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

usroadman

Full Members
  • Posts

    71
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by usroadman

  1. FYI, I attempted to update my California US 101 page ( http://www.usroadman.com/hist101ca.htm ) based on the 1936 maps posted above. Thanks for posting them.
  2. Those are great maps. If I were a betting man I'd bet the route from Cummings to Dyerville (apparently the town was wiped off the map so to speak in 1964) was Bell Springs Road and Dyerville Loop Road. It starts a bit due east of Cummings, but with only 2 different street names comes darn close to both Harris and Fruitland. Apparently Devil's Elbow had been on Dyerville Loop Road, but has since been bypassed (see mile 10.82 at http://northcoastbikerides.blogspot.com/20...loop-short.html ). Looks like if it wasn't for your modern car, in places you might actually feel like you were trekking through the forest in the 1920s. (Man, now I want to go.)
  3. Sounds like it should be fun. Funny, last night for the first time in a very long time I started looking over some old maps checking for old alignments. I didn't get too far, just a small portion of a 1960 map, but I happened to be looking at US 101 in northern California. So I don't have much yet, and what I do have is mostly just guesses from looking at maps, but you're welcome to use it as a starting point. My notes are at http://www.usroadman.com/hist101ca.htm . My wife and I drove US 101 twelve years ago (for our honeymoon) and really enjoyed it. Two things we especially enjoyed on our trip: PALCO in Scotia, CA - We stopped to see the "company town". That was OK, but what I (I would even dare say "we") found really fascinating was the self-guided tour of the sawmill. They have catwalks running all over above the facility, giving you many really good views of pretty much every operation. (Better than most tours which tend to keep you more off to the side.) There are informative signs explaining what's going on in most locations. The catwalk system is very ... industrial. It's just a few feet wide with basic railings, winding through the rafters, across roofs, through some low doors, etc., but I think that's part of the charm; it's definitely not sterile. Since it's self guided, you can spend as little or as much time as you want. It's also free, which is always good in my book. (I thought it was much better than the $15 Boeing tour.) I didn't see much info on the web, but it looks like the tour is still available. This is their website http://www.palco.com/visit_tours_scotia.html . We also spent a few hours at the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park northeast of Crescent City http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413 . We took a walk through Stout Grove, and drove the dirt road through the park. We liked it because it seemed like we were the only ones in the park. Very quiet and secluded. My guess is it's so far north that anyone who's going to see redwoods stopped at one of the many parks further south, so not too many people visit. Have a great trip.
  4. Looking at the US 80 crossing using the Bird's Eye view on msn.com, it kind of looks like that house was a toll building. Also, you can see construction vehicles on the bridge, especially on the Louisiana side. It looks like they were ripping up the old road on the long viaduct on the Louisiana side. Depending on the direction of view, sometimes the deck is present and sometimes it's torn up. Too bad, it looks like a cool bridge (at least as long as you're not trying to pass a big truck coming the other way).
  5. Great pictures. Thanks. Great deal on the rental car, even if you do need to watch your progress. I like the picture of the Post Office. It reminds me of one where I used to live in Vermont. The customer area was about 4 feet by 5 feet, with maybe 40 PO boxes. It was attached to someone's house (I assume the Postmaster's.) I had the same impression of the Everglades at first, a lot more grass than I expected. I did one of the airboat rides, and realized that once you get in there, it all looks the same, and it's really easy to lose your bearings. Kind of scary. Just grass and water as far as you can see. (Not to mention the various "critters".)
  6. US 52 follows I-94 through most of Minnesota, and is not posted as US 52 (like Colorado and Utah, that don't post US routes when they multiplex with Interstates - boo-hiss). On this page http://www.ajfroggie.com/roadpics/mn/us052/index.html there's a picture of the "US 52 Follow I-94 West" sign that marks the last westbound mention of US 52 (in St. Paul). One option of course it to get out the old maps and try to follow the old alignment, although I admit when I finally get up to 52 I'll probably follow the "official" I-94 alignment even though it's not signed. Enjoy you're trip.
