sit properly
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Everything posted by sit properly
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I've never been a huge old car fan, but they photograph REALLY well. One of my big pet peeves is taking a photograph of some old, run down building and there's a 2008 SUV in front of it. It just kills it for me. But if there's something before 1975 (or even a beat up 80s K-car), it brings a depth and beauty to the picture that would otherwise be lost. That said, one interesting thing I discovered: *any* car of *any* make from 1964 is always wonderful. '64 was probably the best overall year for cars (in looks, anyway). Great job, everybody! Sadly, it's been on a decline ever since.
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Thanks! It's not closed, per se. There's just a bunch of snow there. It's totally open. There was one grader that we saw, though at that point, we were pretty lost and stumbled upon it accidentally. It was getting dark. One thing I *did* notice was the lack of the Davenport billboard. Hopefully, I just missed it. More on that tomorrow, of course. -Eric
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Since moving to Seattle, I've fallen in love with the Yellowstone Trail. It's nice to have an old road so close to home. The YT in Washington travels over so many different types of terrain, and there's always some old alignment to explore. This past weekend, Sarah and I traveled from Seattle to Yakima to Walla Walla to Colefax to Spokane. And then we hit some old segments of the YT on US 2 on the way back! Tons of pictures were taken and a LOT of old alignments were explored. We checked out old bridges, original concrete (!!!), old towns and even a brand new alignment of US 12. We covered 923 miles in just two days and probably should have taken three or four days to really see it all. Nevertheless, I have posted the first day's journey with a whole mess of photos right here. I've done my best to mix historical fact with fun, adventure and silliness. The second day will hopefully come tomorrow. -Eric
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Thanks for setting me straight on the screen cap, I just assumed it was supposed to be the town of Snoqualmie. The YT went through Snoqualmie (or around it, depending on year) and then on through North Bend, dead ending at modern I-90. There are sections here and there on either side of 90 (or in between the lanes, as the Denny Camp section gives us. On top of the summit (which is pictured), there's a short section and then it's back to the interstate. Most of YT has been destroyed, but there are still a few sections here and there, east of the pass.
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Not sure about you, but the TV show Fringe (which films around Vancouver, BC, but is supposed to take place in Boston) is one of my favorites. This past week, one of the main characters winds up in "Noyo County," Washington. The county doesn't exist and they were actually filming in Canada, but a quick shot of his GPS showed that he was in the town of Snoqualmie, on "Yellowstone Road." Now, Snoqualmie is a real town. The Yellowstone Trail went through it and is now (mostly) Route 202 (also displayed on the GPS). Since they weren't filming in Snoqualmie, someone had to make a little image to show. For some reason, they chose Snoqualmie and chose "Yellowstone Road." There's no road by that name in the town. Would love to know the story behind that. Random coincidence? Or did someone know a little bit about the Snoqualmie area? This episode was kind of a Twin Peaks homage - Twin Peaks filmed a bit in that town, but mostly in North Bend, the next town over (also on the YT). Oh well. It must be a really slow Yellowstone Trail news day.
