Posts Tagged ‘Road trip’
August 9, 2010
Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free electronic books, offers more than 33,000 free ebooks of previously published titles, all digitized with the help of thousands of volunteers. Now available is an early road book, Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway by Effie Price Gladding. Other ebook sites have already taken the file and reposted it but without the images (or I assume permission), and PG warns that these are most likely spammers. You’ll find the safe original here: www.gutenberg.org/files/33320/33320-h/33320-h.htm
As I wrote in my Greetings from the Lincoln Highway book:
Effie Gladding had just returned from three years touring the world when she departed San Francisco on April 21, 1914. She and her husband Thomas first drove the El Camino Real 600 miles south before turning and meeting the Lincoln at Stockton. In a 262-page book she titled Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway, she doesn’t reach the focus of her title till page 108, then detours off it for another 47 pages near the end, skipping most of Ohio and Pennsylvania. But it was the first full-size hardback to discuss transcontinental travel, as well as the first to mention the Lincoln Highway.
Click the link above or go to Project Gutenberg’s main page for the book for other ways to download the text and images.
Tags:1914, Effie Gladding, highway history, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadtrip, travel, travel narrative, vacation
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 5 Comments »
August 3, 2010
West Virginia joined the Lincoln Highway in 1928 when the road between Pittsburgh and Ohio was rerouted through the the town of Chester in the state’s panhandle. Today, the big teapot is the best-known attraction, but back then by far is was Rock Spring Park. Now the amusement park has been given star treatment by Joe Comm, a teacher in Greensburg, Pa., who recently released Rock Springs Park for Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.
The Review of East Liverpool, Ohio, featured Joe in a story about the books launch along with this photo and caption:
Joseph Comm, author of “Rock Springs Park,” signs a book for Patty Swiger at a signing event held Monday at the Chester Municipal Building. Prior to the signing, Comm talked about how his book came to be. (Photo by Nancy Tullis).
As the article explains, “The park was all but a memory during his boyhood in Chester, and its remnants raised many questions in Comm’s mind. He sought out the answers, and along the way, Rock Springs Park took on a life of its own.” In the early 1970s, the park was demolished to make way for ramps and lanes to the new US 30 bridge across the Ohio River.
From the book jacket:
In its hey-day this unique panhandle playground attracted twenty thousand visitors a day with a number of popular attractions including the World’s Greatest Scenic Railway, the Cyclone Roller Coaster, and the classic hand-carved 1927 Dentzel Carousel. The book features over 200 rarely seen images and portrays the life of Rock Springs Park from its earliest history as a Native American hunting ground to its development as a local trolley park and full-fledged amusement park.
You can find Joe’s book in stores for $21.99 or $14.95 on Amazon.
Tags:amusement park history, Chester WV, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, US 30, West Virginia
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, souvenirs, travel | Leave a Comment »
July 28, 2010
Photographers Eric Mencher and his wife Kass have been photographing the Lincoln Highway since 1997. I reported on their trip last year HERE as they drove Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Now they’re at it again! Visit lincolnhighwayseen.blogspot.com to see some interesting takes on familiar (and some not-so-familiar) landmarks.
Eric, a former Philadelphia Inquirer photographer, and Kass are spending 10 weeks driving from San Francisco to Philadelphia and back on the LH. He says, “I’m trying to blog two photos a day (one from each of us), but as the trip goes on that may be cut to 3-4 times a week. The pictures are more esoteric than most people shoot, but that’s how we see! I also have a gallery on my website at: www.ericmencher.com/.”
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel
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July 20, 2010
Kirk Dougal, Editor-in-Chief of the Times Bulletin in Van Wert, Ohio, sent photos of one of the 12 Lincoln Highway plaques that were placed at every corner of the downtown Streetscape project. Below, from left: Van Wert Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming; Connie Swander of Swan Memorials, makers of the plaques; and Van Wert Mayor Louis Ehmer.
Photos courtesy Van Wert Times Bulletin.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, marking an old highway, Ohio, Road trip, Streetscape project, Van Wert OH
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, souvenirs, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
July 16, 2010
Last year, motorcyclist Chris Hutter took the Lincoln Highway from Pittsburgh to the east edge of Grand Island, Nebraska. This year he’s hitting the LH in Omaha after a visit to the Surf Ball Room in Clear Lake, Iowa, where Buddy Holly played his last concert. From Nebraska he’ll stay on the Lincoln to its Western Terminus in San Francisco. Follow along at hutmo.blogspot.com/. Note that his map gives a LIVE GPS location! Refresh, zoom in, and see how far he’s gone in a half minute!