  7. My wife got one in Delaware last year. I thought they were pretty fair though. The notice came with two pictures. Here's your car behind the stop line and the light is red, then here's your car in the intersection and the light is red. And, they have a web link where you can watch the video if you'd like. She clearly goofed. I paid without argument. I would be pretty pissed though if the "behind the stop line" picture showed a yellow or green signal. That would be a little over zealous in my opinion. So, I guess different jurisdictions set up the cameras differently.
  8. Wow, even I've been over that one a few times, and I live nowhere near Indy (although I used to go there for work occasionally). I really prefer that too, where instead of tearing down an old truss bridge they twin it to add the extra lanes. Luckily there are still a few of those places around the country where an old truss bridge carries traffic one direction while a newer bridge carries traffic the other direction.
  9. Thanks all for your comments. It was a great drive. If traffic isn't too heavy I'll stand on the side of the road for a few minutes waiting for an empty shot. I just prefer the look of empty roads, although I admit if I wait too long, I start getting "the look" from my wife. Even my wife now remarks how even though we only travel 200-250 miles per day, the landscape really is different every day. Buildings and roads are definitely more homogeneous now though, especially if the road has recently been improved. We still try to hit at least a few local businesses along the way, but even there we sometimes get lazy. What really kills me is when you ask for a good local place to eat, and the only place the person can come up with is Applebee's. I drove US 11 back in the mid-90s and agree it is a pretty nice route. Since it's paralleled (but not replaced) by Interstate almost the whole way, there isn't too much reason to improve it (at least that was the case 10 years ago), and for most of it there wasn't much traffic since most people stick to the Interstate. Sounds like a great drive. I've been on short pieces of it where it multiplexes other US routes, and am definitely looking forward to covering it one of these years. I look forward to hearing about what it is like. US 54 is the other diagonal I'm looking forward to. It helps that my wife originally suggested I take pictures on my trips. I don't think this was really what she expected, but she grins. And my boys (age 6 & 3) have been doing this since they were 4 months old, so they don't know any different. Yeah, it's amazing how many hills Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, etc. actually have. Although I must say, my biggest shock was driving through central Washington state for the first time (on US 2). I had thought the whole would state look like the coast. NOPE!
  10. When you went to Omaha, did you cross the Missouri River on US 34 at Plattsmouth, or did you cross right at Omaha? If you went straight to Omaha, the next time you're in the area I'd recommend crossing the river on US 34. It still uses the 1929 toll bridge with two 10-foot lanes. The photo and one of the toll plaza on the other side of the bridge can be found at http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1497816866039645027bxyJRd .
  11. I finally finished getting my pictures uploaded from my summer trip along US 40. They can be viewed from http://www.usroadman.com/us40links.htm . I drove the full length of the current route from Atlantic City to I-80 in Utah, taking pictures on average about every half hour. While I wasn't specifically searching for old alignments, thanks to the fine work of other contributors here, I did catch glimpses of quite a few of them. Thanks for all of your posts. They made knowing what to look for much easier. I also had a copy of George Stewart's book with me, and although I was following the current alignment rather than an historic alignment, I was amazed by how many of his pictures I was still able to locate. I'd guess it was over 50%. When convenient (based on whether there was some place to pull over) I tried to take pictures of the same areas. I noted in the photo description when my photo is similar to Stewart's. I hope you enjoy them.
  12. From the satellite photo it looks like a very tight old cloverleaf, and Lindbergh is a pretty major road (US-61/US-67), so I'd bet in times of even moderate traffic getting onto US-40 from the cloverleaf can be a challenge. The curve of the ramp is very tight so you can get almost no running start. The acceleration lane is short and is also a deceleration lane. US-40 is only 3 lanes there (and 4 or 5 further west) so the odds of through traffic (as well as exiting traffic) being in the right lane is probably pretty high.
