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Archive for the ‘Road trip’ Category

Couple to run Lincoln Highway across Ohio

October 2, 2008

Eric Ebbinger writes that he and his wife Misty are combining their love of history, running, and the spirit to run across Ohio next February. To honor of the legacy of President Lincoln, they will begin in February on his 200th birthday and finish the 240-some miles 5 days later on President’s Day: “What better place to focus a birthday celebration of Lincoln than the engineering marvel which bears his name? … It will not be easy, but it will not be impossible. Ok, to be completely honest, most people think we’re crazy. But the road, the towns, the people, and the legacy of Lincoln will be exemplified in every step.”

To help spread the word about the man, the road, and the run, they’ve launched a website thelincolnrun.com. So far, it has only followed the story of Eric’s running but as November and the anniversary of the Gettysburg address approaches, they will “launch a daily celebration of all things Lincoln.” They will also offer a T-shirt for $20 with a portion going to the Lincoln Highway Association.

Tags:honoring Lincoln, Ohio, running across Ohio
Posted in highways, history, Road trip | 1 Comment »

PBS Lincoln Highway video near final cut

September 16, 2008

I revisited Rick Sebak at the WQED-TV studios to see the near-final cut of his Lincoln Highway documentary to air October 29. He has a typical end-of-project dilemma — so much cool stuff to show but not enough time in the 56-minute program. And his deadline to complete the work is this week. I was surely no help, advising that he show more of this or that when he needs advice on what to cut!

Here’s where I was set up to watch. You’ll recognize attendees at the 2008 LHA conference gathering for a group photo in front of the Sunset Motel in Evanston, Wyoming.

In another room, above, video editor Kevin Conrad worked on an interview with LHA past-president Jesse Peterson for the show’s closing moment, a montage of personalities and scenery.

It’s a great show, with lots of info and imagery of the highway, and a theme song written for it by Buddy Nutt that is stuck in my head! ….. “Goin’ all the waaaayyyy, on the Lincoln Highwaaaayyyy!”

Tags:Evanston WY, highway history video, PBS special, song for documentary
Posted in highways, history, Road trip | Leave a Comment »

Lincoln Motor Court a Lincoln Highway must-stop

September 15, 2008

The Lincoln Motor Court west of Bedford, Pennsylvania, may be the last of the vintage courts still serving overnight guests along the Lincoln Highway. Denny Gibson stayed there Thursday night and wrote, “Despite looking the same from the outside, each of the cabins is just a bit different inside. I was in #6 this time and it is a bit more romantic than my previous accommodations. Note the champagne flutes and the vines near the bed. Hope I didn’t displace some late arriving honeymooners.” Click Denny’s photo below to see the interior larger:

Read more of Denny’s trips HERE, including a visit to the stone bridge at the Philly border.

Lincoln Motor Court was built before 1945; Bob and Debbie Altizer have been taking care of it for 25 years. As you can imagine, there are many challenges to maintaining vintage cabins from painting, plumbing, and wiring to keeping the cottages comfortable. Replacing the roofs have long been a goal but that is expenesive and grants are typically for non-profits. Help preserve this rare resource by staying overnight next time you’re in Pennsylvania. And look for the Altizers and their court in the forthcoming PBS special.

Lincoln Motor Court
5104 Lincoln Highway
Manns Choice, PA 15550
(814) 733-2891

Tags:cabin court, cottage court, Lincoln Motor Court, old highways, Road trip, vintage tourist cabins
Posted in highways, history, lodging, Road trip, roadside, travel | 7 Comments »

8 new postcards publicize Lincoln Hwy show

September 8, 2008

I visited producer Rick Sebak today at the WQED-TV studios to see an early cut of his Lincoln Highway documentary to air October 29 on PBS stations. There’s lots to tell but for now, here’s a sneak peak at 8 new postcards that will publicize the show. The photos were snapped by Rick as he traced the route across the US the past two summers. Six of them will be produced just as you see here; two have been reduced to business card size. All will be sent to media outlets and will be available for fans to acquire — more news on that and the show this week, but for now, CLICK THE IMAGE to see the postcard drafts larger:

And read more about the show on Rick’s blog.

