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Go All The Way On The Hypotenuse Trail


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The newly “designated” Hypotenuse Trail is off and running. In case you are one of the few who have not followed the development of the Hypotenuse Trail, let me recap.

 

This is the auto trail America has been waiting for nearly 100 years! Every major road in American that runs across the country bears east and west (e.g. Yellowstone, Lincoln, Midland, Old Spanish, etc), north and south (Dixie, Pacific, etc) in circles or diagonally northeast to south west (National Old Trails, Santa Fe, US6, US66, etc)

 

No highway crosses this great land diagonally to connect Key West with the Seattle –Puget Sound area. Until today, the only way to get there was by taking a lot of different roads. Now there is the Hypotenuse Trail, the only, and therefore the shortest, fastest, most scenic, and best surfaced road between those two points!

 

You can be a part of the pioneering Hypotenuse Trail. We have several slogans that capture the essence of the trail, and a lovely new symbol to display on telephone polls poles (thanks, Denny!) or your T shirt.

 

Go all the way on the Hypotenuse

Mathematicians do it on the Hypotenuse

I rode the Hypotenuse and Survived!

I went all the way on the Hypotenuse

Ride the Hypotenuse to Paradise

Be square and See square…that’s the Hypotenuse way!

The Hypotenuse Trail? What’s the angle?

 

The Chief Pathfinder continues to seek your advice and counsel as to the exact route. I will post a map of the tentative route in a few days and will travel the full Hypotenuse from Key West to Olympia in mid April and report on road conditions and sights along the way.

 

Provide any suggestion you have regarding additional slogans, and next Sunday I will post them for a vote. Also look at the proposed routing and make suggestions for change. It’s all shunpiking…avoiding intestates and the busy thoroughfares wherever possible.

 

I’m busy planning the path-finding trip…and oh yah…this is all for fun and chuckles. B):lol: The only thing “real” is the trip in mid April….so let your imagination flow.

 

Keep the Show on the Road

 

Dave

 

Hyp.jpg

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Dave, you ought to look around online for a company that can make up big stickers of your Hypotenuse Trail symbol, and as you drive along, stop off and put them on telephone poles!

 

I'd pay a small sum to be a founding member of the Hypotenuse Trail Booster's Association!

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...a lovely new symbol to display on telephone polls or your T shirt.
Having Caller ID has allowed me to cut down considerably on telephole polls. I do make an exception for calls from eastern Europe on the chance that it might be from a telephoning Pole.

 

...the Hypotenuse Trail Booster's Association!
will be spared the major preservation efforts of other trail asociations.

 

Thanks, Denny!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Dave, you ought to look around online for a company that can make up big stickers of your Hypotenuse Trail symbol, and as you drive along, stop off and put them on telephone poles!

 

I'd pay a small sum to be a founding member of the Hypotenuse Trail Booster's Association!

 

Mobilene,

 

With the powers that are vested in me as Chief Pathfinder, and because you are the first to ask, you are hereby appointed First Vice Pathfinder of the Hypotenuse Trail Association, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities thereto appertaining. Your appointment is at the pleasure of the Chief Pathfinder and may be terminated when he is in a bad mood :rolleyes::DB)

 

Keep the Show on the Road

 

Dave

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I'd pay a small sum to be a founding member of the Hypotenuse Trail Booster's Association!

If only we could raise enough interest to get this new trail routed through Indiana! Just think of what it could bring to our communities! I hear that money talks! ;)

 

Chris

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If only we could raise enough interest to get this new trail routed through Indiana! Just think of what it could bring to our communities! I hear that money talks! ;)

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

I thought you Indiana guys would never ask! You are familiar with the dual Dixies and the Colorado Branch of the Lincoln...the Executive Committee of the Hypotenuse Trail Association is prepared to entertain a branch to Indiana. As it stands now I feel confident you have at least one vote on the Board (Jim/ Mobilene).

 

BTW, there are still openings on the Executive Committe. Jim nailed First Vice Pathfinder, but there are others still open....perhaps Executive Vice Pathfinder or Senior Vice Pathfinder. Better get in while the votes are stacked in your favor!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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With the powers that are vested in me as Chief Pathfinder, and because you are the first to ask, you are hereby appointed First Vice Pathfinder of the Hypotenuse Trail Association, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities thereto appertaining. Your appointment is at the pleasure of the Chief Pathfinder and may be terminated when he is in a bad mood

 

Well, until that bad mood comes, I'll be a faithful servant and a tireless cheerleader for the route. And I promise to look the other way should the opportunity for graft present itself to me!

 

It pains me to say that Indiana seems to be a bit easterly of the perfect hypotenuse route, but if your mathematics doesn't jibe with mine and your route veers this way, I can suggest several juicy old alignments...