  13. I used to visit Worcester a lot when I was younger (a good friend of mine went to WPI), but I can't think of any drives right around town that were especially scenic. My biggest problem is most of my driving has either been on the superslab, which isn't much more interesting in Massachusetts than anyplace else, or sometimes scenic but usually overcrowded two-lane roads. As stated earlier, MA-2 heading west to New York across the top of the state is pretty. Also, US-5 north of Greenfield and into Vermont is pretty. MA-47 I remember as being very pretty also. It runs along the east bank of the Connecticut River, but has many faster parallel roads, so it shouldn't have much traffic. The most memorable stretch for me was the part north of Hadley, where one night I saw the northern lights (the only time I've seen them). I remember the road as winding along the river past small old New England farms, very picturesque. And because I-91 parallels it to the west and MA-116 parallels it to the east, the was very little traffic. You could take it north from Holyoke (I-91 to US-202 east to MA-116 north to MA-47) and follow MA-47 to Montague, then Turners Falls Rd. to Greenfield, and head back south on US-5 from Greenfield. My guess is you'd be looking at a couple of hours drive roundtrip (plus the 40 minutes or so each way on the Mass Pike). Have fun.
  14. My first guess would have been that it was somewhere along US 14, 16 & 20 between Cody and Yellowstone, but your clue makes it pretty clear that was wrong. My second guess is somewhere in the Rock Springs area, but I have to admit, if I drove by it in the past, I don't remember it. As far as having a regular "Name that site" feature, I think that would be a lot of fun. My recommendation would be post the picture (or other clue) one day, and then give hints each day until someone gets it. In general, the hints should require some kind of road knowledge to be useful (like your hint on this one). While I certainly wouldn't complain about winning a map or something, I don't think it's really necessary to have a formal prize. For most of us, just taking the challenge and being able to show that you know your stuff is reward enough.
  15. Keep in mind most American cities have pretty limited public transportation, often just buses. The large older cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, and Washington DC are exceptions and have pretty extensive public transportation, but most other cities you'll probably want to visit by car. The good news is that most cities except those above are pretty easy to drive in, especially on a weekend. Most cities have relatively wide, well marked streets. So while I agree driving on city streets in an RV isn't much fun, even a large American car would be fine. For those cities that do have good public transportation, I think you'll have a hard time finding tent camping nearby. It's been a long time since I've been camping, so maybe I'm just not aware of the places, but most places I know of are in rural areas, and the suburbs surrounding many cities extend out a long way. This sounds like a great idea. From the Europeans I've known well (mostly Germans and Austrians), European education far exceeds American education when it comes to learning about other places and cultures. (I'll bet most Americans can't find your country on a map.) So don't worry too much about lack of knowledge. Some of the parts of the country I really like (in no particular order): Connecticut River Valley in Vermont and New Hampshire (north of White River Jct.) - Beautiful scenery and quaint small New England towns. Champlain Islands in Vermont (northwest of Burlington) - More great scenery, mountains and water. Central and Western New York State - Lots of history related to curing social injustices. Was home to many women and men who led the fight for women's rights (especially the right to vote). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - I think the inclined railways are kind of cool. Beckley, West Virginia - I went on a coal mine tour here that I thought was really neat. Ohio - For some reason I really like most places in Ohio, I'm not sure why. Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, and all of the farmland in between (and the rolling hills in the south). Also a famous old amusement park in Sandusky. Middlebury, Indiana - Good place to get a feel for Amish life. Islamorada, Florida - Lots of ocean in the Florida Keys, and much less crowded than Key West. Quincy, Illinois - Old Mississippi River town. Waterloo, Iowa - The tours of the John Deere factories (tractor assembly plant and engine plant) are neat and free. Nebraska - Kansas border - The farms just stretch on and on and on. Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming - One of my favorite mountain areas, pretty scenery, not many people. More famous stuff to the east (Devil's Tower) and the west (Yellowstone National Park), but makes for a nice quiet ride. (I could probably go on for about 8 more pages. I guess one of the key things is, often the most interesting things to see aren't where I expected them to be.) If New York makes it onto the map and you'd like someone to show you around we may be able to meet up. It's always fun to see the City through someone else's eyes. I live about 150km north of New York (a few km from President Roosevelt's home and library if you're in to WWII stuff) and used to work in the City. I actually do live within walking distance of the train into New York (runs every hour), but my yard isn't all that large and I live in a National Historic District so I don't think my neighbors (or wife) would be too happy with someone tenting out back, sorry. It still would be fun to show you around though, and I do enjoy the train ride into New York. Have fun planning your trip.
