• Update to recent murder of Lincoln Cafe owner: No word on the cafe itself in Belle Plaine, Iowa, but bond was set at $500,000 each for three people accused, and at a preliminary hearing yesterday, arraignment was set for August 13 in Iowa County District Court. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “Marengo Police Chief Galen Moser has refused to release how Bailey died and the weapon used to kill him. Police did, however, release autopsy results last week that confirmed Bailey’s death was a homicide.” According to MPC Newspapers, “Bailey and Frei purchased Bailey’s Lincoln Café in Belle Plaine in 2006. The business has not kept regular hours the last year or so, with customers often finding notes on the door indicating the café was closed due to emergency or medical reasons. News of the killing has left the café’s customers reeling.”
• On Wednesday, September 2 at 1:30 p.m, Jan Shupert-Arick, past president of the Lincoln Highway Association and past national director of the Indiana LHA, will talk about the famous road at the Center for History in South Bend, Indiana. She is author of the recently-published book, The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana, and also guest curator for the Center for History’s exhibit, Appeal to Patriots: The Lincoln Highway. A tour of the exhibit is part of the program. Admission is $3 and reservations are required by August 31. For information, call (574) 235-9664 or visit www.centerforhistory.org/.
• Sue Barr writes that “My colleague Dr David Heathcote and I are academics in London and teach at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and Middlesex University. We are working on a book on the world history of motorways and will come to the U.S. in September to look at the Lincoln Highway.”Photo by Rick Sebak
The New-York Historical Society will open an exhibition, Lincoln and New York, on October 9, 2009. New York of course lays claim to the Eastern Terminus and a few blocks of the cross-country Lincoln Highway. The exhibition will trace the relationship between the man and the city; it will run through March 25, 2010.
The photo above showing Lincoln’s funeral procession also reportedly caught young Teddy Roosevelt at the window of his grandfather Cornelius Roosevelt’s house (the large house on the left). He and his brother Elliot are said to be the boys looking out the second floor window. The house sat on Broadway between 13th and 14th streets; it was replaced by the Roosevelt Building in 1894.
The New-York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West between 76th & 77th streets. For more information, visit www.nyhistory.org or call (212) 873-3400.
Anyone who has driven the Lincoln Highway near Lancaster, Pa. — especially east of the city on US 30 — knows that traffic congestion makes it near impossible to enjoy the road’s heritage. Now the Lancaster County Planning Commission has released an enhancement plan to address traffic, signage, and accessibility. You can view the PDF HERE.
The report states:
This project is the first step in implementing the Lancaster County Strategic Tourism Development Plan, adopted by the County Commissioners in 2005….
The Lincoln Highway is a high priority because:
• It’s a highly visible gateway into the city and surrounding countryside
• It’s an important part of the county’s economy
• It plays a key role in the county’s tourism “mix”
The publication lists the many problems and potential solutions. One challenge is that the area is known for rural and Amish attractions, but the crush of tourists and modern businesses has pushed out many farms and even the mid-century fabricated attractions.
In the 1990s, local officials cited tourist complaints that there was nothing to do after dark, when Amish-themed attractions closed. The response led to outlet malls, which have spawed more chain stores and wide highways, resulting in the disappearance of almost all vintage businesses and buildings. Accessing any of it is frustrating for tourists and commuters, not to mention horse-drawn buggies. It will be interesting to see if such growth can now be reined in.
LHA director Mike Buettner sent info and images from a Mid-Ohio Chapter/Lincoln Highway Association work day a few weeks ago. The original brick pillar that is one mile east of Oceola (Crawford County) was in dire need of repair. Saturday, led by Richard Taylor, members of the chapter did those repairs.
According to my road guide research, this pillar “was set in 1921 to commemorate the completion of the bricking of this part of the highway, and is the only survivor of what may have been eight pillars in Crawford County west of Bucyrus. Past-president Esther Oyster has determined that these brick pillars were set at one-mile intervals, in a span of seven miles from Bucyrus to the Wyandot County Line, and has thus far been able to verify the construction of six of these pillars.”
Lincoln Highway fan Steve Jones wrote me to mention a road food website that he manages: ridetoeat.com/. It lists nearly 1,000 eating places, some with descriptions. Steve explains below it’s not the same as a recommendation guide.
It’s not really about places to eat while on the road (that’s well-plowed ground) but more about places it is worth planning a trip around — even if it’s just a Sunday drive. It’s still a little rough, but I hope to grow it into a unique and valuable resource. The premise is motorcycle-related, but there is really nothing about the data that is bike-centric other than the tendency towards destinations that are on twisty roads.
