Lincoln Highway fan Steve Jones wrote me to mention a road food website that he manages: ridetoeat.com/. It lists nearly 1,000 eating places, some with descriptions. Steve explains below it’s not the same as a recommendation guide.
It’s not really about places to eat while on the road (that’s well-plowed ground) but more about places it is worth planning a trip around — even if it’s just a Sunday drive. It’s still a little rough, but I hope to grow it into a unique and valuable resource. The premise is motorcycle-related, but there is really nothing about the data that is bike-centric other than the tendency towards destinations that are on twisty roads.
Steve also posted the book review below to LDRider, an email list for members of the Iron Butt Assn. and other long-distance endurance motorcycle riding enthusiasts. Thanks Steve!!
Brian Butko, author of Greetings from the Lincoln Highway has a new book out called Lincoln Highway Companion.
Though its 192 pages are filled with great full-color photos on quality paper, this is no coffee table decoration designed to give you something to flip through during commercials.
It’s the ultimate detailed authority on the current and historical alignments of the Lincoln Highway, conveniently sized to fit in a tank bag or glove box (just over 8×5″).
Every mile of the Lincoln Highway is covered with detailed color-coded maps showing the following:
* Original 1913 alignments
* Intermediate alignments or sanctioned detours
* Final Alignments still in use by 1930
* Modern detours
* Gone or hard to reach
The map scale varies as needed to show meaningful detail, all the way down to 1 inch per mile.
It bursts with snippets of interesting things to see, lodging and great food along the route – but the maps are the star of the show. It is obvious that a great deal of research went into this.
The author (with whom I have no affiliation) has put together a short video highlighting the features of the book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8liMtYjGK8
I originally bought it with the intention of putting together the “definitive” route for a Lincoln Highway Coast-to-Coast ride, but now I see there are too many variables and the decisions are just too subjective. The good news is that it gives me everything I need to choose the route I find most interesting.
I am sure some here will enjoy it as much as I am. It just came out and may not be widely available yet, but they have it in stock at Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/0811735478
Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, reports that while delivering Lincoln Highway travelers guides, he met Mike Van Doren and his wife Dawn, new owners of the old Dutch Mill east of Van Wert, Ohio. The couple did not at first realize the building’s historical significance but it, and the coast-to-coast road it’s on, now has them excited. The place was a “one-stop” for gas, food, and lodging in the 1920s, and a short section of original road remains on property from when the curve outr front was straightened.
The roof is leaking and needs about $25,000 to repair but the “bar” is still in there, and that’s one of the reasons they bought it. They will be having the BUY-WAY yard sale activities there (August 6-8). It surely is great to see someone wanting to preserve this stuff.
The Old Dutch Mill is at the junction of Middlepoint Road and old Lincoln Highway just east of Van Wert.
“Soup, Sin, & Salvation” — a Celebration of Restoration, is the theme for the annual dinner and auction to be held this Saturday, July 25, 2009 in St. Augustine’s former church in Austin, Nevada. St. Augustine’s is the state’s oldest Catholic church building (1866) and a popular stop for tourist along the Lincoln Highway/US 50. The church was sold to a private party who formed a nonprofit organization to restore and renovate the structure.
The event will feature:
Homemade bread and rolls
Homemade soup in a commemorative cup
Depression-era food such as Spam
Grilled steak kabobs
Rich and delicious homemade ice cream
1 pm: Mella Harmon presents:
“How Soup & Sin Saved Nevada” — Nevada during the Great Depression
2-5 pm: “Artists in Austin”
Visit area artists at fun locations around town
6 pm: Dinner and Auction in the old church!
For the first time in decades, this historic building will echo the happy sounds of people gathering!
Tickets are $39. Get more info at www.goaustinnevada.com or contact Jan Morrison (775) 964 – 1100.
Following up on last week’s Lincoln Highway adventures of Bill and Karen, another couple, Dave and Peg, are driving a 1929 Model A across the country. They picked up the Lincoln Highway west of Canton, Ohio, and are heading to California. (Note, they just detoured off the LH to see Mount Rushmore.) Follow along at model-a-adventure.blogspot.com/.
Another couple, Kathie and Tony Mandra, have already reached the west coast but you can read of their trip, and side trips, at lincolnhwy.blogspot.com/.
And Chris Hutter is riding his 2006 Harley Davidson FLHR west from Pittsburgh. Follow him at hutmo.blogspot.com/.
The Auburn Journal reports that Norm Sayler, who served as president and manager of Donner Ski Ranch for 46 years, was honored on July 5 for his contributions to the community. He received the 2009 Community Person of the Year Award at the annual Donner Summit Area Association Picnic from Placer County Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery. Photo is from the story.
A resident of Donner Summit since 1954, Sayler was instrumental in making Donner the first ski resort in America to open its slopes to snow boarders in the 1980s. He turned over operation of the ski area a few years ago but continues with the Donner Summit Historical Society, which he founded. Of note to Lincoln Highway enthusiasts:
In the 1990s when Nevada County slated Rainbow Bridge for demolition, Sayler found $500,000 in state seed money to rehabilitate historic state bridges. This effort also ensured that one of the most historic roads in California, Donner Pass Road (formerly known as Highway 40, the Lincoln Highway, the Victory Highway, and the Dutch Flat-Donner Lake Wagon Road), would be preserved and open for all to use
According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Curtis C. Bailey, co-owner of the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine, Iowa, was murdered Sunday by his common-law wife and two other people, reportedly her son and his girlfriend. LHA director Van Becker sent the photo and alerts us that the story was reported yesterday on Cedar Rapids KCRG-TV 9 and this morning in the Gazette.
Perhaps the most fun, colorful blog ever to follow a Lincoln Highway road trip is being posted by Bill and Karen McKibbon. They set out from Ontario, Canada, and joined the LH at Joliet, Illinois. They’re following the old road west to the Pacific (at which time they continue northward), taking tons of photos like above: their car at Preston’s in Blelle Plaine. Bill told me they’re using my Greetings from the LH and LH Companion (buy ’em on Amazon!) and noted how quickly things change: “Some places no longer exist that you wrote about, some things that deserve a marker or plaque don’t, but we are finding the old road as best we can.”
That’s Bill at the Seeding Mile in Grand Island and Karen (they LOVE finding great desserts) in Cheyenne. Don’t pick on her Route 66 shirt — LHA HQ was out of shirts!
LH boosters also should note that almost every cafe they stopped at was CLOSED! In early JULY!!
Bill makes some other interesting observations. This is from Kensinger’s cool deco station in Grand Island, Nebraska, which was featured (along with owner Dick Grudzinski in the PBS special about the LH):
Dick pointed the way to the original early 1900’s concrete behind his gas station. It is very overgrown with weeds and long abandoned. What really surprised me is that there is no sign or plaque acknowledging what this concrete represents. The Lincoln Highway is not promoted like Route 66 is. What a shame.
Or this:
We loaded up the car and drove to Shelton NE where we wanted to visit the The Lincoln Highway Visitors Center. 10 AM on a Saturday morning and this place is locked up tight. There was a notice in the door with a phone number to call and someone would come over. We peaked in the door and the windows and there wasn’t anything in there that we felt was worth disturbing someone. I am sure they had something important to do or they would be here greeting Lincoln Highway travellers. There were no t-shirts to purchase, no postcards, basically it appeared to be an empty room, with a few things hung on the wall.
Or this
We mentioned to the lady at the [Sod House] Museum that we were driving on the Lincoln Highway and she said, “oh you will want to head North then to get on Highway 30” We said no, that we were driving the original Lincoln before there ever was a Highway 30. She thought Highway 30 was the Lincoln. This poor highway, no one seems to care much or know much about it. Here we are from Ontario Canada, and we know more than the locals.
Well, I guess there’s something to be said for not being over-commercialized….
The retracing of the 1919 military convoy route made headlines at it crossed the U.S. the past month. The tour commemorated the 90th anniversary of the first transcontinental U.S. Army motor transport convoy, most of it along the Lincoln Highway. Some of the participants also posted updates. Marilyn Boots reported on her travels with Dennis in “Jezebel,” a Vietnam-era jeep that he restored.
Dennis is a former Army captain who served with the combat engineers, with one tour of duty in Vietnam. Their blog is bootsadventure.blogspot.com/ (also the source for these photos). He was maintenance officer for the convoy so his Jeep brought up the rear of the convoy. Marilyn was “chase lead,” responsible for seeing that civilian vehicles carrying family members of convoy participants stay on schedule.
Here is a comment from June 16, just a couple days after the launch:
Wow! The journey had been incredible so far and extremely busy. I just thought I could blog every evening! We’ve start with breakfasts at 6:30 and have not reached our hotel rooms until after 10 each night. Today is our first rest day, so I want to share some highlights. We are so filled up with memories already that we could stop now and be content.
And the end:
WE MADE IT!!! We all arrived safe and with NO BREAKDOWNS about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Western Terminus of the Lincoln Highway on the edge of San Francisco, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golden Gate Bridge to the east…. We have never been so grateful for police escorts! There were 32 motorcycle policemen helping us through the enormous amount of traffic over the Bay Bridge and through the hills of San Francisco…. Again, we were cheered on by waving crowds and lots of picture taking as we made the final climb to our destination.
The Mountain View Inn, a historic and beloved hotel located between the Lincoln Highway and Route 30 east of Greensburg, Pa., closed in January but now has a buyer and a potential sales agreement.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, First Commonwealth Bank, owner of the historic inn, is in preliminary talks with a private group that has shown interest but there’s no guarantee it would reopen as a hotel.
This occurred a day after the Westmoreland Cultural Trust outlined its own plan to buy the facility and lease it to area colleges to operate as a hotel and convention center.
The inn opened in 1924 and the Booher family bought it in 1940. Descendants Vance and Vicki Booher began experiencing financial problems in 2001 and closed it earlier this year.
After much back and forth debate, Stackpole Books has finalized the cover to my next book, The Ship Hotel: A Grand View Along the Lincoln Highway. It shows the Ship in the early 50s, when crowds were still coming despite the lure of the parallel Pa. Turnpike. I was hoping for more nautical touches but I’m thrilled they chose to feature this beautiful view from good friend Cy Hosmer.
The Grand View Ship Hotel was once the best-known attraction along the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway. It’s burning in 2001 broke hearts far and wide. Today all that remains are a few scattered scorched remnants below the 1920s wall (see my brief clip below). My book traces the history starting with a roadside stand that served early travelers stopping for the grand view. I got to design the inside, which will feature lots of cool photos printed large. Look for the book in Spring 2010!
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Like this blog? You'll LOVE my books!Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Another fun book! The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway recalls the greatest roadside attraction along the coast-to-coast road.
And for those who LOVE diners, click the book below to purchase our completely updated guide to the history, geography, and food of Pennsylvania's Diners!
According to the 
Lincoln Highway News 