Jump to content
American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Larry F.

Full Members
  • Posts

    44
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Larry F.

  1. "On January 1, 1927, “Final location of the United States’ most important roads in the country was announced today by the bureau of public roads of the department of agriculture. The system as finally selected embraces ten main transcontinental routes designated by numbers which are multiples of ten while the important north and south routes are numbers 1, 11, 21, etc.”

     

    Thus reported the Chicago Tribune on January 2, 1927..."

     

    Balance of this nice blog entry on the Windy City Road Warrior site is at:

     

    Windy City Road Warrior

  2. Dave, Other than the Lincoln Highway, my other favorite road in Nebraska is Nebraska Highway 2, which runs from Grand Island (OK, really I-80 at Phillips) NW across the Nebraska Sand Hills, a great way to head for either the Black Hills or Devil's Tower and Yellowstone. And don't miss Carhenge near Alliance, Nebraska!

     

    Larry

     

    Larry,

     

    Yeh...tell me about it! B) I checked each of those in my Oregon Trail books and on Virtual Earth. But somehow I misinterpreted the image of Scott's Bluff. I knew it was a race against time, because once you spotted the photo, it was all over for me! :lol:

     

    Congratulations!

     

    BTW, I picked up a TIB for Nebraska the other day. If I can copy some of the maps without ruining the binding, I'll post them. Are there any specific roads of interest to you and yours (the Lincoln of course).

     

    Have a great Christmas!

     

    Keep the Show on the Road!

     

    Dave

     

     

    Here's an even better, "touristy" link for Nebraska Highway 2.

     

    Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway

    Dave, Other than the Lincoln Highway, my other favorite road in Nebraska is Nebraska Highway 2, which runs from Grand Island (OK, really I-80 at Phillips) NW across the Nebraska Sand Hills, a great way to head for either the Black Hills or Devil's Tower and Yellowstone. And don't miss Carhenge near Alliance, Nebraska!

     

    Larry

  3. Close by is another historical attraction, Robidoux Pass, which was on the Oregon Trail.

     

    Location: Two miles south of Gering on NE Highway 71, then 8 miles west on Cedar Canyon Road.

     

    Website for more info: Robidoux Pass & Trading Post

     

    Of course if one is traveling west on Nebraska 92 (close to US 26) toward the city of Scottsbluff, you'll also see Courthouse Rock and Jail Rock on the south side of Nebraska 92. These unusual rock formations were 2 of the first ""road signs"" met by westward travelers. Open year-round during daylight hours.

     

    Directions: 5 mi. S. of Bridgeport on NE Hwy 88.

     

    Courthouse Rock & Jail Rock

     

    You can continue on west on NE 88 and have a nice "side-trip" through the Wildcat Hills via NE 71 on the way back north to NE 92 and US 26 at Scottsbluff/Gering. Wildcat Hills

     

    Lastly, for now, near Bayard, NE, is the famous Chimney Rock.

     

    Chimney Rock

     

    Location from Bayard: 4 mi. S., 1 mi. S. of Jct of NE Hwy 92 & US Hwy 26

     

    (I know I'm sounding like a spokesperson for Western NE tourism. I am but not a paid one. In another lifetime, I used to travel on business all over Nebraska and I loved seeing the sights..and sites!)

     

    I suppose you know, Chris, but every now and again, part of Scotts Bluff "landslides" down onto the summit road. The State usually clears it fairly quickly, but the Monument IS softer rock which is eroding away. I'm also not certain that they keep the summit road open during the snowy season, but I haven't visited for some years, and am not sure on that anymore.

     

    Larry

     

    ...I love the arc in the park road and how it curves up into the tunnel that gets you to the back of the ridge to make the rest of the ascent up Scotts Bluff...

     

    Chris

  4. This is Scotts Bluff, the closest town being Gering, NE, in the County of Scotts Bluff, near the town of Scottsbluff., in the Nebraska Panhandle. Most times of the year, you can drive up to the top of the Bluff!

    (Yes, they are inconsistent in the spellings!)

     

    Oops. The State Highway in Nebraska 92 running west from Gering.

     

    This is Scotts Bluff, the closest town being Gering, NE, in the County of Scotts Bluff, near the town of Scottsbluff., in the Nebraska Panhandle. Most times of the year, you can drive up to the top of the Bluff!

    (Yes, they are inconsistent in the spellings!)

  5. The owners of the Plainfield Masonic Lodge, 24050 W. Lockport St (Lincoln Highway), and Joseph and Sally Conklin, who own the building at 24036 W. Lockport St., plan to renovate the historic structures and will get nearly $300,000 in municipal grant money to help pay for it.

     

    Built in 1892, the Masonic Lodge is one of the largest and most architecturally significant buildings in the downtown Plainfield area, according to village staff. It needs to be cleaned and returned to its historic appearance.

     

    The Herald News (STNG) Oct 18, 2007 Chicago News

  6. But still carry my collection of (folding) City and County street maps for when I need to fly by the seat of my pants. I'm "old school" but will consider changing if my boss buys us an iPhone.

    Chris Moore NJ Exit 7-A

     

    Chris, I'm married to a school library media specialist (in the old days they were called librarians, although I grant that the job is much more technical than it used to be). For years, the "futurists" and some in her profession have been predicting the demise of print books as all books would be available to read via computer.

    Some now say that newspapers will fade away, too, but I doubt that, too.

     

    There is something about having that piece of paper IN your hand. You look at it at YOUR convenience and can, when you have time, just sit and explore. I have a collection of maps and I love them. I like to sit down with my DeLorme Gazeteers and look for stuff I want to see.

     

    To date, I haven't found online maps that "comfortable", and doubt I ever will.

     

    One cannot "curl-up" with a good GPS or computer screen! B)

  7. Hi Larry F.

     

    Thanks for the heads up! I wrote the Trustees.

    Keep the Show on the Road!

     

    At the risk of giving away a "trade" secret of mine, one can - on many Google pages - and for sure at

    Google Alerts set up "alerts" to notify you when there is a posting on news, blogs, web pages, newsgroups, or videos OR all the foregoing sources, and have it notify you when there is something new, either "as it happens", "once a day", or weekly by email.

     

    Needless to say, perhaps, one of mine is "Lincoln Highway". You get a few extraneous and unimportant stuff - like the opening of a new tavern on Lincoln Highway here in my town, but overall, I find it great for keeping up.

    This is how I got the piece about the LH near Canton, OH.

  8. how many rivers (all alignments) does historic route 66 cross between Chi and Santa Monica?. I don't know the answer either....Bliss

     

    Wow. Interesting thought, but what comes to my mind is how shall we define "river"? Seriously, does it always have to have flowing water? How large? Or shall we go just on some official designation of river? In the loosest definitions, I would guess hundreds are crossed by Rt 66. With a tighter definition, it may be less than 100. I surely don't know! Good question! Thanks

  9. I first became aware of the ""Off the Beaten Path" series when I picked up a copy of

    "Nebraska, Off the Beaten Path" (Globe Pequot Press ISBN 0-7627-4424-3 Pub. Date:07/01/2007)

    but the same publisher has many, many other similar guides available which help travelers and

    road-trippers find the more unusual points of interest you won't find in the official guides published

    by the various states or the AAA.

     

    The publishers website is at Globe Pequot

    Once you're there, use the search term "Off the beaten path".

     

    "Eccentric America", is another good book, published by Bradt Travel Guides (ISBN: 1-84162-023-8),. This guide is broken down by section of the country.

     

    Of course these titles can also be search and found with Barnes and Noble, or Borders, etc. websites.

×
×
  • Create New...