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This Sunday (on a rare weekend day off for me), Sarah and I took Washington's beautiful Route 9 north to the Canadian border. I've been meaning to do this for a long time now. We then hopped over towards Mt. Baker. The real joy of the trip (for me) was the Mountain Loop Road. It's a full circle, but we only took about half of it. Thankfully, the half that we took was just reopened last year after being closed for five years. It's a dirt road for a lot of it and apparently part of something called Sauk-Monte Cristo Mountain Road, built in 1891. The railroad came two years later and the road was basically abandoned. The railroad took a bit different direction, however. It followed another part of the Mountain Loop Highway, which didn't exist until 1941 (and wasn't fully opened until after the war. So for nearly 50 years, the only way to get to the towns along this stretch was by rail. That's pretty impressive. The road was often built on the old RR bed (the rails sold to Japan in 1936 - also interesting). There doesn't seem to be that much out there about the history of this place. Monte Cristo, now only accessible by a 4 mile hike, has a historical society. A fellow named David Cameron seems to do a lot of the historical writings about it and the surrounding areas. I remember his name from the Stevens Pass Highway stuff. Anyway, we took a mess o' pictures. You can check them out here. -Eric
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Thanks again, Dave. I know a little bit about the Hill/Harriman fight. It's sad and barely human. Still, fun to read about. I'll take a ton of photos, that's for sure. I sometimes miss bridges, but am usually on the lookout for them on old alignments. It's also quite a treat seeing old alignments that aren't drivable any more. When Sarah and I are driving along, we'll be having a conversation about something or other and I'll cut in "old alignment" and point to the left or right. She looks, nods and we go back to talking about whatever. A minute or two later, I'll cut in again "and this is where it reattaches to the main road." She nods again and again we go back to talking like normal human beings. Such is life with me. -Eric
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Thanks! And thanks so much for the photo. I basically *have* to go there now. Do you have any descriptions from the ABB? Also, have you noticed that historical mapworks is now charging to view their maps? This makes things a bit more difficult. So I registered (and go 45 free map views) and have found nothing prior to 1941 for Jefferson County. Lovely. The California-Dalles Highway had already been moved to (close to) the modern location - actually where "Old US 97" is today. Just a quick search for Gateway brought this. More here. More than likely, the road went to and from Gateway as I put it on Googlemaps. Would be nice to be sure though. -Eric
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Amazing! With the exception of the back-tracking, that's the route I chose. The train station at Gates is a definite must-see, but I'm not seeing where Gates is. The only Gates in Oregon that I can find is up in the mountains, 50 miles west of Madras. Even the 1915 map shows no Gates. I can get from Antelope to 97, then travel the old alignment a mile north of that junction (at Willowdale) to the old Cow Canyon alignment (next to the modern one). Looks great! South of Willowdale presents a problem (maybe). Googlemaps shows that there are two segments of old alignment. The first, on the left, loops around and back to the modern road. This is just south of Pony Butte Road. The second, on the right, is just a continuation of the first, as it crosses 97. It's a long stretch of road that eventually heads back towards the modern road. Here's a map. I don't see anywhere on there that would make sense for a train station. However, there's a tiny, unmarked village near the tracks, just off of Coleman Road. Here's a map of that. Now, the questions are easy. 1) Is my routing to Gates actually the routing to Gates? and 2) If so, am I missing anything by not hitting the "Old 97" alignments on either side of the modern road? I almost have this all figured out. Due to that landslide and road closure in Washington, I'm going to have to leave a day early (or suffer through a 500+ mile first day ride - something I do NOT want). I'll probably stay around Castle Rock. Finding a campground that allows tents *and* has wifi is nearly impossible. I've done it across the country, but there's a growing trend to ban tents from RV parks (which is just dumb). There's also a growing trend of WiFi in state parks. It's a very, very slow trend and will certainly be out-paced by the tent ban. Thanks again! -Eric ps - what were the questions about Spensor?
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Random Rant - Brownsville, Pa Is Haunting Me...
sit properly replied to Steve_Colby's topic in National Road / U.S. 40
When I was traveling a lot from central Pennsylvania to Wheeling, WV (it was for a girl, mostly), I would take side trips to Antietam and then take the National Road to Wheeling. Brownsville always disturbed me. Maybe I watched too many zombie movies - but the place freaked me out. On my 2008 trip across the country and back, the only place where people were outright mean to me was Brownsville on my last day. Three guys with as many teeth between them in a pick up truck making fun of me for riding a Vespa. They actually circled around the block to go for a second and third barrage (I was parked on the main street). Still, there is something about Brownsville that I enjoy. It's depressing in all the right ways. Like Asbury Park, NJ or Shamokin, PA, the desolation is fascinating. -
