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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

etchr66

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Posts posted by etchr66

  1. If you had to break up a Route 66 trip in to say three separate trips where would you break it? I would say Chicago to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City to Flagstaff and then Flagstaff to Santa Monica with a stop at Laughlin for a little righteous casino time. What say you, please chime in where you would make the breaks. 

     

  2. Thanks Jim. We really enjoyed the drive on US 40 in Ohio. We also drove US 40 across the eastern part of Indiana, from the state line to Indianapolis. We only had 2 days on this trip to do the drive from Wheeling, West Virginia to Indianapolis. That was enough to see the main things but not enough to see everything mentioned in the Ohio US 40 guide by Doug Smith and Glen Harper. That is a wonderful guide and makes for good reading even if you can't drive the actual road.

     

    We had a great stop at the Our National Road Welcome Center just across the border in Richmond, Indiana. The lady there was very helpful and gave us a guide they had done on what to see on Our National Road in Indiana. There is another Madonna of the Trail there in Richmond.

  3. I just wanted to let everyone know about a great web site that I found that allows you to make personalized maps. Better yet it generates a very short url that you can share with others or you can even rename the url to a name of your own choosing. It is also very easy to add titles, descriptions, contact information and even images and videos. Best of all it's free to use. The site is called "a map to" at http://amap.to

     

    Just enter a location, hit enter and a nice scaleable map appears. From there you can hit the help button and watch the video that shows you more about how to personalize your maps. I also discovered that they have great customer service as well, with super fast response if you have any questions.

     

    Enjoy and safe travels,

     

    etchr66

  4. Dave,

     

    I am certainly not an expert on the subject, but I suspect that it has to do with the location of the county as being near lake Erie and the amount of Snow that it receives. Also the county appears to have the insight to protect, promote and preserve the bridges that it has. There are a nearly 200 covered bridges in Pennsylvania as well and some of its counties have nearly as many as Ashtabula County, Ohio. There is a very nice website for the Pennsylvania Covered Bridges which shows them all by county. The link is:

    http://pacoveredbridges.com

     

    I love covered bridges and search them out whenever I travel.

     

    etchr66

  5. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have started a new Blog on American Road. It is entitled "For Namesake". It is about cities and towns in America that were inspired by Famous World Cities. With each installment of this blog we will explore towns in our great country that have the same names as famous world cities. Places like Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Dublin, London, Paris, etc. Many of these are along famous highways like Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, Yellowstone Trail, etc., while others are on back country roads that you might otherwise never drive on.

     

    So far I have posted an introduction Blog and two towns, Athens, Texas and Florence, Oregon. Many more will follow every week or two. If you can't wait to read about them all (185 or so in total) you can read ahead by going to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and downloading a copy of my Ebook about them "For Namesake, a Travel Book - Places in America Inspired by Famous World Cities". Search for it by my name Rick Etchells.

     

    Hope that you all enjoy - I wrote it for all of us that have an urge to wander even if that is only in your armchair with a map and a suitable cool drink alongside.

     

    etchr66 (aka Rick Etchells)

     

     

  6. An awesome photo, Dave.

     

    We took a trip to Glacier in 2006. It really is a must place to go. :D I truly enjoyed the lakes and short hikes that are available there. We flew from Houston into Spokane and drove over from there. Saw some other parts of Montana as well and drove back to Spokane via Missoula and the Lolo pass. One of our fondest memories of Glacier was spending two nights in a cabin with no TV, No Phones, no radio, no internet, no email, no newspapers, etc. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

    etchr66

  7. I just finished reading this book and felt that I had to comment on it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. :) It is about a road trip that Harry and Bess Truman took right after he left the presidency. While it is indeed based on the 19 day road trip that he took in 1953, it is much more than that. It includes detailed history of the politics of the day, the presidency, the roads of the day and of every stop they made along the way. It is very well researched and extremely well written. If you enjoy history at all you will enjoy this book. I learned a lot not only about Harry and his presidency but also about nearly every thing else going on in America at that time. It was truly a great read.

     

    etchr 66

     

  8. Dave recently wrote:

    "I recall the trains in Nebraska when I was on the Lincoln last spring. They seemed to be just a couple of minites apart. And I passed by one that had derailed earlier in the day! It looked like maybe the trackl had failed.

     

    They seemed to be mostly carrying coal. Was that your experience?"

     

    Dave

     

    Keep the Show on the Road

     

    Dave - There were a lot of trains, about one every 20 minutes and sometimes they there were 2 or 3 in a row that were stopped behind a slower train in front of them even though there was more than one track, sometimes as many as 4 tracks. It seemed that they were a mixture of frieght trains with the large semitruck type containers and coal trains.

     

    If you like trains this is a great road to travel on. The train depot in Cheyenne, Wyoming is also well worth a stop. They have a nice train museum inside.

     

    etchr66

     

     

  9. My friend and I recently completed a trip along the Lincoln highway from Laramie Wyoming to Chicago Illinois. It was a great trip and we really enjoyed seeing the sights along the way as well as some great Lincoln Highway signage. We did the trip in 3 1/2 days so we were pretty much on the move from sun up to sun down each day. We followed Brian Butko's book Greetings from the Lincoln Highway as close as could.

     

    Highlights included:

     

    Wyoming - Lincoln Statue & Joy Monument at the 8800 foot high point of the Lincoln highway, The Ames Mounument, the Tree in Rock, A great Union Pacific Train Station in Cheyenne and Lady of Piece Shrine at Pine Bluffs.

