threemonthsbycar
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Everything posted by threemonthsbycar
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Dave, how cool is that! Do you think AAA would tell me if they were members? Worth a shot at least. Jeffrey, you (and others) might be interested in the Historic US Route 20 Association. They formed last year. Also, I do plan to take original alignments wherever possible for my trip (although I'm going to add a few stops of my own, like Grand Teton National Park when I visit Yellowstone-it's a can't miss for me, but plan to leave the route and pick it back up in the same spot so that I still do the whole route with the occasional deviation loop). Denny and all, I definitely do not think that any of you are lazy. Thanks again. Best to all, Maria
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My goodness, what resources you keep producing, Dave! Those really are awesome. I intend to take your advice on Wilsonville Camp, too. Jeffrey, thank you for the mile measurement with the comparison to the maps Dave provided. I knew Google wouldn't be all that accurate for the reason of road realignments, but hoped it would give me a rough idea of the route. I certainly will need to use paper maps when I go on the trip as I can't tell my Garmin to direct me to go on roads existing prior to 1930. I thank you both for your interest in what I'm doing (everyone else who has checked in here and elsewhere too!). It makes me happy to see people get in to it.
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Dave, What an awesome article! It hadn't turned up in a year's worth of research while doing my thesis, but I can see a spot for it to go during the expansion, so thank you. It sounds like you have a very fun accumulation of materials as well. Best, Maria
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Hi Dave and 32vld, I ran both through the Google Maps site while doing a side by side comparison with the 1928 map to pull the "suggested route" to the roads that existed then and now. I know it isn't the most accurate way of measurement, but 32vld's route came to 135 miles and Dave's came to 148 miles. Dotty's postcard from Hawley, which is the one I'm sharing the transcription of, said they went 150 miles that day. So at this point I'm leaning more to Dave's proposed route which would have taken them through Trumbull, where they stopped at least quickly at Edie's and Ev's house. The route would be shorter than the proposed US6 route all the way even if they doubled back through Bridgeport to pick up US1. Dave, I don't doubt at all that their appearance in newspapers had more to do with what they were wearing to drive and travel. My thesis was limited to 50 pages so I didn't get to work with much by way of newspapers mentioning female motorists, so what I saw was limited to what was included in secondary sources. I'd love to have period examples as I expand everything into a book. Clothing as you can imagine will be a good chunk of what's discussed, but definitely not all. If you ever come across examples in future research, I would be much appreciative if you could pass along the source citations so I can get a copy to read too. I'm going to run the routes through Google Earth as I like that platform for getting pictures much better than their maps website. I'll share both here (likely tomorrow) and will get one on the blog too. Best to all, Maria
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Thank you to you both. I see how both routes are equally plausible. I'm going to check the routes via Google to check mileage (not completely accurate, I'm aware) as I know the mileage of Day 1 of the road trip thanks to a postcard. I'll let you know what I come up with. :-) Best to all, Maria
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Dave, These are awesome! Thank you so much. I very much agree that it seems likely that they traveled from CT to Hawley, via US6. My guess is that they got there via CT122 as the Stohls lived in Trumbull. Dotty's postcards do mention a couple of times the changes in road as they travel west, but she didn't mention the roads closest to home as her family would have obviously known through their own area travels. That definitely is a gorgeous bridge. I myself wonder if they were using a 1929 map when they traveled, when they got out to Yellowstone, they didn't visit the Grand Tetons, which had been named a National Park earlier in the year and it's one of those things where I feel that if they knew about it, they would have gone. Although, the 1929 maps were likely published before the park was designated as such and thus it wouldn't have been on the map. Jim, Thank you for the heads up on the book. One of my research goals is just to expand my base knowledge of motor-trip history from the early 20th century, and this is just the thing I'm thinking of in that regard. Denny, I'll definitely keep the Erie Hotel in mind. They didn't stay there, camping in Hawley was how they spent the first night, but when I go on the trip I'll definitely be trying to find places to stay in that existed when they traveled. 32vld, NY22 is one of my favorite roads too. I spent two years living in Vermont along it's western edge (could literally walk to NY in a few minutes) and traveled that road regularly. Best to all, Maria
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Hi Dave, I would love to see the map sections no matter how you share them, I'm sure others would like to see them as well. If you go by way of email you can reach me at threemonthsbycar@hotmail.com I definitely want to know what roads were taken as I truly do want to physically retrace as much of the path they drove as possible. I don't think it would intrude into my work at all. I'm also all for a healthy dialogue and differences in opinion, because if everyone agreed (in this case with what I blog) then I would never be directed to other sources that might be really helpful in one way or another. After your pointing out Free Air, I've begun to look into other literary avenues and rediscovered Driving Women: Fiction and Automobile Culture in Twentieth Century America which at the time of my thesis I couldn't really use. There were also some books for younger readers...the name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was something like Motor Girls and I definitely need to look into those too. I sincerely appreciate your, and everyone's, input, advice, help, and suggestions for this project. Maria Three Months By Car Latest Post 1/20/2013 Facebook
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Welcome - Please Introduce Yourself!