  16. You could actually visit all 50 states in a week if you really wanted to ... http://www.barrystiefel.com/50_states_in_a...ks_vacation.htm ... Of course you wouldn't see much more than highway (and much of that would be in the dark). More seriously, when I was on a trip about 10 years ago I stumbled upon this book http://www.roadtripusa.com/index.html which I have found to be pretty reliable. The author's taste and my taste seem to be pretty well aligned. I have pictures of my own travels around the US at http://www.usroadman.com , if you want to see some different parts of the country. In general, I'd recommend avoiding the Interstate highways (the one's with the red, white, and blue shields) for at least part of your trip and taking the two-lane state & US highways so you get to see the real US and not just the sameness of our super-highway system (although I guess in some ways that consistency is uniquely American too). For car rentals I usually go with the big national chains like Hertz, Avis, National, and Dollar so I know I can find an office at the next city in case there is a problem with the car (I've made them give me a different car on a number of occasions). Most of these probably have an office in your home country so you can ask them what their requirements are for renting in the US. Camping equipment should be easy to find at pretty much any sporting goods store. I'm not sure what's required to get a tourist visa, but this website should tell you http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/index.html . Yes, although the price of gasoline has tripled here in the US over the last 10 years or so, it is still much cheaper than in most of the world, and the exchange rate is VERY favorable for visitors so you'll probably find most things very inexpensive. Bring some extra luggage so you can bring stuff back home. Enjoy your visit, and let us know if you have any questions we can try to help with.
  17. Well, once it get a bit out of DC, I've actually found that many times US 1 is faster than I-95, because I-95 constantly backs up between DC and Richmond. Of course many people know that US 1 is a viable alternate, so it can get a bit crowded too. And there is a traffic light in Fredericksburg that seems to back up for miles sometimes, but in general once you're beyond the malls it's good until Fredericksburg, and then from just south of Fredericksburg to almost Richmond it's fine. Generally an old 4-lane road, sometimes divided and sometimes not. It's been a long time since I did the Richmond to Petersburg section, so don't really remember it. Once you get out of Petersburg though, it's 2 or 3 lanes with pretty much no one on it. The good think of course is that since it parallels I-95 and I-85 the whole way (at least until you're in NC, but by then I believe it's the fastest route to Raleigh anyway), if you get tired of the old road you can always hop on the Interstate, or vice versa.
  18. Been a bit behind on reading posts but figured I'd give my 2 cents if it's not too late. First on Kansas (or Nebraska for that matter). I think most people find these states boring because they insist on taking I-70 or I-80 across them. I think George Stewart really got it right in his book US 40 - Cross Section of the United States of America. Roads either dominate the landscape, are in harmony with the landscape, or are dominated by the landscape. Roads in harmony with the landscape are by far the most enjoyable to drive. Interstates dominate the landscape they cross, causing you to primarily see the long, flat, straight pavement rather than the landscape traversed. The older two-lane roads in rural America tend to be in harmony with the land, and I think really provide a very different perspective of the country you're crossing. I personnally would recommend US 24, US 36, US 6, or US 34 over the Interstates if you think there's any way you can swing it. Speed limits are typically 65 (not too much lower than the Interstate), except of course through towns, and there is a lot less traffic. (US 30 and old US 40 are also really nice rides, but haven't been improved as much as the others.) I've never had any real weather problems in Kansas or Nebraska, but weather is of course unpredictable (actually I've been caught in far worse weather in Texas, but while on business trips, not roadtrips). Concerning Rocky Mountain National Park, it is a pretty neat drive, mostly because of the amount of time you spend well above the tree-line. Personally, I'd traverse the Park from east to west (since US 34 cuts all of the way through it), rather than taking US 40 up to the west entrance, going up to the top and turning around. (I find US 6 over Loveland Pass far more exhillarating than US 40 over Berthould Pass, but if you take US 34 through the Park, you'll miss them both anyway, unless you decide to be 'Queen of the Mountain Passes' by taking US 34 west to US 40 east (which is mostly south through here) to