DAY 13 –Ogden, UTAH to Tooele, Utah

Highlights:

• Morning Stop at the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Airforce Base, UT.

• Lunch Stop at Lofte’s Bar & Grill in Salt Lake City, UT

• Dinner at the Ophir Historic Town, Ophir, UT.

Hotel: the Best Western Inn, Tooele, UT.

DAY 14 –Tooele, UT to Ely, Nevada.

Pioneers Museum and the Clark Historic Farm in Grantsville, UT:

DAY 15 – Ely, NV to Fallon, NV

Day 16 — Fallon, NV to Folsom, CA

DAY 17 — Folsom, CA to Cambria, CA

The Lincoln Highway Tour actually drove from Folsom, CA, ton San Francisco.  However, Jay was in a rush to get home to Cambria, so he could leave for a different Model A Tour — of the Great Lakes!  Here he is at home:

Tune in for the next adventure (very soon!)

DAY 9 – Council Bluffs, IA to Kearney, Nebraska.

Highlights from the day:  Father Flannigan’s Boy’s Town, interrupting a small town parade – notice the FLUTES, and both Charlie and Jay getting “tickets”:

Those cookies at the lower left hand corner have the Lincoln Highway emblem.  You’ll see more of that emblem later…

DAY 10 – Kearney, Nebraska to Cheyenne, WY.  This was the longest day on the road.

Some of the sights today include:

• The Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles in Lexington, NE

• The Halfway Point of the 1913 Lincoln Highway: the “Welcome to Cozad” city limit. At this modest little wood sign, you are exactly 1694.5 miles from New York City and 1694.5 miles from San Francisco.

• The Pony Express Station & Museum, Gothenburg, NE.

• Fort McPherson National Cemetery.

• Lunch stop at the San Pedro Mexican Restaurant in North Platte, NE.

• Train ride at the Terry Bison Ranch 17 miles south of Cheyenne.

Hotel: the Best Western Plus Frontier Inn, Cheyenne.

DAY 11 – Cheyenne, WY to Rock Springs, WY.

DAY 12 – Wednesday, September 11, 2019 – ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING TO OGDEN, UTAH.

September 11th is our wedding anniversary. Of course, in 2001, the date became infamous for other reasons.

Tomorrow, more of Utah.

 

Tour Day #5 (9/4/19) – from Van Wert, OH to Valparaiso, IN.

Judging from the photographs I received, I’m not sure Jay followed the day’s itinerary.  This was his first day with Charlie Enxuto, photo and travel buddy.  From the photos, it looks like they spent the entire day at the Auburn Cord and Duesenberg Museum. This is an automobile museum located in Auburn, Indiana. It is dedicated to preserving cars built by Auburn Automobile, Cord Automobile and Duesenberg Motors Company.

Check out some of these cars:

I think the car in the first photo is a boat-tail Auburn.  I think the last photo is a 1932 Cadillac(?).  Don’t the guys look happy? Charlie — how are you managing to look younger?  (NOT fair!)

Above is Charlie with a Cord police car.

Above is the Inner frame of a Cord and the finished product.

There are also some non-car items…  Above left is John Dillinger‘s machine gun.  The the sign on the right explains why Indiana produced an automotive legacy.

And one final car photo before we move on to the next day.  Jay says, “Cool car at the Auburn museum.  I think it’s a Cadillac.”  So what’s it doing in a Cord-Auburn-Duesenberg museum? Right era, wrong mark; but a beautiful specimen.

Tour Day #6: from Valparaiso, IN, to Sterling, IN. and Tour Day #7: from Sterling, IN, to Marshalltown, IA.

These were days the e-devices weren’t connecting, so I don’t have an explanation of the shots the guys sent me, but here you go:

And here’s one I recognize as George Preston’s Garage:

His famous, porcelain sign-covered gas station, is a prominent landmark in Belle Plaine. George’s father bought the station in 1923 and moved it to this location for his four sons to operate. At that time, it was located on the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast paved highway. George began to collect memorabilia of all kinds, including an Oil Pull diesel tractor, a Case steam tractor, a Model T Doctors Coupe, and a two-headed calf, stuffed and mounted inside the garage. He covered the station with porcelain signs, advertising gasoline, oil, tires, root beer and what-not.

Tour Day #8:  Marshalltown, IA to Council Bluffs, IA.

One of the morning photo stops was Niland’s Café an historic gas station. Charlie Reed saw great opportunity in capitalizing on the site’s prime location by building his gas station and cafe on a yet unpaved gravel road. He later joined forces with his nephew, Clare Niland. The cafe was originally called the “L & J Cafe” and was open 24 hours, 7 days a week as both the Greyhound and Jefferson bus lines stopped here. The motel units replaced the original cabins on the grounds in the 1940s. The restaurant is now owned by the City of Colo. The Niland family donated it to the city with the stipulation that it be operated as a restaurant.

Another morning stop was Mamie Eisenhower’s Birthplace in Boone, Iowa, but I don’t have the photos yet.  (Hope to have them soon!)

Here’s the Mahanay Bell Tower and Abraham Lincoln Statue:

This is the very first statue of Abraham Lincoln to be built beside and dedicated to the Lincoln Highway. The statue is a replica of W. Granville Hastings’ statue in Cincinnati, Ohio. The bronze statue is life size, and it stands on a two-tiered concrete base. A bronze plaque with the closing paragraph of Lincoln’s second inaugural address is affixed to the upper portion of the base.

Right nest to the statue is the Jefferson Bell Tower. It must have been on one of his trips to Florida that Floyd Mahanay fell in love with the idea of a bell tower. His inspiration was the Bok Memorial Carillon Tower in Lake Wales, Florida. Mahanay died on May 15, 1947, telling no one in Jefferson about his plans for a bell tower. After the death of Mrs. Mahanay in 1962, family attorney Francis Cudahy found an immense amount of literature on bell towers in the Mahanay home at 507 W Harrison. A sheet of detailed plans for the Jefferson tower was attached to the will, and the will itself provide for financing, location, and even the words to be inscribed on the plaque. Nearly all of Floyd’s estate was designated for the bell tower, and some of Dora’s estate was used to complete it. Mahanay directed in his will that his money go to his distant heirs if the city did not accept the tower. The structure, 32 bells, carillon and patio had a combined cost of about $350,000. He was very specific in his will, indicating that 50 percent of the music played should be sacred and patriotic. Daily concert times were set and Easter, Christmas and July 4th concerts were directed.

Next stop #5: Moss Corner where there are two Abraham Lincoln Monuments built in 1924 by Civil War veteran James Edward Moss, who lost his left leg in the Battle of Missionary Ridge in 1863. They were restored in July 2001.

Hotel night at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Council Bluffs, IA, and tomorrow we’ll go to Kearney, Nebraska.  See you there!

 

This post starts on August 31, 2019, and I’ll try to describe tour highlights as the cars retrace the route of the US Army and Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower as they crossed America in the summer of 1919, just after the end of World War I.

Tour Day 1: Washington DC to Gettyburg, PA.

The cars left the hotel in Alexandria and drove to the Lincoln Memorial in DC. Then, they walked to mile marker zero of the convoy — adjacent to the White House. Highlights of the day:

Tour Day 2: Gettysburg, PA, to Greenburg, PA.

First stop was at The Coffee Pot, an 18-ft. high Coffee Pot which was originally a lunch place adjoining a gas station. In 1937 it became a bar, with a hotel built behind it.

Next stop was the Jean Bonnet Tavern which was built at the junction of the Old Forbes Road and the Lincoln Highway. A colorful moment in history was when the tavern became a meeting place for the farmers involved in the Whiskey Rebellion. In mid-1794, Pennsylvania farmers were angry about the federal excise tax on whiskey. The so-called “whiskey tax” was the first tax imposed on a domestic product in the new United States. It was part of Alexander Hamilton’s plan to help pay down the huge national debt caused by expenses from the Revolutionary War. The new government needed the money, and George Washington himself led a large group of militiamen to quell the “Whiskey Rebellion”. In October 1794, some of the troops he summoned camped here at the Jean Bonnet on their journey to Pittsburgh to quell the insurrection.

Photo stop at the Lincoln Motor Court.

The Lincoln Motor Court is the last remaining motor court on the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania. It was built in 1944.

Lunch stop at the Shawnee Valley Volunteer Fire Company, 3885 Pitt St., Schellsburg, PA.

Next stop: Old Log Church in the cemetery, at 343 Cemetery Rd., Schellsburg. PA. In 1806, settlers of the German Reformed and Lutheran faith built a log structure to serve as their place of worship. Later in the 19th century the log structure had siding put over the logs. After the church was completed, John Schell laid out the town of Schellsburg, Pennsylvania in 1807. Nearly 200 years later the “Old Log Church”, as residents have come to refer to the church, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January of 2005.

Next stop: Site of the Grand View Ship Hotel. The S.S. Grand View Point Hotel, also known as the Ship Hotel or Ship of the Alleghenies, was a historic hotel and roadside attraction in Juniata Township in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The hotel was built in 1927, but was not transformed into the Ship Hotel until an expansion in 1932. The ship design was chosen since fog in the valley reportedly looked like the sea.

Photo stop: On July 2, 1932, Frederick S. Duesenberg was driving his supercharged Duesenberg Model J on a wet Lincoln Highway on Ligonier Mountain heading eastbound at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his automobile and overturned at this curve, rolling his car down the hillside.

 

Dinner stop & hotel at the Ramada Inn.

Tour Day 3: Greensburg, PA, to Canton, OH.

Note:  Now Jay’s nearing where the Model A Touring Club Great Lakes Tour will start in about two weeks!  In the meantime, here are some of Jay’s shots today:

George Westinghouse Bridge at Turtle Creek:

The Westinghouse Electric Corp. was founded here in January, 1886. The corporation purchased the CBS broadcasting company in 1995 and became the original CBS Corporation in 1997. Two world-changing events happened here at this Westinghouse facility. The first transmission from pioneer radio station KDKA-AM was made on November 2, 1920, and in 1928, an early demonstration of television was conducted by Vladimir Zworykin, the pioneer of television technology, who worked for Westinghouse Electric Corporation at that time.

Below is Peppi’s diner near Pittsburgh, which is about to be restored. It is an original diner built by the National in 1939.

 

Jay liked this cobblestone street in Pittsburgh. “Very cool!”

 

 

And, here’s Spanky‘s gang, at Spanky’s restaurant at the boat yard in Beaver, Pennsylvania:

Glamorgan Castle, in Alliance, Ohio.  The original military convoy stopped here. The Castle was originally built in 1904 as a private residence for Wm. H. Morgan. It is now the administrative offices for the Alliance City Schools District.

 

Below convoy leader, Jim Cassler shared his car and military collections:

Jim’s son, Andrew Kessler, was really excited about Military Maxie

 

 

Tour Day 4:  Canton, OH, to Van Wert, OH:

First stop:  The famed Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield was the filming location for the 1994 movie “The Shawshank Redemption”, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

In 1861, an open field in Mansfield, Ohio was used as a Civil War training camp. By 1888 that field was the construction site for what would be the state of Ohio’s newest intermediate penitentiary. Cleveland architect Levi T. Scofield was the man behind the design, hoping the rural prison grounds and Romanesque architecture would provide inspiration to the men sealed behind his building’s walls. 

The prison sat unused and abandoned for a while, slated for demolition. What kept the wrecking balls at bay though, were plans for a movie called The Shawshank Redemption, based off the Stephen King novel of a similar title. Location scouts for the film had been made aware of the reformatory and plans were set in motion to begin filming in Mansfield. The wrecking balls were put on hold and the film crews arrived in the summer of 1993.

After the filming wrapped for Shawshank, much of the prison was demolished. The building’s two main cell blocks (six tiers high and the tallest freestanding cell blocks in the world today) and its center administration core were spared. The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society was formed in 1995 and operates tours and events in the prison still to this day.

Above is a replica 1928 Lincoln Highway Marker with original Lincoln Highway bricks. It was built by Dick Taylor of Mansfield, Ohio, and dedicated on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 by the Ohio Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association on the day the 100th Lincoln Highway birthday tour passed through the city.

The Bucyrus Mural (above) is on the blank wall on the south side of the town square. The Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works is located one block to the east at 119 S Walnut St. adjacent to the square.

Dinner stop at the Museum of Postal History in Delphos, OH.

Tomorrow is… INDIANA.  See you there.