 

Peace,

jim

BS Mathematics, RHIT 1989

 

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OK Dave, is our homework assignment to come up with a route for the trail consisting of current roads? So far I've got my route from Key West up to Kansas City. It's amazing what a US map and a ruler will do for planning a route! :D

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OK Dave, is our homework assignment to come up with a route for the trail consisting of current roads? So far I've got my route from Key West up to Kansas City. It's amazing what a US map and a ruler will do for planning a route! :D

 

Pat,

 

I really appreciate you adding to this dialog! We should compare notes! Maybe the Hypotenuse will be like the Dixie, with alternate routes!

 

I went from Key West to Miami, across the Everglades, up to the panhandle, along the gulf, through Pensacola, up to Vicksburg, along the Mississippi to Helena, across Arkansas to Coffeeville, KS, north to the PPOO at Marysville, west along the PPOO and then north into Nebraska along part of the Lincoln, northwest to Scottsbluff…and there I’m stuck. Can’t decide whether it’s the Lincoln.... or up to Buffalo and Ten Sleeps and through the Grand Tetons.

 

As for your suggestion of the Kansas City area…I seriously considered it, but decided on a route further west. The process I used may be of interest to others planning a road trip. The City Data web site has amateur photos posted for each of thousands of cities and towns, listed by state, and organized by community size.

 

In many cases the photos are very helpful because they are not done by a professional paid by the chamber of commerce. They show the good and the bad…but most are efforts to depict the town as a resident sees it. So you see main street, some houses, the surrounding countryside, and maybe a church or school. I saw an abandoned 1930’s gas station in one Kansas town off the beaten path, and a lovely 1940’s main street in another. So I marked likely locations on the Kansas map, and connected those on a route in the right direction. A couple of examples follow:

 

http://www.city-data.com/city/Howard-Kansas.html

http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv1703.php

http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc34235.php

 

I headed northward (no Kansas roads go northwestward!!) and when I intersected the PPOO at Marysville, KS, I turned west, picking up some Pony Express barns off the road for good measure. Then I headed north into Nebraska, hit the Lincoln for a while, and then headed for Chimney Rock on the Oregon Trail.

 

Keep the Show on the Road

Dave

 

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Can’t decide whether it’s the Lincoln.... or up to Buffalo and Ten Sleeps and through the Grand Tetons.

It's Tensleep Canyon in my userpic--so I would have to vote for that! But of course Independence Rock would make a good landmark, also. Give it kind of an Oregon Trail feel...

 

Chris

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I'm curious about how Vicksburg got included. Are you heading over from Jackson or is there a path that excludes Jackson?

 

That City Data site certainly has possibilities. Thanks for the tip.

 

Denny,

 

I have been through Jackson on the interstate, and on the Natchez Trace out of Natchez northbound, but I have never been to Vicksburg.

 

Great Grandfather Keep’s cavalry regiment was leading the way and got ambushed near Coffeeville on Grant’s first effort to get to Vicksburg, just before the Confederates cut and burned Grant’s supply line at Holly Springs. I figured I might see what GG Keep missed!

 

More to the point, I’m hoping to see some cultural settings I'm not familiar with along the Mississippi, and Vicksburg looked like the closest starting point for the trip northbound along the river.

 

Finally, I have a buddy who is (was) the chair of the Mississippi Civil War Commission and I may suggest we meet in Vicksburg.

 

I go from Mobile to Hattiesburg, then around Jackson to Vicksburg. Oh, another reason for missing Jackson…it is a city.

 

All is subject to change if you or others provide better counsel.

 

I add a photo from time to time to the City Data collection. I try to put small towns with some charm but no advertisng budget, on the map, so to speak, with a photo or two.

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Makes sense. Vicksburg's a fine town but it surprised me. There is, of course, the battlefield/cemetery and the sort of restored ironside U.S.S. Cairo. The riverfront has several Robert Danford murals. There are a lot of Danford's murals along the Ohio (Portsmouth, Steubenville, Maysville, Covington) but I don't think he's done much out west so you may not have seen his work. Good stuff that usually gives you a local history lesson along with being some darned good artwork.

 

I don't know how much river "...ambiance..." you'll find between Vicksburg and Helena. I've only driven it on US-61 which is often a dozen or more miles from the river. There are roads, including MS-1, that are much closer but I know nothing about them. Alex may have a pointer or two. If you can manage Old 61 north out of Vicksburg you'll pass by (and can't miss) Margaret's Grocery ( http://www.folkartlife.com/articles/margaretsgrocery.shtml ). You will be surrounded by Delta Blues "...ambiance..." and can visit some birthplaces, museums, etc. if so inclined. And how about some Delta Green "...ambiance..."? Leland, MS, is the birthplace of Kermit the Frog.

 

I'm sure your buddy's a great guy but you might want to downplay GG Keep's military affiliation in any dealings with the Mississippi Civil War Commission. Grant's not all that highly thought of 'round Vicksburg.

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