Dennis Crowley just returned from walking the Lincoln Highway from Sacramento to Take Tahoe. He sent the summary below plus I’ve included some of the photos he’s posted online: the first shows him on the original 1914 pavement now on private property in Eldorado Hills. The third photo is in the vicinity of Strawberry, Calif.
This leg into the Sierra Nevadas started with urban sprawl but soon turned to speeding traffic on the twisty, narrow, and very steep highway that often had little or no shoulder, all while Dennis pulled his 100 lb. trailer. Of course, the descent towards Nevada had its own challenges!
The words of Brian Butko summarized my last walk on the Lincoln Highway from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe far better than I ever could have: “That’s a long uphill climb!” No truer words were ever spoken for many reasons. For reasons still unknown to me, I managed to sprain both ankles two weeks before taking on my second walk of the Lincoln Highway a few weeks ago. Thanks to taking things slow and a triple-digit heat wave in the Sacramento metro area that kept my muscles heated up when I walked, I soon found myself admiring the majestic beauty of Lake Tahoe. Besides the obvious challenge this journey was to be the first time I would use the trailer, now affectionately called, “The Man-Wagon” by my neice Amber to camp which meant being without any support vehicle for several days and pulling approx. a hundred pound load behind me. So to say, “That’s a long uphill climb” was the perfect ending and perfect summary to a journey that, in the end turned out to be a huge success.
From 1998 through 2005, Crowley walked and worked his way across America from Chicago to California on Route 66. He now calls the effort Cross Roads, “a single purpose and a simple message. By promoting America’s historic highways Cross Roads seeks to call attention to our country’s Christian heritage. The purpose for covering these highways on foot is to make the statement that America needs to return to and walk in her spiritual ‘old paths.’” He walked his first segment of the LH a year ago.
Read more at www.walkingamessage.com/ or search this site for “Crowley” to read of his Lincoln Highway adventures. To request his four email updates written as he was walking, contact Amber at aherrington@walkingamessage.com/.
Lincoln Highway News 