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The Michigan Road


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Chris, I read about it someplace, but now I can't find the source, and it occurs to me that I may have misread it. Your argument is eminently logical; I'll have to rethink this. jim

 

Jim,

 

I am following the Michigan Road again, with the photos geo tagged on the map. That is a great way to "visualize” a trip in a part of the country you have never seen. And it makes it really easy to recognize the route.

 

I’m only as far as “the rocks” north of Madison. I didn’t note a name for the formation, but they remind me of the plates done in 1800’s magazines like Harper’s Weekly or Monthly of sights along the road. Just about every rock formation in the country, at least the traveled part, had a name. I guess when you passed things at 6 to 12 miles an hour in a stage, you had time to name them!

 

You continue to build my interest in a trip to the mid west, and perhaps the Michigan Road will provide one of the foci (is that correct…..one of the “focuses?” :) ) You certainly make the case for it with your photos and descriptions!

 

Keep the Show on the Road

 

Dave

 

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Dave, you know, I don't know if those rocks have a name! But I'll certainly work to find out.

 

The more spectacular rocks are to the west of there on State Road 7. First time I drove north out of Madison on 7 and came upon the rock formation there, I gasped. Here are some photos somebody else took.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindy47452/tags/highway7/

 

If you ever come to Indiana and want to drive the Michigan Road, I'd do whatever I could to be able to go along!

 

(Yes, it's foci!)

 

jim

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The more spectacular rocks are to the west of there on State Road 7. First time I drove north out of Madison on 7 and came upon the rock formation there, I gasped. Here are some photos somebody else took.

I featured the rocks on State Road 7 in the Madison State Road pages that I posted earlier this year. The name I ran across several times for that one was "Hanging Rock". Thanks for the link you provided... I would never have guessed that the road used to run behind the waterfall... Now I will have to go back and check it out.

 

Chris

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This post is mostly to let you know that I have taken in a big chunk of this and intend to follow the whole thing once it's completed. I actually misread an earlier post and, thinking all descriptions were in place, was prepared to "go the distance". When I encountered a streak of "Along the Michigan Road." descriptions north of Indianapolis I reread the post and realized that this was exactly what it said - "all the way to downtown Indy".

 

Even getting as far as I have has taken multiple sessions. I have the impression that others are going at this from the map view but I'm using the slideshow. Can someone tell me of an easy way to get back to where I left off. So far it's been pretty much just thrashing around at each restart.

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Denny, there probably isn't a mechanism in Flickr for that. I'd just bookmark the last photo you look at, and then go back to that bookmark next time, lather, rinse, repeat.

 

Eventually I'll do my usual writeup at jimgrey.net, which will cull the best photos.

 

jim

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When you save a bookmark during a slideshow, the URL that is saved is of the start of the show. Apparently the "show" is maintaining position through some internal mechanism. It's not a big deal. I just thought I might be missing out on some clever trick.

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I'm all caught up labeling, describing, tagging, and geotagging the photos I've taken so far of the Michigan Road. I've photographed all the way to Fulton, Indiana, and also added photos from the Michigan Road portion of last year's Old US 31 trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/.

 

I also blogged recently about a few more Michigan Road sights. http://jimgrey.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/learning-to-see/.

 

jim

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I'm all caught up labeling, describing, tagging, and geotagging the photos I've taken so far of the Michigan Road. I've photographed all the way to Fulton, Indiana, and also added photos from the Michigan Road portion of last year's Old US 31 trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/.

 

I also blogged recently about a few more Michigan Road sights. http://jimgrey.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/learning-to-see/.

 

jim

 

Jim,

 

Using the link, Flickr keeps telling me that "This is Not the Page You are looking for."

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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I'm all caught up labeling, describing, tagging, and geotagging the photos I've taken so far of the Michigan Road. I've photographed all the way to Fulton, Indiana, and also added photos from the Michigan Road portion of last year's Old US 31 trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/.

 

I also blogged recently about a few more Michigan Road sights. http://jimgrey.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/learning-to-see/.

 

jim

Made it!! Good stuff there including some (e.g., Sycamore Row) that I recognised. I guess I misunderstood your post. I thought you were saying that posted photos only went to Fulton but I traveled (while sitting in my chair) all the way to South Bend. Hope I didn't go too far B) .

 

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Denny, my road trips to date have taken me to Fulton. Last year's US 31 trip did double duty of capturing Rochester to South Bend. I'm going to take some more photos along that section next time I'm out, though, because the Michigan Road is a northbound journey, and most of my US 31 photos are southbound!

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  • 1 month later...

I've been having a rough go lately -- car has been in the shop for two weeks needing a new transmission, my Rottweiler suddenly took ill and died, my ex-wife is moving the kids an hour away (it's three minutes now), my refrigerator conked out. So my Michigan Road visits have not been quite as frequent as my money and attention have gone to other things. I seriously hope that I'm done with major drama for a while.

 

Before the car died I did manage to do the segment between Rochester and Lakeville, some of it with the expert help of a preservation architect in Plymouth who knows the road well. I also did the Lincoln Highway segment between South Bend and Rolling Prairie. Photos are up on Flickr, but I haven't tagged everything yet. Weather and working car permitting, I'll do Rolling Prairie to Michigan City over Labor Day weekend.

 

I just got a 1978 book about the history of Burlington, Indiana -- a Michigan Road town south of Logansport. It has some photos of the town going back to the early 1900s. It also includes a great southbound shot of the road, undated though it's from before 1919, because the book says the covered bridge in the photo was torn down then, replaced by a narrow concrete bridge. I've attached the photo to this post. A northbound shot of the road leading to the current bridge is here.

 

BurlingtonMR.jpg

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Jim,

 

Truly sorry about Buckethead, and the new distance to the kids. Refrigerators and cars are just annoyances by comparison.

 

I was wondering about the Michigan Road! Now I understand the pause.

 

By the looks of the number of hits on the thread, the Michigan Road is one hot subject!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

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Jim,

 

So sorry to hear about the Rotty - my daughter loves that breed and at one time had 3 of them at the same time. They are unfairly maligned as "vicious" - it's all in how they are brought up.

 

She had one, Chance, that was huge - he weighed in at 115 pounds. People walking by her house would cross to the other side of the street - even when the dog was inside (rarely are they ever out in the front yard). I used to play with him - we'd roll all over the living room floor and I'd, literally, beat the daylights out of him in play. :D He loved it.

 

My daughter taught me that when our pets pass they go to a place called the "Rainbow Bridge" and cross over to a world of endless warmth, sunlight and others to play with. There is no more pain, no more suffering. They are waiting for us to come and join them.

 

As for the kids - at least your's are only an hour away. I got 3 great-grandchildren who are now 1400 miles away.

 

Take care.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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Thanks, guys. I tell you what, this has been a hell of a difficult summer. My Michigan Road trips have been the bright spots.

 

My Rott was, like Chance, indestructible -- you could play very, very hard with her and she really loved it. But she was 11 1/2, which is about 90 in Rottweiler years. She had a good life.

 

The situation with my ex and my kids has always been bad and I could fill an entire forum with stories. This move is just one more thing. She just remarried; I'm hoping that in time the energy she's used being difficult with me will be put to better use in her new marriage.

 

Meanwhile, back to the whole point of this thread. I ended up blogging about this bit of the Michigan Road. I included a photo of the concrete bridge being built, one of it finished, and one of the road over the creek there today.

 

Looking forward to finishing the journey over Labor Day weekend, and then spending my spare time this fall writing the whole thing up for the Web. This will be one seriously long trip report!

Edited by mobilene
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She just remarried; I'm hoping that in time the energy she's used being difficult with me will be put to better use in her new marriage.

 

Looking forward to finishing the journey over Labor Day weekend, and then spending my spare time this fall writing the whole thing up for the Web. This will be one seriously long trip report!

 

Jim,

 

I can't help but comment on what I assume was a bit of unintended humor in your post. Are you hoping her energy being difficult with you will be turned to positive purposes in her new marriage, or that she will use the energy to be difficult with a new husband? :rolleyes: I bet it is a little of both!!