Tags:advertising PBS show, Lincoln Highway, postcards
Posted in highways, history, Road trip, roadside, travel | Leave a Comment »

Queneaus + markers = quite an 80th anniversary

September 2, 2008

Last summer, we honored Bernie Queneau here at the Heinz History Center with a proclamation from the mayor of Pittsburgh and the LHA. That same day, PBS producer Rick Sebak launched the filming of his LH special by capturing Bernie’s remarks about traveling the Lincoln Highway in 1928 (below, in front of his 16-year-old self holding the CA flag).

Bernie — now 96 years old — is the Lincoln Highway’s most prestigious ambassador, having been on the Boy Scout safety tour of 1928, which also served to promote the Lincoln Highway and the forthcoming marking of the coast-to-coast road with concrete posts/markers.

Yesterday, Rick and crew met Bernie and wife Esther, herself a former president of the LHA. It was 80 years to the day that Boy Scouts across the US fanned out to plant the concrete posts into the ground at corners and main intersections along the Lincoln. Rick recounts it best himself….

We had a great day on the Lincoln Highway with Esther and Bernie Queneau. I realized it was 80 years since Bernie made his cross-country promotional tour for the Lincoln Highway. Meanwhile, we tried to agree on a day when we could go for a ride, and today, Monday, Labor Day, was the only day when Bob and Glenn and I were all available as well as Esther and Bernie.

Then in Hanoverton, when we pulled to look at the replica marker, Esther mentioned that the markers had been erected on the same day, September 1, 1928. That was 80 years ago today! By chance, we were observing the 80th anniversary of the concrete posts with a drive into Ohio. It was glorious.

We actually had great luck all day. We met Bernie and Esther at the Teapot in Chester, WV, at 10 AM, and while getting a few shots, a car pulled over and Susan Badgley who helps take care of the landmark got out and offered to show us inside. How could we pass up the opportunity? Susan’s mother remembered the pot back 65 years.

Susan’s husband Tom is a toll taker on the Newell Bridge, and she offered us some free tickets to make several crossings, trying to get some shots of Esther and Bernie crossing the river into Ohio. [That’s Bernie below driving his Buick.]

We ended the day driving back and forth on Baywood Street west of Minerva. What a beautiful old stretch of red brick road! We thought we had driven into an Edward Hopper painting. Several nice old painted markers on telephone poles, and two quick interviews with our subjects. They are amazing.

Above: Rick Sebak photographed Bernie Queneau driving the LH via Baywood Street in eastern Ohio – CLICK to see it larger.

Tags:Boy Scout safety tour in 1928, brick roadways, Chester WV, giant teapot, highway markers, Ohio, roadside attraction, West Virginia
Posted in highways, history, Road trip, roadside, signs, travel | 1 Comment »

Throttler mag drives the Lincoln Highway in Iowa

September 1, 2008

The July 2008 issue of Throttler Motorcycle Magazine had an article about motorcycling the Lincoln Highway through Iowa. I contributed the images and Craig Ruegsegger wrote the story.

For more information, contact President & Publisher Roderick Kabel at roderick@throttlermagazine.com or visit www.throttlermagazine.com/.

Tags:Iowa, motorcycle tour of old highway, motorcycles
Posted in highways, Road trip, travel | 1 Comment »

Picking top 5 Lincoln Highway sites not so easy

August 29, 2008

In response to our story about PBS producer Rick Sebak filming at the Shoe House, good friend Jess asked what were the top 5 Lincoln Highway sites in PA mentioned by LHA director Mindy Crawford? Glad you asked!

1. Grandview Point, site of Ship Hotel, between Bedford and Ligonier
2. The Shoe House, York
3. Dunkle’s Gulf, Bedford
4. Lincoln Motor Court, Mann’s Choice
5. Poquessing Creek Bridge, near Langhorne
6. Dutch Haven, Lancaster

Yep, six! Mindy said couldn’t bear to leave out any of them.

If I had to cut one, it would be Grandview Point, even though I’m writing a book about it and the Ship Hotel there (due out Spring 2010). But if I could replace it, I’d go for Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum between Chambersburg and Gettysburg — Rick is not as enthusiastic about it, but for me it’s a rare throwback to old-time museum and candy shops. And I’d plead to group two in Bedford and add the Coffee Pot to Dunkle’s since it’s just down West Pitt Street.

When Rick filmed me in Pittsburgh, he asked me about my top 5 around the city. Hmm, I think they were:
1. Lincoln bronze statue, Wilkinsburg
2. Peppi’s Diner, Wilkinsburg/Pittsburgh line
3. Gulf building, art deco skyscraper, downtown
4. Manchester Bridge abutment, North Side, next to Heinz Field
5. Yellow brick road, Glenfield

OK Jess, you have two weeks — can you see them all? Maybe we’d better just make a lunch run to Peppi’s!