Above is a stop in Indiana from last year’s trip. Here’s the 2010 itinerary:
Day 1 Pittsburgh to Chicago
Day 2 Chicago to Ames, IA (via Dyersville and Clear Lake)
Day 3 Ames to North Platte, NE 426
Day 4 North Platte to Rawlins, WY 384
Day 5 Rawlins to Salt Lake City, UT 300
Day 6 Salt Lake to Ely, NV 300
Day 7 Ely to Reno, NV 320
Day 8 Reno to San Fran, CA 300
Tags:2-lane adventure, historic highway, Indiana, Lincoln Highway, motorcycle trip, Nebraska, Road trip, roadside, travel, vacation
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July 12, 2010
The Travel Guys radio show out of Sacramento featured a special Fourth of July episode along the Lincoln Highway. One of the guys is radio personality Tom Romano, while Mark Hoffmann operates Sports Leisure Vacations, which offers tours of 2-lane roads like Route 66 and now the Lincoln Highway. Your blog host, me, Brian Butko chimes in with a few favorite stops along the Lincoln. Listen HERE. You can also download archived mp3s here.
Tags:Brian Butko, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, travel, vacation
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
July 6, 2010
Olga A. Herbert, Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, just alerted me that Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum in central Pennsylvania has been destroyed by fire. Owner Ed Gotwalt has spent decades amassing his collection of elephant-themed objects joined to a candy and gift store; he also serves on the Corridor board of directors. Olga said it “burned to the ground late last night, including every elephant. He plans to rebuild and be open by September 1.” Although the news is horrible, it’s equally astounding that he’s ready to rebuild and so quickly! The York Distpatch covers it here and the York Daily Record ran a story about Ed vowing to rebuild.
Tags:elephant museum fire, highway history, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, US 30
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, travel | 14 Comments »
July 1, 2010
Vinton Today ran a nice feature about Iowa attendees to the Lincoln Highway Assn conference. It includes some beautiful images from husband and wife photographers Mike Kelly and Sandra Huemann-Kelly. It also reports on LHA awards bestowed:
The annual banquet June 25 included awards presentations. Van and Bev Becker received an “Exemplary Friend of the Highway Award” for their work in hosting an annual amateur radio event at the Youngville Café in Benton County. The Beckers secured the permanent call letters “NY2SF” – New York to San Francisco, the route of the Lincoln Highway.
Sandii also sent some pictures to me, including those above. In the first, Illinois chapter Secretary Sue Jacobson’s daughter and grandkids greeted the west tour bus. In the second, LHA past-president Bob Ausberger with Sean and John Fitzsimmons at the Lincoln Highway Art & Photo Show on Wednesday evening.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel, US 30
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | 1 Comment »
June 30, 2010
At the LHA conference I had the pleasure of meeting John and Joyce Jackson of Delaware, Ohio, who were following the Lincoln Highway westward using my LH Companion guidebook! What’s more impressive is they are stopping at every place mentioned AND getting signatures when they could!! Turns out they too have a blog that’s a fun-to-read adventure at blog.jacksonlhtour.com/. After driving from NYC to Indiana last year, they’ve added a 12-foot Ridgeline travel trailer to hitch to their Lincoln Town Car for 2010 as they head to the Pacific. Here they are on gravel Lincoln Highway between Ogden and Beaver, Iowa.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel, vacation
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, road surface, Road trip, transportation, travel | 2 Comments »
June 22, 2010
I spent last week preparing for my drive to Illinois, and now this week I’ve been on the road day and night driving and taking pictures. So I’ll quickly share a couple photos: the first a well-known re-themed gas station in Geneva, Illinois, and the second a view of the old road east of DeWitt, Iowa.
First up Tuesday morning, I’ll be giving a PowerPoint presentation to the ILHC at the Ellwood House Museum Visitor Center in DeKalb, should be lots of fun!
Tags:historic highway, Illinois, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation | Leave a Comment »
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