     

    Nebraska - The start of about 70 trains a day as the Lincoln follows the main Line of the UP pretty much all through Nebraska and Iowa. It was at least 2 tracks at all time and up to four tracks in some areas. Spent the night at the Palimino Motel In Sidney and took in a movie (New Star Trek) at the 1951 Fox movie theater. We had a great home cooked breakfast in Brule, saw the Spuce Steet Station in Ogallaia,and drove across the Bailey rail yard in North Platte. Then we followed the 1913 Stairstep route from North Platte to Gothenburg. We saw the Arch over 1-80 at Kearney, Columbus has a great LH sign display in Pioneer park and we also saw the brick section at Clarks. Finally we saw the Lincoln Statue at Freemont.

     

    Iowa - A great brick section and nice LH display in Woodbine. The Donna Reed center in Denison was fantastic - they have a 1914 movie theater and a working soda fountain. Lots of LH mounuments in Carroll and Greene Counties where we also saw some Burma Shave signs and drove the 1913-1919 gravel section across the Lincoln and March briges- Great stuff. Some nice LH displays in Nevada followed by the Super LH bridge in Tama - a must see in my opinion and nicely maintained. There is a nice brick section to see in Mount Vernon as well. We voted Iowa as the Best LH state that we traveled through on this trip.

     

    Illinois - Nice Windmill at Fulton, the Lincon Bridge and Statue at Dixon as well as the arch they have. A few seedling miles are near Malta and Franklin Grove. We really enjoyed our stop at the Lincoln Highway Asociation in Franlklin Grove. There we finally found some Lincoln Highway Memorbilla Like hats, Shirts, Pins, books, etc. Last year we traveled the portion of the Lincoln Highway from Philadelphia to Chicago and couldn't find any LH stuff to buy. This was a great stop and also a must see for any LH fan.

     

    Sorry this was so long, but there was a lot to see and I have 206 photos to remember the trip by. Next May we plan to do the portion of the Lincoln Highway from Laramie, Wyoming to San Francisco.

     

    Stay on the roads and stay safe.

     

    Etchr 66

  10. The Red Caboose Motel you mentioned is on my "to do" list. Dunkle's Gulf is on my favorites list. I hope you filled your tank at Dunkle's but, if not, plan on doing it next time through. Their prices are always in line with others in the area so the atmosphere and extra attention won't cost you a thing. Maybe we can keep them in business long enough to become famous.

     

    We did indeed fill our tank at Dunkle's and were pleasantly surprised :D by the gas attentant that came out to fill our tank for us. The gas cost just the same as everywhere else in that region where you have to pump it yourself. He explained that Dunkle's was the only station left in Pennslyvania where they still pump your gas for you. What a treat. :)

     

    There is also a great photo stop at the edge of town at the old Coffee Pot.

     

    etchr66

     

  11. A friend and I recently traveled the Lincoln Highway as best we could follow it from Philadelphia to the Chicago Area.

    We had traveled all of Route 66 over the years and so we have now started to drive other famous highways. We take an annual trip and figure it will take at least two more such trips to compete the Lincoln.

     

    We found it a very worthwhile drive but significantly different than traveling on Route 66. There don't seem to be as many famous spots to see as on R 66. In most areas that we traveled we found great historic Lincoln highways signs, 1926 Cement posts, and some good Lincoln Statues. Also in Ohio there are some really cool brick sections. :D Ohio was very well signed but Indiana was not.

     

    We were surprised the most by what we could "not" find". That is Lincoln Highway memorabila, souvenirs, etc. No Lincoln Highway hats, T-shirts, etc. None anywhere that we could find. :angry: Also a lack of Lincoln Highway museums. On 66 this stuff is at every stop it seems, but not on the Lincoln.

     

    Highlights of the trip - Red Caboose Motel in Strausberg, PA; Dunkle's Gulf Station in Beford, PA; Flight 93 Memorial near Buckstown, PA;, The great bridges in Pittsburgh, PA; The large Teapot in Chester, WV; The NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, OH; The town of Van Wert, OH; The studebaker Museum in South Bend, OH and the 3 blocks in Plainfield, IL where Route 66 and the Lincoln highway are the same road.

     

    We used Brian Butko's book "Greetings from the Lincoln Highway and I highly recommend it to anyone interesetd in the Father Road. :)

     

    etchr66

     

  12. So, what kind of great "Roadie" stuff did ya'll get for Christmas?

     

    I got a copy of Brian Butko's "Greetings from the Lincoln Highway" and Michael Karl Witzel's "The American Motel."

     

    I'll know the days as I also got a Route 66 2008 calendar with photos by Terrence Moore.

     

    Whatt'd You Get?

     

    :) How about that, I got the same book by Brian Butko. I can't wait to drive the Lincoln Highway. It took me three trips over a few years to complete Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway is my next goal. I received Michael Wallis's book about the Lincoln Highway for my birthday this last September and it is a great read as well. Brian's book adds the maps and the mile by mile commentary needed when you are actually on the road.

     

    Santa also gave me a super Route 66 clock. I found this in the parts department at a local card dealership last Februray and just casually mentioned it to my live in Santa (wive). I forgot all about it and was surprised and really pleased :rolleyes: that she did not.

     

    Safe journeys,

    etchr66

  13. I'm going to hold off on the vote for this one more week - as the holidays are still upon us. I don't know about you - but, we've had so many holiday functions to attend our heads are spinning!

     

    Be safe and have a Happy New Year everyone!

     

    :) Becky, Not a problem. In fact that sounds like a good idea to me. I hope that we can get more folks interested in these contests and in at least voting if not actually entering. I was dissapointed :( that there were only 14 votes for the last coffee. - etchr66

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