authority.com ). The stories are short - most under a page - so it's a great "intermittent read". You can put it down between stories and come back days later and not have to reread several pages to reestablish your place in a complex plot. Of course, if you do happen to reread a page or two, no harm done and, if your memory is anything like mine, you might not even notice. There are even a few pictures in the book including one of Ron Jones' attractive legs. My question concerns the story that appears one page in front of Ron. "Celebrating His 66th Birthday" describes how 66 year old Geores Buttner-Clevenger drove, bicycled, and jogged Route 66 six miles at a time. The story ends by reporting that Geores is writing a book about the trip and I'd really like to know where that stands. Does anyone know when I can get in line for a copy? --Denny P.S., Love the yellow daisies on the front; The only bit of color in the book. Lenore's touch I'm guessing.

I'm currently using DeLorme Street Atlas but have used Streets & Trips in the past. These two seem to be the leading computer mapping/routing products and I believe they offer similar capabilities. Several years ago I looked at these plus AAA & National Geographic branded offerings and settled on DeLorme. The primary reason, as I recall, was DeLorme's facility (called vias) for forcing a route through a specific location. I believe that S&T is now much improved in this department but haven't personally looked at it for about five years. I've just recently installed SA2006 and am slowly getting familiar with it. I know it's a wonderful thing but there's a lot of new tricks for this old dog to learn. (I haven't uninstalled SA9, yet:-) I usually have a printed atlas in the car but seldom open it and can't remember the last time I used a modern printed map for planning. Old maps, both printed and online, are a different story. When a trip involves retracing an old route or trip, old maps are key. Of course, finding current equivalents of old roads and then getting a route to use them can be a fairly challenging "computer game". Fortunately for me, it doesn't require Halo 3 level reflexes. I do use printed history and guide books. Not for every trip but if a trip is at least a little bit in the future I'll spend some time reading anything related that comes to hand. Sometimes books are readily available for a specific road (e.g., Route 66, Lincoln Highway) or area, and there are bunches of "Ten best trips in/from/near..." publications. Some books (e.g, Horatio's Drive, Blue Highways) will just get you in the mood for a road trip and that's a form of preparation, too. The information highway certainly provides a lot of input. This forum and other e-groups can provide information and are clearly the place to go with specific questions. Sometimes just putting a town's name into a search engine will turn up something like a museum or historic site I didn't know about. If I'm concerned about finding lodging in real-time, I'll look for, and sometimes book, motels online. But, if I only make one online visit for a trip, it will almost be certainly at RoadsideAmerica. What a great website and you can now enter a city and get a map with attractions marked. Now, actually following a route is another story.

I received a note today from a fellow who just came across a stock certificate from the National Road Turnpike Company of Clark County (Springfield) Ohio issued in 1877. 185_ is printed with 77 written over it so the company may have been formed in the 1850s. My guess was that it might be a company formed to take over a portion of the National Road as the feds were running away from it but I really have no idea. I've never heard of it before. Any other ideas or guesses?

I'm one of those people who forgot to take a step back when the word "moderator" came up and now I am one. "Trip Planning" sounded like one of the forums that I'd be following closely and Jennifer made sure I had a front row seat. I've planned a few trips myself (and enjoyed more unplanned ones) but haven't begun to approach the point where I consider it a science. I saw the title of this forum and figured it would be a good place to learn how others are planning routes, pre-picking some stops, and then following those routes and getting to those stops. Modern mapping software and GPS units are wonderful things but they aren't exactly tailored to roadies. They'll get you from point to point and probably let you select whether you'd like to minimize time or distance. They might even offer to pick a scenic path for you. But they're not much help in finding the 1930 alignment of US-66 through Illinois or how the Lincoln Highway once traversed Nevada. And they're not likely to tell you that the world's largest collection of used lighter flints is only twenty miles out of the way let alone how to get there. Yet some of us/you manage to find those alignments, actually follow large pieces of them, and visit some of the world's largest things. I'm thinking that how we do that is kind of what this forum is about. Of course, others might have their own ideas of what "Trip Planning" means and I'm not so much trying to guide discussion as to start it. Moderating an empty forum is easy but not very interesting.

http://www.route6tour.com/ is the Route 6 Tourist Association site. I've personally only been on US-6 between Mansfield & Warren, PA. That is a very nice drive and, judging from the squiggly path east of Mansfield, that should be pretty nice, too. And then there's all those other states it goes through.

Yesterday, Becky officially announced the birth of this forum to the e-group and the transition has begun. E-group members have been migrated here but passwords and instructions have yet to be mailed. That makes for a quiet time on both fronts. I got in by using my e-group ID and requesting a password reset. That means I get to write something on this mostly blank slate and wait for the faithful to arrive. I suspect it won't be long.