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:
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.
My drive last week along the Lincoln Highway in central Pennsylvania took me past many mid-century motels. Here are three east of York along Market Street/PA 462: Barnhart’s, the Modernaire, and the Flamingo.
I’ll briefly profile a few motels like these in every LH state in my forthcoming book, Lincoln Highway Companion.
The 29th annual Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival will take place in downtown Tama, Iowa, May 16-18, 2008. Events include the Bill Riley Talent Show and Citizen of the Year award on Friday; on Saturday, the Grand Parade at 10 am followed by Chamber Community BBQ at the Fire Station and free entertainment from 11-3 on the Civic Center Lawn. The 3 day event also features a carnival, petting zoo, Olde Time Engine display, 5K run/walk, and street dance. Contact the Tama Toledo Chamber of Commerce for more info at (641) 484-6661. UPDATE: The regional newspaper now has an article and schedule.
Tama’s Lincoln Highway Bridge is perhaps the most famous bridge along the transcontinental Lincoln Highway. The small concrete span was built in 1915 with the highway’s name in its side rails as a way to show the city’s pride in being located on the coast-to-coast road. It can be found along E 5th Street, though the Lincoln was rerouted to bypass the town in 1926 (current day US 30). It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and restored in 1987. It is also one of the most photographed bridges, though signs ask motorists to not stop to admire it, or to do so from a small adjacent parking lot.
As we prepare to move, I spend lots of time sorting and packing. I’ve been looking through my photos lately and am amazed at how much things have changed along the Lincoln Highway in the 20 years since I began photographing it. Here are a couple views from February 1992 of the Star Motel in Minerva, Ohio (22071 US Route 30/E Lincoln Way). The row of rooms remains but was converted years ago into apartments. I believe the sign survives too but repainted and maybe stripped of its neon.
In 1919, the Transcontinental Motor Convoy crossed the U.S. to test the mobility of the military during wartime. It is perhaps more famous for a Lieutenant Colonel who decades later would become President Dwight Eisenhower. Twenty-four officers and 258 enlisted men took 81 motorized Army vehicles from Washington, D.C. to Gettysburg, and then followed much of the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, arriving 62 days later. So much for mobility!
Lincoln and Lincoln Highway researcher Craig Harmon has lately been on the trail of primary sources from the convoy; below are just two of the many revealing documents Harmon has unearthed – another one about camp sanitation is especially intriguing! They add invaluable information to the tale of that cross-country trip. See his website for more information, or ask there to be added to his email updates.
Above, this report runs 35 pages and includes 20 b/w photos. Below, notice the official letterhead!
Click on the image below from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, Abilene, Kansas, to visit its page about the convoy.
I received an advance copy a couple weeks ago of The Lincoln Highway Around Chicago by Cynthia L. Ogorek and have been enjoying it. A full review will run here shortly, but till then, you can read what the The Times of Munster, Indiana, says about it here.
Above is a photo from the book showing one of two streams that were crossed by the Ideal Section, a 1.3-mile “model” stretch of the Lincoln Highway between Schererville and Dyer, Indiana. A man crossing a temporary bridge at far right gives scale to the enormity of the job. Click HERE to enjoy a hi-res version. Courtesy University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, lhc2719.
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!
Lincoln Highway News 