Steve also posted the book review below to LDRider, an email list for members of the Iron Butt Assn. and other long-distance endurance motorcycle riding enthusiasts. Thanks Steve!!
Brian Butko, author of Greetings from the Lincoln Highway has a new book out called Lincoln Highway Companion.
Though its 192 pages are filled with great full-color photos on quality paper, this is no coffee table decoration designed to give you something to flip through during commercials.
It’s the ultimate detailed authority on the current and historical alignments of the Lincoln Highway, conveniently sized to fit in a tank bag or glove box (just over 8×5″).
Every mile of the Lincoln Highway is covered with detailed color-coded maps showing the following:
* Original 1913 alignments
* Intermediate alignments or sanctioned detours
* Final Alignments still in use by 1930
* Modern detours
* Gone or hard to reach
The map scale varies as needed to show meaningful detail, all the way down to 1 inch per mile.
It bursts with snippets of interesting things to see, lodging and great food along the route – but the maps are the star of the show. It is obvious that a great deal of research went into this.
The author (with whom I have no affiliation) has put together a short video highlighting the features of the book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8liMtYjGK8
I originally bought it with the intention of putting together the “definitive” route for a Lincoln Highway Coast-to-Coast ride, but now I see there are too many variables and the decisions are just too subjective. The good news is that it gives me everything I need to choose the route I find most interesting.
I am sure some here will enjoy it as much as I am. It just came out and may not be widely available yet, but they have it in stock at Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/0811735478
Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, reports that while delivering Lincoln Highway travelers guides, he met Mike Van Doren and his wife Dawn, new owners of the old Dutch Mill east of Van Wert, Ohio. The couple did not at first realize the building’s historical significance but it, and the coast-to-coast road it’s on, now has them excited. The place was a “one-stop” for gas, food, and lodging in the 1920s, and a short section of original road remains on property from when the curve outr front was straightened.
The roof is leaking and needs about $25,000 to repair but the “bar” is still in there, and that’s one of the reasons they bought it. They will be having the BUY-WAY yard sale activities there (August 6-8). It surely is great to see someone wanting to preserve this stuff.
The Old Dutch Mill is at the junction of Middlepoint Road and old Lincoln Highway just east of Van Wert.
“Soup, Sin, & Salvation” — a Celebration of Restoration, is the theme for the annual dinner and auction to be held this Saturday, July 25, 2009 in St. Augustine’s former church in Austin, Nevada. St. Augustine’s is the state’s oldest Catholic church building (1866) and a popular stop for tourist along the Lincoln Highway/US 50. The church was sold to a private party who formed a nonprofit organization to restore and renovate the structure.
The event will feature:
Homemade bread and rolls
Homemade soup in a commemorative cup
Depression-era food such as Spam
Grilled steak kabobs
Rich and delicious homemade ice cream
1 pm: Mella Harmon presents:
“How Soup & Sin Saved Nevada” — Nevada during the Great Depression
2-5 pm: “Artists in Austin”
Visit area artists at fun locations around town
6 pm: Dinner and Auction in the old church!
For the first time in decades, this historic building will echo the happy sounds of people gathering!
Tickets are $39. Get more info at www.goaustinnevada.com or contact Jan Morrison (775) 964 – 1100.
Following up on last week’s Lincoln Highway adventures of Bill and Karen, another couple, Dave and Peg, are driving a 1929 Model A across the country. They picked up the Lincoln Highway west of Canton, Ohio, and are heading to California. (Note, they just detoured off the LH to see Mount Rushmore.) Follow along at model-a-adventure.blogspot.com/.
Another couple, Kathie and Tony Mandra, have already reached the west coast but you can read of their trip, and side trips, at lincolnhwy.blogspot.com/.
And Chris Hutter is riding his 2006 Harley Davidson FLHR west from Pittsburgh. Follow him at hutmo.blogspot.com/.
The Auburn Journal reports that Norm Sayler, who served as president and manager of Donner Ski Ranch for 46 years, was honored on July 5 for his contributions to the community. He received the 2009 Community Person of the Year Award at the annual Donner Summit Area Association Picnic from Placer County Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery. Photo is from the story.