Wow. Thanks! That's quite a bit of info. Let me try to map this. I'll be leaving The Dalles on Old Dufur Road. It seems to jump back on 197 and then off again - though it *could* continue as Co. Hwy 100, reconnecting with 197 farther south. Also, I'm not sure why I couldn't do both Boyd and Dufur. Boyd Loop Road goes to Boyd Market Road, which winds up in Dufur. South of Dufur is Dufur Gap Road. That reconnects with 197 after about 8 miles. Right before Tygh, Shearers Bridge Road goes east to the bridge, but doesn't seem to reconnect with 197. Or would I just connect to 97 at this point and continue though to Shaniko? I'm pretty confused at this point. I'm only using Googlemaps (for simplicity). Cow Canyon is unmarked, but I believe it's between the junction of 197/97 and the junction of 293 and 97. Willowdale is also unmarked, but I think it's where 293 and 97 meet - possibly a bit south of that. I'm planning on hitting the old alignments into Madras. From there, there are obvious old alignments into Bend. So basically - it looks like I have two main options - Shaniko to 97 or Maupin to 97. That's a tough one - the bridge at Maupin looks like it might be pretty amazing. This is a really tough choice. I'm not sure which would be more fun. One question about the Shaniko to 97 route. Route 216 will take me east and north to Grass Valley. Did the old road really do that? Or did it take Ball Lane to Finnegan Road to Kent? Also, did Decker Road, south of Kent, play into this? Looks like an old alignment. Here is my map of the Shaniko to 97 route. And here's my map of the Maupin Route. The Shinako route looks REALLY fun - but it's twice as long. However, after reading it a bit more closely, perhaps this is what you were talking about. (I have a feeling this was the correct routing - and probably the one I'll choose.) Thanks - Eric Nope, didn't get any Spencer questions. What do you mean?
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Thanks! I'm hitting as many old alignments as I can find. Googlemaps limits you to the number of route changes, so on the map, I've missed a few. I'm definitely doing the ones you mentioned. Oregon looks like it'll be a bunch of fun. Washington, however... We took the Jackson Highway last time we went through there. I was avoiding it this time in hopes that the road on the other side of the Interstate might be more interesting (603 through Vader, etc). Could you explain more about where Boyd is and also Cow Canyon. There's a good chance I've already planned on hitting it, but I'd rather err on the side of caution here. -Eric
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There's been a few updates to the trip planning... Some mountain passes on my first day will probably still be closed come May 28. I was planning on slipping between Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens, but two of the roads are closed. One due to snow, the other due to a landslide. It's a shame because I really wanted to take Forest Road 28. My new plan for the first day sort of bores me. You can see it here. We took the I-5 corridor on the way to Portland the last time we went and wow was it boring. Sorry to you Route 99/Pacific Highway fans out there, but it was a snoozer. However, maybe I missed something! What is there to see on the way from Seattle to Portland? Time really is a factor since I'll have to make it past Bend, Oregon. Hints: I like old, old alignments and trains. Any help would be great! -Eric
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Weekend On Washington's Us 101
sit properly replied to sit properly's topic in Pacific Coast Highway / U.S. 101
Denny - The caboose B&B in Sequim were on Washington Street, going into town. I believe that's an old alignment of the Olympic Highway (it then left town heading north and is still signed as "Old Olympic Highway" -it's nice when they do that). My dream is to somehow, someday live in a caboose. They're cheaper than houses, but not super easy to acquire (I've seriously looked into this). Dave - I must have been thinking of the Oregon parts of 101. I remembered a post you made somewhere about an airport being on the beach, but maybe transposed airport with old road and who knows what else. The beaches are VERY drivable, but were probably just local traffic. I still don't feel right about driving on them, but couldn't resist. It seems to me that 101/Olympic Highway hasn't changed all that much over the years. Sure, there are now bypasses through the larger towns and a few old alignments remain where they couldn't be widened, but all in all, it seems mostly as it was. That's kind of boring. Thankfully, it's beautiful. Steve - Tell me about it! Not a single stone bridge! And certainly no sunken old roads from the 1700s! Taverns, however, well, there are some really old taverns out there! We're talking all the way back to 1890! Can you imagine! hehe! Mga - I actually had to look up that it was Kurt Cobain who was from Aberdeen. I always just assumed it was Seattle. That's interesting because I had a friend from high school in Pennsylvania who grew up as friends with Kurt Cobain's little brother in Washington. He must have lived in Aberdeen. Neat. We'll probably take the trip again, but we often find ourselves driving rather than driving to. Destinations are hard for us. But we both want to check out the park a bit. (edit) There is, however, this... roadhound - Sounds like a great trip, but why start in Port Angeles? It's a strange town. Port Townson is a great place to start and not too far away. We had to stay in Forks due to time (and please forgive me), it was getting near twilight when we got there (ugh, sorry). But I wouldn't suggest staying in Forks. Try a coastal town, they're great. We were particularly amused by Ocean City, but they're all mostly nice. I get one weekend off from work a month. Sarah gets every weekend off. So once a month we plan on traveling for the weekend. I should get one more weekend before my trip, so hopefully we'll find something. We're thinking about Yellowstone Trailing it down to the Walla Walla area. Here's hoping... -Eric -