threemonthsbycar replied to Jennifer's topic in General Discussion
I thank you both for the suggestions. As fun as it would be to travel in an open air, be it top down or sides removed, my trip will be incorporating video blogging, part of which will be while I'm driving, so I'll have to be able to safely mount a camera(s) somewhere. To answer your question, I do plan to go the original route of the 1929 trip where ever possible, with a couple of extra stops that I just can't pass up going to thrown in along the way. They went for the adventure of it, so I'm adding to the itinerary in the same spirit. If you haven't already linked to it off my blog, you can see where they went in the destinations tab. I haven't added my desired places to visit beyond this list yet. Car issues, gas, and road conditions will all be discussed in my blog at a later date. Still in the intro portion, but getting ready to move to more info. Maria Three Months By Car Latest post 1/20/13 Facebook -
Welcome - Please Introduce Yourself!
threemonthsbycar replied to Jennifer's topic in General Discussion
They drove a 1928 Ford Model A Roadster, and I think it would be appropriate for me to drive a Ford as well (what type, not so sure). If I could stop off somewhere during my trip to try out what they drove, that would be fun, but since I'm only retracing the steps and not recreating the trip, I'm good in something newer, lol. Maria Three Months By Car -
Hi Dave, Thanks for sending me to Free Air, fortunately was able to pick up a copy for free via my Kindle. It's going to the top of my reading list. In just reading the reviews, I also wonder if Claire's being called a young lady and a young women has to do with her "upper class" status (that's what the publisher write ups tell me she is). Also, despite Sinclair Lewis being male, I wonder if the term "girl" came more from a male demographic, as it was an older woman in the book who called her a young lady. There's also a possibility that females of this age were called girls when in groups, but one was a "young woman" when alone. I hesitated about writing how they might self-identify, because they aren't here anymore, and through my (unrelated) studies have read about an author's grandmother being appalled that she was referred to as an early feminist in her granddaughter's writings, because the term feminist meant something completely different to her. It's why I added the caveat of "at least in some circles." It's certainly something to look into, even if it doesn't become a focus in the eventual book. In an upcoming post, I think it will be posted this week (I have the next week and a half written), I do discuss this topic again in respect to female drivers appearing in newspapers. Jim, Thank you for your kind words. Best to all, Maria Three Months By Car
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Hello everyone! I am so glad to be able to post now, I have been wanting to since this thread started. Thank you so much, Jim, for sharing my blog. The description you provided is wonderful and I invite everyone to visit (or revisit) my blog at threemonthsbycar.wordpress.com. Aside from what I learned while writing my MA Thesis, I am new to the realm of travel history, although I have always enjoyed road trips on today's back roads and am a big history enthusiast. I welcome any advice or insight that you may have either here or on my blog. I also have a Facebook page and Twitter account for this project where I can be reached as well. My upcoming blog posts will feature edited parts of my thesis as well as short profiles of the places where the three visited in 1929. My next post is Sunday; the schedule that I've settled into is Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday, Thursday (so there was a post today). I hope you all enjoy my project, and I look forward to interacting with all of you. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by my blog already, commented there, followed my Twitter, and Liked my Facebook page. -Maria
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Welcome - Please Introduce Yourself!
threemonthsbycar replied to Jennifer's topic in General Discussion
Hello Everyone! My name is Maria and I launched the Three Months By Car project two weeks ago. Jim Grey (mobilene) introduced my project in the Three Months By Car in 1929 thread after he found my blog. The project centers around a three-month, tri-country road trip that my great-grandmother took with two of her girlfriends in 1929 and my eventual retracing of the trip. I wrote my MA thesis on the trip and period prescriptive literature that gave advice on how to go on road trips and autocamp (much of the trip was spent autocamping with some nights with relatives and a few others in hotels). In addition to retracing their trip by spending three months on the road to see what they saw (or what's left of it-historic preservation is a big interest of mine), I am working on expanding my original 50-page thesis into a book-length manuscript that will be coupled with my travel experiences from my trip as well as transcriptions of the postcards and letters that my great-grandmother wrote home. This project has definitely gotten me into travel history (I have always enjoyed history in general, as well as road trips to historic places), and I am still learning. I am very excited to be a part of the forum so that we may all converse and so that I may learn from you. I look forward to interacting with everyone. Best, Maria