A resident of Donner Summit since 1954, Sayler was instrumental in making Donner the first ski resort in America to open its slopes to snow boarders in the 1980s. He turned over operation of the ski area a few years ago but continues with the Donner Summit Historical Society, which he founded. Of note to Lincoln Highway enthusiasts:
In the 1990s when Nevada County slated Rainbow Bridge for demolition, Sayler found $500,000 in state seed money to rehabilitate historic state bridges. This effort also ensured that one of the most historic roads in California, Donner Pass Road (formerly known as Highway 40, the Lincoln Highway, the Victory Highway, and the Dutch Flat-Donner Lake Wagon Road), would be preserved and open for all to use
According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Curtis C. Bailey, co-owner of the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine, Iowa, was murdered Sunday by his common-law wife and two other people, reportedly her son and his girlfriend. LHA director Van Becker sent the photo and alerts us that the story was reported yesterday on Cedar Rapids KCRG-TV 9 and this morning in the Gazette.
Perhaps the most fun, colorful blog ever to follow a Lincoln Highway road trip is being posted by Bill and Karen McKibbon. They set out from Ontario, Canada, and joined the LH at Joliet, Illinois. They’re following the old road west to the Pacific (at which time they continue northward), taking tons of photos like above: their car at Preston’s in Blelle Plaine. Bill told me they’re using my Greetings from the LH and LH Companion (buy ’em on Amazon!) and noted how quickly things change: “Some places no longer exist that you wrote about, some things that deserve a marker or plaque don’t, but we are finding the old road as best we can.”
That’s Bill at the Seeding Mile in Grand Island and Karen (they LOVE finding great desserts) in Cheyenne. Don’t pick on her Route 66 shirt — LHA HQ was out of shirts!
LH boosters also should note that almost every cafe they stopped at was CLOSED! In early JULY!!
Bill makes some other interesting observations. This is from Kensinger’s cool deco station in Grand Island, Nebraska, which was featured (along with owner Dick Grudzinski in the PBS special about the LH):
Dick pointed the way to the original early 1900’s concrete behind his gas station. It is very overgrown with weeds and long abandoned. What really surprised me is that there is no sign or plaque acknowledging what this concrete represents. The Lincoln Highway is not promoted like Route 66 is. What a shame.
Or this:
We loaded up the car and drove to Shelton NE where we wanted to visit the The Lincoln Highway Visitors Center. 10 AM on a Saturday morning and this place is locked up tight. There was a notice in the door with a phone number to call and someone would come over. We peaked in the door and the windows and there wasn’t anything in there that we felt was worth disturbing someone. I am sure they had something important to do or they would be here greeting Lincoln Highway travellers. There were no t-shirts to purchase, no postcards, basically it appeared to be an empty room, with a few things hung on the wall.
Or this
We mentioned to the lady at the [Sod House] Museum that we were driving on the Lincoln Highway and she said, “oh you will want to head North then to get on Highway 30” We said no, that we were driving the original Lincoln before there ever was a Highway 30. She thought Highway 30 was the Lincoln. This poor highway, no one seems to care much or know much about it. Here we are from Ontario Canada, and we know more than the locals.
Well, I guess there’s something to be said for not being over-commercialized….
The retracing of the 1919 military convoy route made headlines at it crossed the U.S. the past month. The tour commemorated the 90th anniversary of the first transcontinental U.S. Army motor transport convoy, most of it along the Lincoln Highway. Some of the participants also posted updates. Marilyn Boots reported on her travels with Dennis in “Jezebel,” a Vietnam-era jeep that he restored.
Dennis is a former Army captain who served with the combat engineers, with one tour of duty in Vietnam. Their blog is bootsadventure.blogspot.com/ (also the source for these photos). He was maintenance officer for the convoy so his Jeep brought up the rear of the convoy. Marilyn was “chase lead,” responsible for seeing that civilian vehicles carrying family members of convoy participants stay on schedule.
Here is a comment from June 16, just a couple days after the launch:
Wow! The journey had been incredible so far and extremely busy. I just thought I could blog every evening! We’ve start with breakfasts at 6:30 and have not reached our hotel rooms until after 10 each night. Today is our first rest day, so I want to share some highlights. We are so filled up with memories already that we could stop now and be content.
And the end:
WE MADE IT!!! We all arrived safe and with NO BREAKDOWNS about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Western Terminus of the Lincoln Highway on the edge of San Francisco, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golden Gate Bridge to the east…. We have never been so grateful for police escorts! There were 32 motorcycle policemen helping us through the enormous amount of traffic over the Bay Bridge and through the hills of San Francisco…. Again, we were cheered on by waving crowds and lots of picture taking as we made the final climb to our destination.
The Mountain View Inn, a historic and beloved hotel located between the Lincoln Highway and Route 30 east of Greensburg, Pa., closed in January but now has a buyer and a potential sales agreement.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, First Commonwealth Bank, owner of the historic inn, is in preliminary talks with a private group that has shown interest but there’s no guarantee it would reopen as a hotel.
This occurred a day after the Westmoreland Cultural Trust outlined its own plan to buy the facility and lease it to area colleges to operate as a hotel and convention center.
The inn opened in 1924 and the Booher family bought it in 1940. Descendants Vance and Vicki Booher began experiencing financial problems in 2001 and closed it earlier this year.
After much back and forth debate, Stackpole Books has finalized the cover to my next book, The Ship Hotel: A Grand View Along the Lincoln Highway. It shows the Ship in the early 50s, when crowds were still coming despite the lure of the parallel Pa. Turnpike. I was hoping for more nautical touches but I’m thrilled they chose to feature this beautiful view from good friend Cy Hosmer.
The Grand View Ship Hotel was once the best-known attraction along the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway. It’s burning in 2001 broke hearts far and wide. Today all that remains are a few scattered scorched remnants below the 1920s wall (see my brief clip below). My book traces the history starting with a roadside stand that served early travelers stopping for the grand view. I got to design the inside, which will feature lots of cool photos printed large. Look for the book in Spring 2010!
An 82-year-old Ohio business will close at the end of summer. The Review of East Liverpool, Ohio, reports that Pearl China, located on Dresden Avenue, a bypass of the Lincoln Highway, is closing due to the owners’ retirement. The photo below shows its location along Dresden/old US 30, with 4-lane US 30 behind it — from the paper, by David M. Grimes.
After some 82 years of being part of the East Liverpool community … owners Patti and Terry Peterson of Calcutta will turn to the next chapter after their lives with the pottery and gift outlet store. Patti has been part of the store some 45 years when she began helping her mother in the early 60s while Terry will say goodbye some 35 years later when he first began his employment at the highway location. Pearl China Gifts is running a 15-percent off sale for the remaining selection of their inventory. The property is being advertised through Howard Hanna Real Estate Service and, according to their records, the nearly 10,000-foot building, with 2.8 acres of land is being sold for approximately $150,000.
A follow-up feature profiled Patti Peterson and her family’s involvement “with the ‘Pearl’ of the Lincoln Highway.”
Peterson’s bond with the store started with her father when he performed duties as a young boy in the early 1930s. Just several years after George and Dennis Singer opened up the pottery store, Peterson’s father, Shirl Vincent, would stop by the shop in the morning on his way to school, set up items, clean and sweep the rooms before continuing onto the schoolhouse.
In 1960, the last pottery production site of Pearl China was closed by Peterson’s father [Shirl] and the business switched to a retail outlet.
But in 1976, the Singer brothers retired and the young boy that once swept the floors became the official owner of the shop after he and his wife bought the store. They reached out to Peterson and her husband and once again the family was back together working under the roof of Pearl China….
In 1983, just seven years after purchasing the store, Peterson’s father unexpectantly passed away and her mother began to lose interest in the business. In 1986, Peterson and her husband bought the store and continued the establishment….
A small segment of Lincoln Highway on the northeast border of Philadelphia is due for change next summer; whether that will affect an 18th century stone arch bridge remains to be seen. Here’s a scene and a video walk along the road and bridge by Rick Sebak when filming his PBS special, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway.
Plans to fix up Benjamin Rush State Park, parallel to Roosevelt Boulevard/the Lincoln Highway, have languished for decades due to a city-state dispute about the improvements. But according to Philly.com, John W. Norbeck, director of the Bureau of State Parks, last week said he and City Councilman Brian O’Neill reached “an agreement in principle” during a June 30 meeting.
The parks director said last week that the state will proceed as planned to put out bids early next year and for work to commence by June 2010…. The design stipulates that Burling Avenue, a beat-up old city road that cuts through the park from Roosevelt Boulevard’s outer northbound lanes, will be removed and filled in along with another street [Byberry-Bensalem Road, aka the old Lincoln Highway] that can be seen only on maps.
Striking Burling Avenue and Byberry-Bensalem Road from the city’s street map had been a sticking point for years. O’Neill had maintained that city law bars building on a city street unless the street has been “vacated” by ordinance. Later, city zoning matters further complicated things….
When City Council reconvenes in the fall, the councilman said, he will introduce legislation that would erase the streets from city maps and also change the city’s passive recreation ordinance to accommodate the state’s plans for Rush.
Dr. Ogan Gurel is walking the Lincoln Highway from Chicago to Washington, D.C., to bring attention to the health care crisis. LimaOhio.com reports that Gurel is in central Ohio, easily spotted by an American flag sticking out of his backpack. The image below is a screen shot from that site.
The idea for The Walk for Health Care came after Gurel was shocked by self-interested statements made by the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, and insurance executives on the issue of health care reform.
Gurel says, “I want to knock some sense into the situation because it’s not about preserving a piece of the monetary pie but basic human needs,” Gurel said. He emphasizes that his walk isn’t affiliated with a particular viewpoint or political party but he just feels the status quo is unacceptable. Here is his schedule:
6/27 Chicago
6/28 Gary, Indiana
6/29 Valparaiso, Indiana
6/30 Plymouth, Indiana
7/1 Warsaw, Indiana
7/2 Columbia City, Indiana
7/3 Ft. Wayne, Indiana
7/4 Cairo, Ohio
7/8 Upper Sandusky and Bucyrus, Ohio
7/9 Mansfield, Ohio
7/10 Wooster, Ohio
7/12 Canton, Ohio
7/13 Minerva, Ohio
7/14 Lisbon, Ohio
7/15 Chester, West Virginia
7/16 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7/17 Irwin/Grapeville/Greensburg, Pennsylvania
7/18 Latrobe, Pennsylvania
7/20 Bedford, Pennsylvania
7/23 Hagerstown, Maryland
7/24 Frederick, Maryland
7/25 Germantown/Gaithersburg & Rockville Maryland
7/26 Bethesda, Maryland & Washington DC
The Bridger Valley Pioneerreported on last Wednesday’s dedication of the restored Black and Orange Cabins in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. The motel along the Lincoln Highway dates to the 1930s. Many Lincoln Highway fans visited the unrestored cabins at the 2008 LHA Evanston conference. The cabins, with carports, were an extension of the Rocheford Hotel in an attempt to serve travelers who wanted less formal accommodations. The event coincided with the passing through of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association’s re-enactment of the 1919 military convoy.
Randy Wagner, who provided the photos above, wrote, “The ribbon-cutting coincided with the arrival of the Military Convoy and some 250 folks attended. The contractor told me he was able to use abour 90 percent of the original building material. The registration office is a complete reconstruction as it was destroyed by fire some 20 years ago. They are not available to rent although a couple have been furnished (bed, dresser, chair, stove and not much else) and are open for inspection. More will be furnished as period furniture becomes available. The state doesn’t want to compete with the two small motels that struggle to stay in business in Fort Bridger.”
LHA director for Wyoming Shelly Horne reports on the day that MVPA leader “Terry Shellswell had invited some of us to join the convoy in Green River. When we got there he offered Joe Cox (a local LHA member) a ride with a retired Air Force Colonel in his jeep (above) and invited me to ride with him in his jeep with he and his wife at the head of the column. He asked my wife, Deann, to lead a small column down the interstate that was not able to travel the old road. We followed the LH from Green River to Little America, then picked it up again in Granger to Fort Bridger with a rest stop at Church Butte.” He spoke briefly at the Blakc and Orange Cabins “before the ribbon cutting (which appropriately was a tree branch cutting). The convoy was fed Buffalo Burgers and we were gone again. We picked up the LH east of Eagle Rock a few miles. As we were heading up the grade past Eagle Rock, I looked back at the convoy. It was strung out for several miles and was quite a sight.”
Beginning tonight, July 7, NBC debuts Great American Road Trip with seven families crossing the U.S. while competing in wacky challenges — a lite version of The Amazing Race. Interestingly, the eight episode show is produced by BBC Worldwide. While the Lincoln Highway is not mentioned, it could likely show up; meanwhile, Route 66 gets a fair amount of visibility. Here are two teaser promos:
Here’s a description from NBC:
These comical, clever challenges are set against iconic American backdrops like the majestic Grand Canyon and the regal Washington Monument. Along the way, our families and our viewers will also discover quirky American landmarks, ranging from the World’s Largest Chair to a sneaker the size of a car. Although family fun is the centerpiece of the show, the competition is real and one family will be eliminated each week based on their performance in the challenges. Ultimately, only one family will return home with a dream prize that perfectly complements their extraordinary and memorable summer vacation.
Former LHA president Randy Wagner always makes clear his opposition to windfarms and their impact on the view along Western roads like the Lincoln Highway, so as an Easterner, I asked him to explain. Below is his response.
