Jennifer

"Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food"

That's a lot of Mini Coopers hitting the road! Does anyone here own one? Over 3,300 Mini Owners Nationwide Hit the Road to Drive Cross Country in Their Minis for 'Mini Takes the States'

I found this article about an ad exec from New York City who took a road trip, and made note that "the homogenization of the American marketing landscape seems to be accelerating." Obviously, he hadn't crossed the bridge and left the island of Manhattan very often or he'd have noticed this obvious trend a long time ago! I'm not sure about the title of the article and I wonder how there could be many "surprises" in such a homogenized landscape. But anyway, it just goes to show that had he exited off the Evil-I, he might have found some interesting and unique places to enjoy, rather than the same mass marketed chains. Road trip shows professional that advertising landscape across U.S. full of surprises

Sounds like a great trip, Denny (other than the above-quoted traffic jam). Certainly if anyone were tracing the Dixie Highway through Indianapolis, I would suggest they not do it on the day of the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 or the US Grand Prix...just three small events that take place near our house...traffic here gets snarled up too!

Hi RoadDog, I added your write-in choices..but since they are both in the same region, you'll only be able to vote on one of them.

There's (at least) one of those signs here in Indy, and I have had the misfortune of seeing it every day this week, when I have taken my daughter to work. It has a goofy yellow creature on it that says "I Pooted." Simply hilarious. The only thing worse than the billboards are the television commercials. There's one I saw that was so immensely annoying I had to mute the TV immediately! For leisure travel, you can't beat two lanes, but in this case it's way faster for me to to take the 20 mile drive via the Evil-I, since it's half the time as the city route...and to my dismay, she can't get her driver's license until October 1! Painful.

Thanks! I hope Pat and I can get out there someday, and that some of "old Vegas". I have heard of the museum / neon graveyard where the old signs are...I'm not sure where it is, but I had an issue of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) magazine of the Las Vegas chapter, and it was all about the history of Las Vegas and the influence of architecture. Very cool article!

I was going to ask this silly question, and forgot about it. RoadDog's post about Vegas spurred me to post... I've never been to Las Vegas and for the most part, it doesn't appeal to me. However, in some ways it does. However, I'm thinking that what appeals to me doesn't exist anymore! But I don't know, so I thought I'd ask... Gambling (other than a few bucks on a slot machine) definitely doesn't appeal...I'd much rather spend money on a tangible item or a show, because the "entertainment" value of gambling doesn't cut it for me. Even though all these new places appear to be really spectacular and fancy, I think I would prefer to hop in my time machine and visit Vegas during the late 50's or early 60's. The old neon signs & architecture epitomize Vegas for me. Other than the "Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, are there any old Las Vegas hotel/casinos still open?

American Road is interested in your favorite U.S. drives - please vote in our poll! QUESTIONS Are all the routes designated by the National Scenic Byways Program? What are the criteria for a drive to be listed? Some are, some are not...call them scenic, picturesque, free-wheeling, relaxing...we do not have specific criteria. Whatever makes a drive special to *you* is OK! Where are these drives? We have a variety of drives listed in various regions of the U.S. The regions are based upon the official U.S. Census regional classification: U.S. Census Regional Map If a particular drive extends across regions, we have designated it "National". Are they all U.S. Routes? No, they can be any type of American Road - U.S. highways, auto trails, state / county roads, etc. What do I do? Simply vote on your favorite drive in each region. You must place a vote for each region, but if you do not have a favorite drive in that category, select "none", so that you can vote in the other categories. What if my favorite drive isn't listed? We'd love to hear it too...simply click "Reply" below and to the right of this message, and identify your favorite drive(s) as follows: -Write-In Vote: U.S. 66 (National) OR Write-In Vote: U.S. 66 - Erick, Oklahoma to McLean, Texas (South) *Note: Please be sure to list the region as listed on the Census Map linked above, or "National" if the route spans more than one region. A Forum Host will add your favorite drive to the poll, then you can come back and vote for it (just don't vote until your favorite drive is added!).

Thank you for sharing your story with us Rita! That sounds exciting...I would love to get a chance sometime to see beautiful country like that. Great photo ops, I'm sure! I'm glad you enjoy our group!

