While seemingly everyone is driving the Lincoln Highway this June, including those now returning from the LHA conference, I’m unfortunately typing not driving. Worse, I’m having trouble downloading photos from Sebak. So for now, just a quick update.
Rick Sebak and crewmates Bob and Glenn were in Woodbine, Iowa, this morning filming at Brick Street Station. Hard to believe that 3 days ago they were at the LHA conference in Evanston, and tomorrow night they’ll be back in Pittsburgh. Then a different kind of challenge ensues – choosing just a few of the stories and moments from the hundred of hours that they’ve filmed along the Lincoln.
They hooked up a couple times with our Piaggio scooter friends, Buddy and Bob — read the blogs from PBS and Piaggio.
Another road trip just completed along the LH in Wyoming was a 3-day memorial ride by friends of Scott Griemann; it can be followed on the Wide Open Wyoming blog.
Day 2 of the Lincoln Highway Association conference featured a tour westward into Utah. Here are some scenes from LHA President Jan Shupert-Arick:
Gas station at Echo.
Summit Mercantile and Furniture Company, Coalville.
Studebaker Champion in jumkyard at Castle Rock.
Wayne Pump (manufactured in Fort Wayne, IN) next to Pony Express Service Station/junkyard at Castle Rock.
Cross-country cyclists Buddy Rosenbaum and Bob Chase met up with the conference; here, Jan and Diane Rossiter (Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition) try out the Piaggio MP3s.
Day 3 featured speakers such as Mindy Crawford (above) discussing preservation issues plus:
• Todd Thibodeaux on Ezra Emery and Wyoming Good Roads;
• Chavawn Kelley on the LHA’s Austin Bement;
• John Waggener on the Medicine Bow Route;
• Heyward Schrock on Highway Architecture;
• John Clark on Automotive History in Utah;
• and Robert Rampton on the 1908 New York to Paris Automobile Race.
PBS producer Rick Sebak has called the past few days reporting that like any good road trip, there’s just too many places to explore when you’re trying to keep to a schedule: “There’s so much to see, we could do this forever.”
They’re on their second cross-country trip fiming for A Look Along the Lincoln Highway, premiering this October. Amazingly, this afternoon Rick and Bob and Glenn are driving east and will be pulling into the Lincoln Highway conference in Evanston, Wyoming. Amazing because they passed by just a few days ago heading west into Utah where they interviewed former LHA president Jess Peterson, headed down Johnson Pass (above, though Gatofeo wrote to say this is actually Dugway Pass), crossed the Great Salt Desert, got a flat tire, interviewed Jay Banta and toured with him, crossed Nevada, filmed in the Sierras and Placerville, reached the terminus, and are blazing back eastward. Amazing too are the photos and videos they’re capturing for their blog. Here are some extra beauties from Rick – CLICK on them for larger views. Makes you want to hit the road, doesn’t it?
• Horses along Pony Express Road, a LH bypass around Dugway, Utah.
• Pony Express Road meets the LH east of Fish Springs, Utah.
• Jay Banta shows the crew around Kearney Ranch, Callao, Utah.
• Crossing Nevada.
• Bob and Glenn set up a late-day shot at Berkeley Pier on the San Francisco Bay.
• Sebak reaches the Western Terminus in San Francisco for time #2.
Remember to CLICK on them for larger views – and you’ll soon be planning your own trip.
As reported earlier, 71-year-old Dr. Bernard “Buddy” Rosenbaum is driving the Lincoln Highway coast-to-coast with long-time cycling friend, 72-year-old Bob Chase. They started in San Francisco June 13 and will end in New York City’s Times Square on July 14. The pair is riding three-wheeled Piaggio MP3 scooters, getting some 55 miles per gallon.
Read more about the trip at their blog www.noagelimitpiaggio.us/. There are tons of pictures, virtual Google maps, and info on restaurants and roadside stops. The pair are about to enter Wyoming.
Folks have been asking how the Rick, Bob, and Glenn — filming a Lincoln Highway program for PBS — are faring after their tornado troubles. Rick called to say they’re having a bit of trouble posting to their blog, understandable in the midst of so much weather-related damage. They’re back on the road this morning, heading to Wyoming, but first were about to check out Fort Cody Trading Post, one of the Lincoln Highway’s coolest roadside attractions. Make sure you visit next time you’re in North Platte, Nebraska.
Here’s a brief videoblog they were able to post from Omaha yesterday:
UPDATE 1 PM EDT: They’re back online and updating their blog. A couple days later, here were Bob and Glenn at Green River, Wyoming:
A road trip means adventure. On the first trip I took to photograph for my Greetings from the Lincoln Highway book, my trusty camera broke – and this was a PHOTO trip. All I could afford then was a cheap replacement, but I got my photos – along with some great adventures. So it goes for Rick Sebak and his PBS crew as they head out for a second round of filming for A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, premiering nationally October 29 at 8 pm. Follow his well-written adventures HERE. Click below for a videoblog recap of their first two days.