 

I think all of us are looking forward to the full report on the Michigan Road.

 

I wonder as a matter of process whether it would be best done into a book form. I don't think it takes much more effort, and there are sites that provide work up formats. I have forgotten which post it is, but a fellow here "published" his grandfather's cross country trip by motorcycle and I paid to read it. Good stuff, by the way.

 

The advantages of the book on demand approach seems self evident, and a benefit to posterity.

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

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Dave, I don't care where the energy goes, as long as it goes! :-)

 

I hadn't thought of doing the writeup in book form. I had thought about how unwieldy this writeup is going to be if I do it in my usual form, however. I'll have to chew on this.

 

But I do have in mind to write a history of the road as a bound book. Indiana's bicentennial is 8 years away, you see, and it seems like the climate should be right for perhaps the press at the Indiana Historical Society or maybe those at Indiana University or Notre Dame to want to publish a work like that. This would be a more serious effort, and less experiential than my normal trip writeups.

 

Got my car back today. With the car rental, this debacle has cost me $3900. Jeez, I could have bought a serviceable used pickup truck for that. I've wanted one for a long time to haul stuff around.

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Just wanting to comment on the 'grass roots effort' to gain official recognition for Michigan Road. The American Road Foundation would certainly be a supportive non-profit organization for this. If you need a statement/letter indicating the importance of preserving and promoting this historic road, we would be more than happy to help. About a month or two ago now I was officially designated by the board to run day-to-day operations of the Foundation. So, please pm or email me and we can get to work!

 

Thanks!

Beciky

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  • 2 weeks later...

I clinched the Michigan Road this weekend!

 

I have now driven the road from end to end, coast to coast, Madison to Michigan City. And let me tell you what a complete letdown Michigan City was. The downtown is dumpy, and even though you're right at the mouth of Trail Creek and Lake Michigan, you can't see any of it from the road. What you can see is a huge cooling tower for the Michigan City Generating Station, right there where the road ends:

 

2819049467_15bf48b4f9_m.jpg

 

The city is very quick to point out that this is not a nuclear reactor!

Edited by mobilene
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I clinched the Michigan Road this weekend!

 

I have now driven the road from end to end, coast to coast, Madison to Michigan City. And let me tell you what a complete letdown Michigan City was. The downtown is dumpy, and even though you're right at the mouth of Trail Creek and Lake Michigan, you can't see any of it from the road. What you can see is a huge cooling tower for the Michigan City Generating Station, right there where the road ends:

 

2819049467_15bf48b4f9_m.jpg

 

The city is very quick to point out that this is not a nuclear reactor!

 

Jim,

 

Not many roads end with a "smoke stack!" :lol:

 

And Congratulations!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Congrats on clinching the road. Nice accomplishment despite the Michigan City letdown.

 

The Zimmer Power Station near Cincinnati also looks nuclear but isn't. Zimmer was intended to be nuclear but was changed largely to the job being botched at all levels. Wonder what Michigan City's story is.

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I have now uploaded, tagged, titled, geotagged, and described the photos from the entire Michigan Road omnibus excursion.

 

It's somewhere north of 1,000 photos. It's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/.

 

I'm making a return cruise through the southern half of the road the first of October and will photograph a few things I missed, and there are a few spots on the road north of Indy I mean to photograph (even have a sticky note on my dasboard to remind me of them), but for all intents and purposes this is it, I'm done. Whew!

 

Next I'll get back to writing up the story for my jimgrey.net space.

 

jim

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I have now uploaded, tagged, titled, geotagged, and described the photos from the entire Michigan Road omnibus excursion.

 

It's somewhere north of 1,000 photos. It's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/.

 

I'm making a return cruise through the southern half of the road the first of October and will photograph a few things I missed, and there are a few spots on the road north of Indy I mean to photograph (even have a sticky note on my dasboard to remind me of them), but for all intents and purposes this is it, I'm done. Whew!

 

Next I'll get back to writing up the story for my jimgrey.net space.

 

jim

 

Jim,

 

A groundbreaking effort...an inspiration....does the book follow the blog? Tell Becky you want an "advance" to fund further research!!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

 

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