I-70 west to US 6 west, in which case you'd hit them all and can decide for yourself which one you think is the most fun.) Whether you take US 36 or US 34 to Estes Park doesn't really matter too much. US 36 is more direct and I'm sure faster, but US 34 has less traffic. Be sure you dress appropriately on the day you go through the Park. I was there in August both last year and the year before, and both times the temperature was in the 30s with 20-30 mph winds at the top of the mountain (with a snowstorm last year and a beautiful sunny day the year before, although it was like 80 in Denver both times). Bring a good jacket and wear long pants or you'll probably find that it's too cold to walk around up top for very long. BTW, I agree with the previous post about not doing I-80 across Wyoming. If you were going to take US 14 or US 16 through the northern part of the state, especially through the Bighorn Mountains (which I think are my favorite) and through Yellowstone / Grand Teton, I'd say go for it (although it would add a lot of time), but otherwise I think I'd do Colorado instead. As mentioned in an earlier post, Moab and the ride along the Colorado River (UT-128) to get there is definitely worth it. In Idaho, I-84 is pretty boring, but there aren't a lot of other options. US-30 is a bit nicer (when it's not on I-84), but slower. I think I liked US 26 / US 20 better, but it is really desolate (not quite US 6 between Ely and Tonopah in Nevada, but pretty close). It's a pretty unusual landscape; the mountains are always visible but you never get to go into them. I also though Craters of the Moon National Monument was kind of cool. Overall though it just seems like the ride will never end. (Northern Idaho, such as US 12, is beautiful, but unfortunately way out of your way.) Across Oregon, I've done US 20, US 26, and US 30 / I-84. Of the 3, US 26 was definitely my favorite. It crosses quite a few different landscapes. US 30 / I-84 was probably my second favorite. On your gas question, I personally always try to refill whenever I'm between a half and quarter of a tank since on the non-Interstates you can go 60 or more miles without seeing an open gas station, especially if it's a Sunday or during off-hours, when stations in the small towns often are closed. With that rule, I've never run out of gas, and only been really concerned a handful of times in 20 years of roadtrips.
  19. Choosing one photo is really tough. Should I go with the wide-open spaces of a western or Great Plains two-lane, the coziness of a country lane through the West Virginia mountains in autumn, or the colors of a meadow nestled in the Bighorn Mountains. I think I'll go with a two-lane through the Rockies. This photo is from my trip across US 20 as the route climbs through the Shoshone National Forest between Cody, WY and Yellowstone NP. It's one of many scenic sections of US 20. (I think I have a picture taken from the same spot a few years earlier when I drove US 16, but back then the road was much narrower and curvier.) I really enjoy following two-lane roads as they wind through the mountains like this.
  20. I also use a combination of low and high-tech when I plan my roadtrips. In a lot of ways my overall planning is pretty easy since my "thing" is to drive US highways from end-to-end, and often the most interesting things are places I just happen to stumble upon as I'm driving down the road. I have two children ages 2 and 5, so I tend to do a lot of up-front planning to ensure we're not riding around at 9:00 at night searching for a place to stay. I use the AASHTO US Numbered Routes Log and old-fashioned AAA paper maps to estimate about 200 miles per day, and use the internet to pre-book hotel rooms along the way. I also use a combination of books, old maps, and the internet to try to find stops that seem interesting along the way. While on the trip, I use a Garmin iQ3600 GPS unit. It has a pretty steep learning curve, but since I've figured out how to use it I've been pretty happy with it. It's really a combination PDA and GPS, so it is very portable, and easy to set up each time I get a different rental car. It allows me to save waypoints, which I can then use as destinations (or vias) along the trip. I typically save as waypoints things like the beginning & end of the road, our hotels, and any key restaurants or sights I want to see along the way, then finding these things while I'm on the trip becomes really easy. It's also easy to add new waypoints while I'm travelling if someone along the way suggests an interesting stop. Along most of the journey the GPS is not really necessary since I'm only following one road, but it does make it easier at the end of the day to quickly find the hotel and any attractions I wanted to see. Coming up in a few weeks will be my journey on US 36 from Ohio to Colorado. If anyone has any suggestions for interesting, quick things to see along the route, please let me know. Thanks.
×
×
  • Create New...