Hi there! Thanks, hopefully the maps are of some help. Biking US 2 will be a much better (and still Yellowstone!) option. I have some posts about that. There are TONS of old alignments out there, including an amazing one through Moses Coulee. You definitely won't be disappointed. If you can, however, get a car and check out Denny Creek Road on I-90. It's the only thing you'll really be missing by not taking the interstate. Actually, that's not completely true - there's also an old alignment north of Yakima called Wenas Road. You should explore that sometime too. Anyway, have a great trip! And definitely keep us updated on it. -Eric
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Weekend On Washington's Us 101
sit properly replied to sit properly's topic in Pacific Coast Highway / U.S. 101
Thanks! Convincing a tree to grow around you is no easy task. Thankfully, he agreed and accommodated me for a nominal sitting fee. Thanks for the tip on the salt. I think that we've done almost all of the 101 now. The eastern part of the loop, probably not, but everything else, yes. I thought you did it a couple of years ago. So what's the verdict on the old highway being on the beach? I'm looking at the 1915 Washington Highways map showing an uncompleted "Olympic Highway" and it's nowhere near the beach. Also looking at a 1931 map - it was 101/9 at that point in time, still not near the beach, except between Queets and Hoh. Am I thinking of something else? I head out on the big trip on May 28ish. I'm trying to change jobs and possibly move before/during/after it, so it's becoming a weird challenge. -Eric -
This past weekend, we took a trip around much of Washington's US 101. I hit some old alignments and some roads that may or may not have been old alignments (like the Moclips Highway and the beach from Moclips to Ocean City) - all of WA 109, actually. I have a bunch of pics, but it wasn't really an old alignment exploration weekend - it was just a normal vacation weekend with some history thrown in for fun. I've done a little bit of searching (very little) and haven't found much about old 101 in Washington. I know much of it used to be State Road 9 and we even found some "Old State 9" roads that seemed to go nowhere at all. It was a fun trip and it's mostly all described in a photo album. That's available here... Here are some samples... Thanks! -Eric
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Old Hwy 6 & 50 East To Delta, Ut?
sit properly replied to sit properly's topic in Lincoln Highway / U.S. 30 / U.S. 50
Becky, Nope, that's a bit too far north. I'll be strictly on US 50 (and it's ancestors) through Nevada/Utah. I believe I saw it in 2004 - I think, though I have very little memory of I-80 in Nevada. Bad, bad trip. Eric -
Denny, It even strikes me as a bit odd that I'm considering this a shorter trip. My only wish is that I had more time. Though, as things are starting to look at work, if I do this trip, I may have a whole lot of extra free time (work isn't super thrilled about me leaving over Memorial Day - I've not found out what the repercussions will be). Anyway, The Hypotenuse Trail definitely played a part in this. I originally wanted to raise it to what I was calling The Bowtie Trail (very loosely defined here). But time is an issue and so I'll save that for later. US 68 is definitely on the trip, GoogleMaps has its limitations, but being a Linux user, there's not much of an option for trip software (I'm old school anyway, so I'd probably not use it). I'll check out the Jeff Davis Memorial. I've actually not even thought about the Civil War sites that I'd perhaps see along the trip. Wilson's Creek, of course, but aside from that, it didn't come into planning (though I'm more for a Northern Virginia fan). Also, the literary park is now on my list of things to see. I love this kind of stuff. In 2008, when moving out to Seattle, we planned the entire trip from PA to WA based completely around weird things to see along the way. It's dawning on me that even though I'm 34 (and look quite a bit younger) I actually have "old man" hobbies. Trains, highways, Civil War. Even Sarah (girlfriend) pokes fun at me for that. Oh well, can't help liking what you like. I *do* have a healthy dose of punk rock and Star Wars to keep me young. I'm ridiculously excited about this trip. I just hope that it doesn't cost me my job (or that I'll be able to get another one when I return - either way). -eric
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I was just looking at that today. I think GoogleMaps routed me that way. I tried to change it, but it wouldn't let me. I'd be sticking with US 68, avoiding the super slab. GoogleMaps is great, but it does have some limitations. This is the updated one. I had to "bypass" an old segment to make the overall route more true to what I want. Of course, I'll still be hitting the old alignment. -Eric
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Old Hwy 6 & 50 East To Delta, Ut?
