2008 LHA conference in Evanston – days 2 & 3

June 20, 2008

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.

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PBS's Sebak: "We could do this forever"

June 19, 2008

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.

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Sleepy Hollow to be rebuilt as original log inn

June 18, 2008

The Tribune-Review reports that Sleepy Hollow Tavern, along the Lincoln Highway near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and destroyed by suspected arson in February, will be rebuilt to its original look by a building contractor who once lived in the area. On June 23, Fred Haeflein will begin selectively demolishing the building; equipment is already arriving, as seen in the screen shot below:

Haeflein plans to lead a seven-member crew in rebuilding the structure to its original log cabin inn appearance. The entire second floor and roof could not be salvaged but the first floor will be incorporated into the new structure, and 6 of the 18 framed dormers over windows on the front and back portions of the roof will be reused. Haeflein plans to base his reconstruction on the view in a vintage postcard, seen below, before the later additions of a stone front and solarium in back.

Sleepy Hollow started as a typical roadside stand; the inn was built 1939-1940 but suffered after the westbound lanes of Lincoln Highway/US 30 were moved across Loyalhanna Creek. A small causeway was added, but the place declined in recent decades, surviving mostly as a tavern.

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2008 LHA conference in Evanston – day 1

June 18, 2008

Lincoln Highway fans were in Evanston, Wyoming, on Monday to kick off the 2008 National Lincoln Highway Association Conference. Tours were given of the roundhouse and railyard, then a get-together was held for first-time conference attendees followed by a welcome reception in the railroad machine shop, and capped by a buffet dinner with keynote speaker Mark Foster, University of Colorado professor and author of Castles in the Sand: The Life and Times of Carl Graham Fisher.

Above photos show a family from Colorado with one of the cast-iron state line markers, Bill Arick with Mindy and Rodney Crawford, and art show entries including a painting from a student and a photo detail of the Fisher Mausoleum by Jan Shupert-Arick.

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Cyclists’ daily LH blog offers maps, info, images

June 18, 2008

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.

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2008 LHA conference in Evanston – early arrivals

June 17, 2008

Lincoln Highway Association President Jan Shupert-Arick reports that a number of attendees arrived early for the 16th Annual National LHA Conference in Evanston, Wyoming.

Above, several of the attendees from Utah, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan gathered for Mexican food on Front Street.

Next door at an old gas station, an original LH sign took them by surprise as no one in the group had ever seen this rare treasure.

Following dinner the group explored Evanston on foot. The city is all dressed up for the conference, having hung over 100 LH banners. The group stopped by the Machine Shop (a main conference location) and peered into the windows to see rare LH artifacts from the early years of the road.

It was a full moon on a beautiful evening in Evanston. Near the the depot and round house, train whistles in the distance made it a perfect first day.

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Henry Joy monument site gets historical marker

June 16, 2008

Historian, trails authority, and former LHA president Randy Wagner reports that the State of Wyoming will install a new historic site sign commemorating Henry B. Joy and the Lincoln Highway today, Monday, June 16. Those headed to the LHA conference in Evanston, Wyoming, from the east can look for it just south of the I-80 Continental Divide Exit (184) about 30 miles west of Rawlins, at the original site of the Joy Monument.

Above: The Henry B. Joy monument at its current location, I-80 exit 323.

Joy, one of the leading players in the original LHA, had camped at this site in 1915 and the stunning sunset led him to declare his desire to be buried here. He was not, but a monument was erected in 1939 that included 8 of the 1928 concrete markers. The site is very isolated but vandals nonetheless took a toll until the stone tablet and 4 of the posts were relocated to the Summit Rest Area (I-80 exit 323) east of Laramie in 2001 (as seen above).

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PBS crew making its way across Nebraska

June 13, 2008

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:

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Harsh weather slams Cedar Rapids, much of Iowa

June 13, 2008

“Iowa, Jones, Cedar counties are virtually impassable” ~ headline from [Cedar Rapids] Gazette

“Photos, videos and words cannot express the true horror, shock and devastation that’s going on here. This is not just some knee high deep water around town.” ~ comment on ABC News

Rick Sebak’s brush with a tornado in Iowa was but one example of the severe weather to slam the state. As he notes, much worse has happened, including the deaths of four Boy Scouts at a camp near Nebraska. The state suffered severe storms on Wednesday and Thursday and more rain is forecast. Iowa Governor Chet Culver said that with nine rivers at near record levels, dozens of bridges have been destroyed; he has declared 55 out of Iowa’s 99 counties state disaster areas and says infrastructure repair costs will run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Flooding is widespread, especially in Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second largest city, and site of the 2006 Lincoln Highway Association national conference. Here’s a screen shot of the main headline at the GazetteOnline – click it to read the numerous stories.

More than 100 city blocks were inundated after the Cedar River broke its bank – see aerial footage HERE. About 8,000 people were evacuated, many being rescued by boat. The flooding extends to neighborhoods too. This morning, the water supply is critically low. Click HERE for urgent news updates (replacing the city’s normal home page) or HERE for ABC News coverage.

Lisa Fox, vice-president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, told Reuters news agency, “It hits everything. Colleges are shut down, stores, it’s devastating,” Crops are also being ruined. Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport, told the AP, “We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring…. We’re in uncharted territory – this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.”

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Crashed HD, tornadoes … must be a road trip

June 12, 2008

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!

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