I loved the Horn & Hardart Automats....what a cool concept! I used to go to one in New York City, not too far from Grand Central (42nd Street & 3rd Avenue). It's such a shame they are all gone now....I'm much too young to have visited during its heyday; my visits were near the very end of its lifespan (late 80's through its closure in 1991). I did like the macaroni & cheese though! I even saved some of the tokens! I found a couple of cool books on Amazon: Remembering Woolworth's - This features the heyday of Woolworth's five and dime, the lunch counters/soda fountains, etc. The Automat - Features the history - and recipes! - of the Automat. I just reserved both books from the Indianapolis Public Library - glad they had them!

No questions asked, Denny! I don't remember this myself, because I'm sure I never had one as a kid, but evidently one of Lum's specialties was hot dogs cooked in beer. Since I don't like beer as an adult, I am sure I wouldn't have one today if it was available! But those who like both hot dogs and beer might find this quite a delicacy.

My only experience in Pennsylvania has been crossing it on my way back and forth from Indiana to Connecticut. Of course, it could be a weekend drive, depending upon whether you'd want to only do a single day trip through your state, drive just a couple hours, or make a weekend of it, by staying overnight on a Saturday, and drive back on Sunday. Does the River Road continue north and enter into the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area? I've taken that twice (U.S. 209) from around the I-80 area up to I-84, in both directions. Last year was rainy, but I still got some neat photos: Photos from my CT trip last year - scroll down to "To and From CT" West of that area, I have taken a few routes: this year, we took U.S. 6 west, and cut down to U.S. 62 in western PA. Last year, I took U.S. 209 west to Millersburg, the PA 147 south a bit, crossed the Susquehanna onto U.S. 22 at Benvenue. I was moving along fine and should have stayed overnight sooner than I did, because west of I-99, the temperature dropped and the rain turned to snow! But that's another story. So, those drives may be a bit farther than a simple afternoon drive, but might make for a good weekend anyway! (Though I don't ride a motorcycle, so hopefully some of the same things that qualify for a nice drive by car also work for a motorcycle!)

In a very obscure way, I ended up thinking about a restaurant I'd been to in Connecticut when I was a kid (in the 1970's), called Lum's Restaurant. At 7 years old, I didn't know or care whether it was a chain, though now I don't have the same affinity for Applebee's as I might have for a place like Lum's. Of course, now my preferred road dining is mom 'n pop diners, cafes & restaurants, but there are some memorable chains of the past that hold an interest of nostalgia, so I thought I'd start this discussion. So, I was trying to drum up memories of chains of the past (though they may still exist in certain areas...). Here's some I thought of: Lum's Restaurant - Cheshire, CT (I believe they had various national locations). I don't know why this place sticks in my memory! Wagon-Ho - Florida. OK...I have actually not been to one of these. But my great-uncle was quite a photographer back in his day and on a vacation, he took a slide of a place called "Wagon Ho". I will amend this post to add the photo when I am home. I think the slide was taken in the early 60's. It just seemed pretty cool, so I thought I'd mention it. Chock Full o' Nuts - a coffee shop chain based in New York City A & W - I know these still exist, mainly paired with Long John Silver's & such, but I loved the original car-hop variety. I can think of two I used to go to as a kid - one in Woodbury, CT the other in Wolcott, CT Speaking of Long John Silver's, I loved the original design of their buildings, with the wooden "gangplank" and rope fence...kinda cool for a chain. Howard Johnson's - I haven't been to many, but a few. Several times I went to one in Mystic, CT. The hotel is still a HoJo's minus the distinctive, orange roof, of course (are there any left?). The restaurant is not HoJo's, though. I had been to the one in Times Square, New York City several times before its closure; and probably a time or two at the currently operating location in Waterbury, Connecticut Howard Johnson's Restaurant - Waterbury, CT . Wish Pat & I had eaten there a couple of weeks ago when we were there! I don't even know how many of them are left, but I know it isn't many. Department store lunch counters & restaurants - There's alot I can think of, and probably no one would know of the specific Waterbury, CT-area places I could mention. But generally I miss small discount department store lunch counters or cafeteria-style dining in department stores (Sears, etc.) The food court just isn't the same! Kenny Rogers Roasters - OK, this one's from the not too distant past, really...but I loved that chicken. And the aroma of the wood burning oven they had was heavenly (it would probably give me a migraine now, though!). I believe there is still one in Alabama. So, I'm curious what everyone else stirs your memory of past regional or local chains, or mom n' pops of the past!

Your wish is our command - feel free to start posting in the new subforum!

Easy! You can see which messages are new, unread topics when you log in, by clicking View New Posts at the top of the screen. Any messages which appear are new since the last time you logged in.