sit properly replied to sit properly's topic in Lincoln Highway / U.S. 30 / U.S. 50
Hi Becky! Thanks for the reply. I rode US 50 through that area in 2008 - I think I did stop at the station on the border, though it's doubtful that I did much more than swipe my card, fill up the tank and roll on. Now, I'm doing US 50 through Nevada again, but once heading into Utah, I'll be riding on an old alignment that was used until the 50s. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm pretty excited about the whole trip. Route 50 is only a small portion of it, but I've been focusing on the first few days. Soon, I'll be branching out to the other routes I'll be taking. I'll be sure to speak up shortly. Thanks! And thanks for the tip on the back issue. I'll be picking it up soon. Eric -
Time is limited, but I hope to see a bunch of fun. I'll be taking Route 31 from La Pine to Fort Rock. Is it fairly well marked (at least one sign)? I'd love to see it. Silver Lake's memorial sounds interesting - I'll check it out. To be clear, I *love* the desert. I nearly moved to Albuquerque. So any ride through the desert is a great idea. I'll be heading through Paisley, etc - And then definitely taking Fandango Pass vis Co Route 9. Thanks! Sadly, GoogleMaps won't let me route over that road. Weird, huh? Anyway, I'll take Surprise Valley Road through Eagleville, etc. Route 447 (NV) will take me to Gerlach, but I'm camping just west of Reno at Cold Springs. I don't think I'll see Fort Churchill this time around. I saw it in 2008 (via the AMAZING Fort Churchill Road). It was great, but I'll probably have to pick up the pace. Again, I want to plug Nevada Route 722 - one of the most beautiful roads that I've ever been on. That covers the first three days (mostly) - how about the rest of them? Thanks a bunch, Dave! -Eric!
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Hi folks! I'm in the midst of planning a 9,000ish mile trek from Seattle to Miami and back on my Vespa GTS250. It's the same scooter that I did 10,000ish miles on in 2008 twice across the country on "Scoot 66." Since this is the Trip Planning board, I thought I'd show you how my trip planning was going. Time is sort of an issue, so I have to keep the pace up. I figure 11 days there, 10 days back. Here's a basic overview of the trip to Miami... Here's a day by day break down (with links to GoogleMaps) Day One - Seattle to Crooked River, OR Day Two - Crooked River, OR to near Reno, NV Day Three - Reno, NV to Ely, NV Day Four - Ely, NV to Moab, UT Day Five - Moab, UT to Taos, NM Day Six - Taos, NM to Amarillo, TX Day Seven - Amarillo, TX to Ardmore, OK Day Eight - Ardmore, OK to Anacoco, LA Day Nine - Anacoco, LA to Mobile, AL Day Ten - Mobile, AL to Gainsville, FL Day Eleven - Gainsville, FL to Miami, FL And here's the overview of the trip back to Seattle... Day One - Miami, FL to Callahan, FL Day Two - Callahan, FL to Murphy, NC Day Three - Murphy, NC to Paducah, KY Day Four - Paducah, KY to Springfield, MO Day Five - Springfield, MO to Dodge City, KS Day Six - Dodge City to Sidney, NE Day Seven - Sidney, NE to Riverton, WY Day Eight - Riverton, WY to White Sulphur Springs, MT Day Nine - White Sulphur Springs, MT to Clarkston, WA Day Ten - Clarkston, WA to Seattle! That's the route. More to come on the planning, etc. -Eric!