Windfarms are destroying the natural Western landscape and are bringing to an end the wide open spaces that those of us that live here have so long enjoyed. Wherever they grow, they dominate the viewshed like nothing else ever invented by man. While normal man-made visual intrusions, like power lines and oil wells, tend to fade from view in 3-5 miles, windmills boldly stand out for up to 30 miles, always on the skyline. An example would be the once beautiful Lincoln Highway drive from Fort Bridger to Evanston, a journey through a pristine landscape since 1913 that is now a windmill forest. Another example is closer to home: Cheyenne residents have forever enjoyed an unobstructed view of the Laramie Mountains and the Sherman Summit to the west. Now a windfarm blocks the view and the feeling of living in the wide open, unspoiled west is forever gone.
I could go on and on about the facts that wind energy is highly inefficient and can only be economically justified with heavy federal (taxpayer) subsidies; that windmills are very high maintenance items; that they don’t work on those hot, still, muggy days when energy is in high demand; that they are seriously altering the habitat for native wildlife species such as sage grouse and pronghorn antelope; that Wyoming is destroying its landscape to send power to Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Mount Vernon, Iowa, is hosting its first annual Lincoln Highway Open Air Antique Show on July 4, rain or shine. Antiques vendors will set up along Main Street, which is the Lincoln Highway through town. Antique shops, cafés, and other stores also will be open on July 4. Parking and admission are free. Call (319) 210-9935 for more information, or email Kristy SeBlonka at kristy@visitmvl.com/, or visit www.visitmvl.com/. Photo courtesy Rubicon Photo, map from the LHA’s DeLorme map pack.
LHA director Kay Shelton alerted us that, for the couple million people with Hotmail accounts, logging out takes them right to the www.msn.com Web site and a few weeks ago the site had a link: “Forget 66: A Better Cross-Country Route” with a short article on the Lincoln Highway. It’s still available HERE.
The story by award-winning author Earl Swift advises “Forget Route 66. This here is our Main Street.” And “With a couple of weeks free, you can still take this curvy, low-speed cruise from end to end and, in the process, gain an understanding of just how big and varied and spectacular this country is.”
Van Becker sent news that two Iowa locations celebrated “96 Years on the Lincoln Highway” on June 13-14 with two amateur radio stations operating for two days from two historic one-stop locations. Above is Bev Becker, WØWDC, LHA life member and experienced amateur radio operator taking her first turn at the mic; following is Van’s report.
The Benton County Amateur Radio Club, KØKBX, put the restored Youngville Cafe on the air operating with three transmitters on the 20, 40 and 80 meter ham bands. This is the second year for this crew and practice sure helped the results! We had 12 operators rotating through one-hour stints at the microphone.
ABOVE: Youngville Cafe, 20 miles west of Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the Lincoln Highway. Inside, an original 1928 LH marker is on display.
The Ames Amateur Radio Club, WØYL, operated from Reed-Nyland Corner in Colo, Iowa. This group experienced a slow start while installing temporary antennas in the rain. This was the first year for this group and they had respectable results and lots of fun. They also had the comfort of a fully-operating cafe for refreshments.
ABOVE: Reed-Nyland gas station, Colo, Iowa, on the Lincoln Highway.
Together, we contacted over 1,000 different stations from coast to coast, quite a few Canadian stations, and even one fellow in Scotland!
The operators had a sheet of “talking points” and LH facts to help enlighten the over-the-air listeners. All the stations contacted will receive an impressive color confirmation certificate upon receipt of their QSL (confirmation) card. Each certificate will be accompanied by a Lincoln Highway Association brochure too.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Now available: 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!
• Update to recent murder of Lincoln Cafe owner: No word on the cafe itself in Belle Plaine, Iowa, but bond was set at $500,000 each for three people accused, and at a preliminary hearing yesterday, arraignment was set for August 13 in Iowa County District Court. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “Marengo Police Chief Galen Moser has refused to release how Bailey died and the weapon used to kill him. Police did, however, release autopsy results last week that confirmed Bailey’s death was a homicide.” According to MPC Newspapers, “Bailey and Frei purchased Bailey’s Lincoln Café in Belle Plaine in 2006. The business has not kept regular hours the last year or so, with customers often finding notes on the door indicating the café was closed due to emergency or medical reasons. News of the killing has left the café’s customers reeling.”
• Sue Barr writes that “My colleague Dr David Heathcote and I are academics in London and teach at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and Middlesex University. We are working on a book on the world history of motorways and will come to the U.S. in September to look at the Lincoln Highway.”Photo by Rick Sebak
According to the 