We watched the show last night and it was interesting. It was not a Route 66 documentary, but rather (for lack of a better description) a professional version of a vacation video. That's not a bad thing by any means! Most of us have (or have seen) every Route 66 documentary available, and those are great too. But this one was just like traveling along with these two ladies and sharing in their adventures, and also their Italian-family bickering, which I found particularly amusing. I don't think I'd come out of a 2,448 mile trip with my mom as mentally intact as the filmmaker did! An interesting note about this show is that it was somewhat dated. I didn't catch it at first, but I as they crossed the Rainbow Marsh Arch Bridge, it was obviousl - it hadn't been painted! They also visited the Red Cedar Inn, but I think they showed that out of sequence, because I would have noticed that first (that or I was too tired to notice!). It was good anyway, certainly worth an hour of anyone's time!

Please be sure to read our Forum Rules, aka our American Road SPEED LIMITS prior to posting....thanks to all of you for your cooperation in making this forum a great place to swap road stories!

The way I deal with S & T routing me in odd places is to manually "add a stop" in between my start and stop points, in the direction I want to go. That helps to bring the route "back on track", so to speak. As I mentioned earlier, if I want to avoid the Interstate, I can change a setting to keep me off them. As far as automated construction info...yes, when you create a route in an area that has construction, the program tells you that, and prompts you to download the most current information. You can also manually update the construction info at any time either through the program, or by downloading it at the Microsoft website. Microsoft Streets & Trips Construction Information The construction informatioin is updated once a month.

Great! Feel free to post any questions you have here and I'll be happy to help...I'm such a geek about that program!! LOL

Matt, I am most used to Microsoft Streets & Trips, though I have used Mapquest, Yahoo Maps and Google Maps....I don't prefer the online maps. For the most part, I have done OK with Streets & Trips....it isn't perfect by any means, but it's pretty good. I have found the majority of streets I'm looking for and construction updates are reasonable (you can update construction data through the program at any time).

Is there a difference between my display name and my User ID? Yes and no (yep, another one of those ambiguous answers!). As a new member, the answer is yes, they are the same. You log in to the forum with your user ID, and that will be how your display name is shown in your posts. OK, if they are the same at first, how do they get to be different? You can leave your User ID alone, if that is how you wish your name to be displayed (ex. iloveUS99) However, if you want your actual name (ex. Bill or Bill Smith) to be displayed or anything other than your user ID, then you can change it as follows: -After logging on to the forum, browse to My Controls. -On the left side of the screen, under Personal Profile, click Change Display Name. -On the next screen, in the appropriate boxes, type in the name as you wish it to be displayed, and type in your forum password. -Click Continue. Will this change my User ID too? No. This will only affect how your name is displayed next to your posts, but will not change your User ID. Can I change my display name as many times as I want? No, currently you can only change your display name once every 365 days. What if I changed my display name and I made a mistake, don't like it or want to go back to using my User ID as my display name? Please contact a forum Administrator (not moderator) and we will be happy to assist you!

Thanks Matt - we really appreciate your kind words and hope everyone else enjoys the new forum as well. We know we have a great group of dedicated roadies at this forum who have good discussions, and we look forward to seeing activity continue to increase! Jennifer

As you make your way through Indiana on U.S. 36, there is a suburb west of Indianapolis called Danville. In the center of town, located right across from the courthouse, is a neat restaurant called the Mayberry Cafe. At most times, it should be easy to find, since you will see the 1962 Ford Galaxie out front, which is a replica of Sheriff Andy Taylor's squad car from the Andy Griffith Show. As you may have guessed, the Mayberry Cafe has an "Andy Griffith Show" theme. The food is very good, down home country cookin' and the service is excellent. For further information, I'll direct you to the current issue of American Road magazine (Summer 2006), where the Mayberry Cafe is featured in the Diner Days column. This particular installment was written by yours truly and my husband Pat (otherwise known as your humble American Road Forum hosts).

I don't know if anyone has ever seen this book, but I saw a snippet in the Indianapolis Star about it...I'm putting this under General Discussion since - for most folks! - this book doesn't qualify as a trip planning guide. Evidently, this book is a guide to common critters you'll find alongside - or in - the road. Most of them have lost their third dimension are now only two-dimensional. UGH But there could be those who find this interesting, so I thought I'd post it for your enjoyment - or nausea! Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets & Highways