FIrst day out they ran into fierce storms and tornado warnings at Van Wert, Ohio. Next morning, his laptop died – the thing he’ll depend on for 3 weeks to store his photos, communicate to the world, and write his blog. Like on my camera adventure, where do you get high-priced electronic equipment in rural America? (In this case, a bit tougher than normal since he’s on a Mac – as am I.)
Rick does get a new Mac and heads to Iowa where they hit tornadoes again. And the tornadoes hit them too, or at least hail does, breaking a window in the van filled with their video equipment.
Reminder to us all for the next road trip – bring flashlights. Maybe plastic sheets for emergencies too. And here’s wishing them sunny skies for the rest of their trip!
In anticipation of the 36th annual RAGBRAI®, the “Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa,” Des Moines Register Editorial Cartoonist (and race host) Brian Duffy has been checking out the route the past week. The yearly week-long bicycle ride through Iowa is sponsored by The Des Moines Register; the 2008 route will follow much of the Lincoln Highway from July 20-26. RAGBRAI® is the longest, largest, and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. Click HERE to see a list of Duffy’s daily posts. For a map you can zoom in on, plus photos and videos, visit Duffy’s blog (screen shot below):
Although Iowa seems flat to outsiders, this year’s day 2 alone has more than 5,000 feet of climb in its 80-mile length. The end of that day will bring riders their first views of Lincoln Highway and Burma Shave signs just west of Jefferson.
RAGBRAI was started in 1973 as a 6-day ride (not a race) across Iowa by two Register columnists; it’s still planned and coordinated by the newspaper. This year will launch from Missouri Valley but not pick up the LH till Jefferson, hit it from Ogden through Boone, again some of it in Ames, Nevada, Colo, and State Center, cross it at points in Le Grand and Tama, then pick it up in Chelsea through Belle Plaine, meet it through Lisbon/Mt. Vernon, and finally cross it at Mechanicsville. The bike route will be nearby or parallel the LH for much of the time, though not always along it.
I met Rick Sebak about 1990 as he was preparing to produce a show about roadside attractions in Pennsylvania. We traveled the Lincoln Highway together, and now almost two decades later (seems like two years!) he’s traveling the Lincoln Highway coast-to-coast for an hour-long show to debut later this summer. We’ve also worked together on programs about diners, Isaly’s, and one called Stuff That’s Gone, but we still talk most about the Lincoln Highway and the places we saw back then that are now gone, most notably the Ship Hotel.
Above: Jarrett, Rick, and Bob at the Western Terminus of the LH.
Last fall Rick and cameraman Bob Lubomski made it to the Pacific and back with Jarrett Buba. This time Rick and Bob are joined in the QED van by sound-and-video man Glenn Syska, who is also helping post their daily blog. They’re leaving early today with a plan of getting as far west ASAP. Of course, that was the plan last time! There’s never enough time or daylight to fit in all the cool places along the way….
The blog for his last long LH trip ended September 1 at San Francisco. Rick just updated it to include the days heading back east — scroll down and you’ll find another entry for that day called No Reservations. Start there and remember the days get more recent as you go up (so the top is the most recent, when they had reached Nebraska). Posts from the trip starting today should start arriving tonight or tomorrow — they have some great stops planned.
Also check out his Video Postcards link, which offer a great daily look at sites along the way.
BTW, note that the web address has changed — it can now be found at http://www.wqed.org/tv/sebak/lincoln_hwy/blog/. So has the name — no longer just Lincoln Highway Postcards, it now carries the name of the show, A Ride Along The Lincoln Highway. You can see when the blog updates by watching the RSS feed on the page in the column to the right.
It was 75 years ago today that the first drive-in theater opened. Celebrate these icons of car culture and the open road with a visit this week. What’s playing? Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda, The Strangers, Iron Man, Narnia–Prince Caspian, Baby Mama, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Made of Honor, and What Happens in Vegas are just some of the flicks on local outdoor screens. Clck the drive-in page to the right to see a list of operating “ozoners” along the Lincoln Highway.
The Lewisboro [Connecticut] Ledgerreports that Buddy Rosenbaum will leave San Francisco next Friday and follow the Lincoln Highway to Times Square. It’s been done before, but not by a 71-year-old. Rosenbaum approached Piaggio, maker of the popular Vespa, in the hope of altering stereotypes about aging and activity levels. The company responded by offering their new innovative all-terrain bike, the MD3-500, with two wheels in front and one in back. Rosenbaum has biked around the world with his wife, but he will be accompanied on this trip by his friend, Bob Chase of California. They leave June 13 and hope to arrive in NYC on July 14. He had planned to camp along the Lincoln Highway, but has decided to use hotels, in part so they can produce a daily blog with photos. Click the screen shot below for the full story:
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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Cross-country cyclists Buddy Rosenbaum and Bob Chase met up with the conference; here, Jan and Diane Rossiter (Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition) try out the Piaggio MP3s.
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