How about the top 5 must-see LH sites in the US? Dunkle’s must be one, and maybe the nearby Lincoln Motor Court too. It’s tough but I can pick three more (two of them also very close to each other in the Midwest). Send your top 5 and we’ll gather them into a post next week.

Tags:Bedford PA, Coffee Pot building, Diner, Dutch Haven, highway landmarks, Lincoln Highway, PBS show, Pittsburgh, roadside giants, Ship Hotel
Posted in highways, history, Road trip, roadside, travel | 4 Comments »

Ohio Buy-Way yard sale busier than ever

August 15, 2008

Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, reports that excellent weather helped the 3-day Lincoln Highway Buy-Way yard sale across Ohio. He and wife Nance put 671 miles on their car checking on sales and sent back these photos:

There were some 700 vendors last year and without an official count, there were at least that many this year, plus, he says the past three years were hot and humid and last year tornadoes threatened.

West Virginia’s town of Chester, where the Lincoln Highway passes through, had a strongly organized sidewalk sales and adorned their streets with BUY-WAY signs. It is always fun to see a new community come on board!

Van Wert was the poster child this year by having invited the Route 127 (World’s longest) yard sale to extend northward and cross the Lincoln Highway in that town. That community was a buzz of activity from the fairgrounds with a huge flea market and other festival-type activities, to the north-south corridor of Washington Street (Route 127) and then across the Lincoln both east and west with many, many yard sales.

New multiple dealers have found their spot this year, too, setting up shop in highly visible places along the way and offering just about anything a person could need. One dealer reported 95 cars per hour, then got too busy to count. Multiply that traffic across the state and we are accomplishing out mission of bringing dollars to the Lincoln Highway corridor and exposing people to the history of the road!

Also, a few more communities produced and distributed community yard sale maps in addition to our Travelers Guide, helping people to understand the rest of the story; in fact Forest, Ada and Bucyurs went to “community-wide” sales this year, not just the LH corridor.

The Delpho Herald reported sales were brisk: “It wasn’t just local people who were traveling the highways, as Lee said he had spoken to shoppers from at least 12 other states as far away as Florida, Alabama, New Jersey and Wisconsin. There were shoppers from Canada, and Lee said he had spoken to a local retailer who had a customer from China.” Also read about Van Wert here.

Indiana and Illinois also participated and we hope to get reports from those states too.

Next year’s dates will continue to be the second weekend of August: August 6, 7 and 8, 2009.

Tags:antiques, Buy Way yard sale, highway yard sale, Ohio, yard sales
Posted in highways, history, Road trip, travel | 3 Comments »

LH historian & author Franzwa recovering

August 14, 2008

Historian and author Gregory Franzwa has been off the road the past few weeks as he underwent surgery in Salt Lake City for suspected lung cancer. As he relates, on July 29, surgeons “removed a pie-shaped (pumpkin, not lemon meringue) slice from the upper lobe of my right lung” that proved to be malignant but does not require treatment. His wife and road trip companion Kathy is taking care of him – as he says, “she’s in charge of cutting up my Jello.”

Franzwa was instrumental in founding both the Oregon-California Trails Association and the modern Lincoln Highway Association. His series of state-by-state guidebooks to the Lincoln Highway began with Iowa in 1995; books to the west coast are completed and he is now working on states to the east. His Patrice Press carries many more books he has authored about western trails – and at merely 82, he says he has lots more books to write.

Tags:emigrant trails, Franzwa, transportation history
Posted in highways, history, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »

Iowa Motor Tour cruises cross-state to success

August 13, 2008

Judging by the glowing follow-up newspaper stores, the 2008 River to River Motor Tour sponsored by the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association was a big success. The 3-day tour started Friday morning in Clinton and crossed the state, ending Sunday afternoon at Missouri Valley. Tour director Jeff LaFollette said there were 55 vehicles and about 110 people in the caravan as it moved west.

Two photos from Colo City Clerk Scott Berka show tour-goers at Reed/Niland Corners, home to a restored cafe, gas station, and motel. The café had pie and coffee for the travelers on Saturday. The view of the gas station shows LaFollette (in blue shirt) giving instructions by microphone. The second shows the road behind the complex lined with vintage vehicles. CLICK them to see LARGER: