My Lincoln Highway Companion book hit Amazon and bookstore shelves a couple weeks ago. It’s literally a companion to my Greetings … book but also, I hope, a companion to anyone thinking of traveling the road. Reaction has been overwhelmingly kind, like this from LHA president Bob Dieterich:
This book is fantastic! The color maps are clear and easy to read. The photos are excellent. And the contents are superb. The places described in this book are unique and fascinating.
A couple tiny errors have shown up, one being the location of Stosh’s Barber Shop – the description correctly places it in Batavia, Illinois. So why in the photo caption did I write Rochelle?! Don’t know but if we produce a revised or updated edition, I’m ready.
Route 66 News also gave LHC a positive review — read it HERE. Ron Warnick kindly writes that it “truly shines with descriptions of choice motels and restaurants by Butko and a slew of contributors.”
He notes that some locales just don’t have people able to review motels or restaurants, most glaringly in Reno and Sparks, Nevada. This was surprising to me too but shows how the Lincoln Highway is still in the early stages of providing for modern tourists. Route 66 handles this with a volunteer program, Adopt a Hundred, that monitors places for inclusion in the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide.
For those considering buying it, Lincoln HIghway Companion does include both state maps plus regional maps that cover every mile of the road at 1″ to every seven miles. There are also selected city maps at 1″ = 1 mile.
A 20-foot tall, 1,600-pound steel quarter with George Washington’s profile is the newest of five Roadside Giants planned along Pennsylvania’s 200-mile Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The quarter is located east of Bedford, Pennsylvania, near the Down River Golf Course in Everett. It was dedicated last Wednesday to acknowledge students from Bedford County Technical Center who were involved in its design and creation. The sculpture was created at MDL Manufacturing in Bedford; owners Mari-Pat and Doug Lingsch invited the students into their plant.
The photo below shows Mari-Pat and Doug Lingsch, owners of MDL Manufacturing in Bedford. Leah R. Cominsky, LHHC Marketing/Project Manager, says, “They had a lot to do with the project in terms of allowing the students to work on laser cutting the details of the Giant at their facility, plus they helped the students to order the materials that they would need to complete the Giant. They are such great, kind-hearted people, and Mari-Pat was on the Community Committee for the school to help them along the way with the design of the quarter.”
Meetings for the project began in March 2008, said community committee member Karen Bowman. Finishing touches at the site, such as landscaping and stone, will be added in the fall by students….
It took about three days to build the form, one day for it to set and another day to pour concrete….
Assistance on this project was provided by New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., BC Stone, SKE Design and Rockland Manufacturing.
For Wednesday’s dedication, student Chelsea Long of the tech center’s Culinary Arts project created a matching 3-D cake in the shape of the giant quarter with assistance from instructor Pattie Liebfreid.
The third Roadside Giant sculpture along the Lincoln Highway in western Pennsylvania will be unveiled today. The Community Installation Celebration for the Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center’s “Packard Car with Driver” will take place at 1 pm at the entrance to the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Odin Golf Course, on the original Lincoln Highway. Guests will enjoy a “giant” Packard Cake, in the same shape as the giant, but edible! Photos of the installation courtesy Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.
I asked Jan Morrison, owners of the Lincoln Motel in Austin, Nevada, how travel and business are this spring along the Lincoln Highway — here aka US 50 and “the Loneliest Road in America.”
Yes, things are slow, but the Lincoln Motel is open and will stay open. We are taking advantage of the slower times to paint each room and do repairs.
Actually, things are beginning to look up in Austin. It seems we slid into the recession early, and are ready to climb out of it sooner. Traffic on the highway has definitely increased.
I think people are returning to the country and driving. The price of gas certainly helps. But with these difficult times, I think people need to re-connect with the basics in life, and small towns along Highway 50 offer them a calming trip to “Mayberry.” Whether they actually grew up in a small town, or did so through TV, rural America is comfort food for the recession-weary!
The odometer on this blog just rolled 100,000 hits. Launched in October 2007, the purpose remains to keep readers and myself informed and entertained. For your enjoyment, here’s a view from Wyoming of Hostler’s General Store, and a Muffler Man-turned-Jack Hammer at the minor league Silver Cross Field between the original Lincoln Highway and the current eastbound routing (aka US 30) in Joliet, Illinois.
I hope these and the rest of the blog inspire you to hit the (two-lane) road and create your own road trip memories. And please send us some of your photos to post.
I managed to catch pink eye – ouch – so can’t type much but thought Lincoln Highway fans might be interested in seeing how ABC News weekend anchors are traveling Route 66 west (unexplainedly skipping Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas). Kate Snow and her sister drive the first two segments in a 1958 Ford Fairlane hardtop convertible (seen here at the former U-Drop Inn Cafe, Shamrock, Texas). Read the story HERE.
NOTE: ABC has disabled embedding. Below is the first segment from another source.
Here are the ABC links, including the second video: ONE and TWO.
The final two segments will feature the two male anchors heading further west.
Photographers Eric Mencher and his wife Kass have been photographing the Lincoln Highway since 1997. Eric is staff photographer at The Philadelphia Inquirer. They began with Pennsylvania and last year completed the entire length from coast to coast. They’ve just begun another two-week trip that will take them from Wyoming into Utah and Nevada.
You can follow their adventures at lincolnhighwayseen.blogspot.com which Eric will update every day or so. The first entry doesn’t have much yet, only four images shot from their room at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Last year he posted a handful of photos from their trip through Wyoming and Nebraska. You can find them, along with other photos mixed in, at: thisurbanlife.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html/.
The 1915 routing of the Lincoln Highway through Fort Wayne, Indiana, will soon be marked with red, white, and blue markers. The [Fort Wayne] News-Sentinel reports that the new signs for the old road will be dedicated by Mayor Tom Henry on May 21, 2009. Currently the only nod to its existence are at each end of the 1915 Harrison Street Bridge, noting the distance to New York (724 miles) and San Francisco (2,660 miles).
Two weather-beaten stone signs easily missed by passing motorists, there are few visible reminders of downtown Fort Wayne’s importance to America’s first transcontinental highway….
“Now you’ll be able to drive around Allen County and know where the road was,” said [Jan Shupert-Arick,] Fort Wayne resident and author of a new book about “The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana.”…
“Right now, it can be frustrating (to find the old highway) in urban areas. There are dead-ends and other obstacles,” Shupert-Arick said, noting that the soon-to-be posted route won’t direct anyone “where it’s not safe.”…
When Henry proclaimed May “Historic Preservation Month,” he said, “We understand that moving forward into our future includes honoring our past, and we know how important it is to the vitality of our city to ensure strong revitalization efforts.”
Marker dedication will be at the Lincoln Highway Bridge—Harrison Street at the St. Mary’s River. Call (260) 427-1127 for details, or visit http://www.indianalincolnhighway.com.
Last weekend I drove mostly 2-lane roads to Norfolk, Virginia, and back to Pittsburgh, some 900 miles. At Breezewood, Pa., a couple long-time Lincoln Highway landmarks were out of business: the Family House Restaurant and adjacent Penn Aire Motel. I’ve stayed at the motel and it was fine but certainly on the familiar decline from 1950s fabulous to no-longer-AAA-rated. The restaurant seemed to thrive but Turnpike traffic was noticeably down this trip.
On a brighter note, the trip to Virginia included favorite roadside stops like Dinosaurland and some new ones in the Shenandoah Mountains. Flickr friend loungelistener cued me into a couple cool places on US 50 just west of Winchester, Virginia, including the curved-layout Hayfield Motel and the tiny Amherst Diner, where I had a nice breakfast.
While researching my Roadside Attractions book, I wanted to stop at Doumar’s Cones & Barbecue, opened 1934 in Norfolk and now I had the chance. Here’s 87-year-old Albert outside the cool carhop drive-in with his family’s 1905 waffle cone maker! Albert claims it was his Uncle Abe who invented the ice cream cone during the 1904 St. Louis Exposition.
By now, you’ve read here about the recreation of Alice Ramsey’s pioneering drive in 1909, making her the first woman to drive across the U.S. Most of her route west of Ligonier, Indiana, would become the Lincoln Highway four years later.
This summer, Emily Anderson, 38, of Seattle, will retrace Alice’s trip in an identical 1909 Maxwell, thanks to her father Richard’s expert efforts to create one from parts. The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a nice article about local efforts to welcome the Maxwell when it arrives there June 18, 2009. The writer gives a nod to Gregory Franzwa’s reprinting of Alice’s memoir of the trip.
The trip launches June 9 from Broadway in New York City. Read more at aliceramsey.org including how they’re test driving it for 1,000 miles before the big trip.
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!
My Lincoln Highway Companion book hit Amazon and bookstore shelves a couple weeks ago. It’s literally a companion to my Greetings … book but also, I hope, a companion to anyone thinking of traveling the road. Reaction has been overwhelmingly kind, like this from LHA president Bob Dieterich:
Lincoln Highway News 