Monthly Archives: March 2021

My Caboodles — Chapter 4
Lee Markers on Dixie Highway

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Like the Madonna of the Trail monuments in an earlier My Caboodles chapter, these, too, are a natural for me. Like the Madonnas, they are markers along the side of a famous historic highway that I have traveled. But there are significant differences. The biggest is that the primary purpose of these markers was not to mark the highway but to promote the memory of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. This aspect is discussed a bit more in an earlier post, Free? Advertising on the Dixie. In this post, I’ll just present the markers in the sequence I discovered them.

1. In 2008, when I stumbled upon this marker in front of the Madison County courthouse in Marshall, North Carolina, I had no idea there were others. I was excited to find something with a Dixie Highway reference but even then I must have felt it was off-target just a bit. In my journal, I said, “At least it’s sort of a Dixie Highway marker.” On the morning of November 5, 2020, it was discovered that this plaque had been pried from its stone. Erected 1926.

2. Just a couple of months after discovering the marker in Marshall, I took my first picture of the marker at the NC-SC state line. By then I was aware of the eight markers in the Carolinas, but not of the two outliers. In October 2017, vandals pried the plaque from the marker and its whereabouts are unknown. The third photo was taken in December 2017. Erected 1928.

3. By January 2012, I’d learned of two markers outside the Carolinas. Discovering that one was less than 18 miles north of where I live was actually shocking. In August 2017, just a couple of months before the plaque was ripped from the NC-SC state line marker, this one near Franklin, Ohio, was the target of planned demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. The city shortcircuited things by removing the rock and plaque in the middle of the night. The monument has since been returned to public view on private property about two and a half miles north of its original location. Erected 1927.

4. On the second day of my 2014 Christmas trip, I reached all of the Carolina markers which included six I’d not seen before. Just as the second marker I photographed was barely inside the state’s southern border, the first one of this outing was barely inside its northern border with Tennessee. Erected 1928.

5. I believe of all the Lee-Dixie markers I must have driven by without noticing, I’m baffled the most by this one mounted in a huge brick base in Hot Springs. Erected 1926.

ADDENDUM 16-May-2024: This plaque was stolen in March 2022. Discussions by city officials over whether to replace the plaque with a replica or something different were continuing as of May 1, 2024. Discussions and plans have been hampered by uncertainty as to who owns the land where the marker stands.  

6. The next marker in geographic sequence was the one in Marshall but the next new-to-me marker was in downtown Asheville where it shares space with the 65 foot tall Vance Memorial and a tribute to Drover’s Road. On the day I took my picture, someone had draped a shirt over one of the Drover’s Road pigs. At about the same time that the plaque was pried from the NC-SC marker, an attempt was made to do the same here. The bent corner in the blurry drive-by picture is evidence of that. The face was also badly scratched in a subsequent attack. On July 10, 2020, the marker was removed and put into storage. Erected 1926.

7. I failed to pick out the marker in Fletcher when I drove by it the first time but I did better on my second pass. On pass number two, I was able to spot it trying to blend into the shrubbery. Erected in 1926.
ADDENDUM 27-May-2023: I have just learned that the plaque was removed from this marker in October 2020. According to information here, the removal was initiated by the church where the boulder stands and the plaque was returned to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

8. The marker in Hendersonville wasn’t particularly hard to spot. It’s a tradeoff but I think I prefer a little tougher hunt and the shrub as background rather than the red car. Erected 1926.

9. Geographically, the next marker was the already photographed one at the NC-SC state line. That meant the next new-to-me marker was the lone South Carolina marker in Greenville. It’s actually a block off of the Dixie Highway but I don’t know whether it was moved to be with a group of Confederate monuments or was originally erected there. Aside from its placement, the marker is unusual in that it identifies a specific United Daughters of the Confederacy chapter rather than the overall organization which makes the plaque a bit taller than the others. It was also erected several years later than any other Lee-Dixie marker and several years after the Dixie Highway ceased to formally exist. Erected 1935.

10. I completed the caboodle several days later when I reached the only marker in Florida. It was placed about the same time as most of the others and the text is quite standard, but it is unique in other ways. The most obvious differences are the smooth marble base rather than a rough boulder and a plaque that appears to be made of steel rather than bronze. Lastly, the image of Lee is similar but not identical to the others. Erected 1927.

I had started towards home when I stopped at the Florida marker, but before I actually reached home, I drove by the Ohio marker just so I could say I saw all ten on the same trip.

Book Review
America’s First Highways
Stephen H. Provost

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I knew nothing of this book or its author until just before it was reviewed in the Jefferson Highway Association newsletter, The Declaration. The only reason I learned of it that early was because the reviewer, Wayne Shannon, is a friend whom I happened to chat with by phone while he was putting his review together. He was quite positive in talking about the book but, like me, unfamiliar with the name Stephen H. Provost.

Wayne’s positive comments prompted me to order America’s First Highways before I had seen his actual review. In the process of ordering, I discovered that Provost is an experienced journalist and editor with more than three dozen books to his credit. The overwhelming majority of those books are fiction which helps explain the lack of name recognition by at least some road buffs.  I believe this is Provost’s fourth road-related book. He is a Californian so there’s not much surprise in his first two road books being Highway 99 and Highway 101. The cover of Highway 99 did look familiar to me when I saw it online but I could not recall where I had seen it or in what context nor did I remember the author. That simply reinforces something that everyone already knows about me. I’m not too bad with faces but horrible at remembering names.

Provost’s third road-related book, Yesterday’s Highways, appeared just a few months ahead of the subject of this review. The timing of their publication suggests that they are to be viewed as a pair and that idea is cemented by this book being identified internally as “Volume II America’s Historic Highways”. It is my understanding that they split history in the reverse sequence of their publication with America’s First Highways culminating in the mid-1920s when the United States Numbered Highway System came into being, and Yesterday’s Highways picking up the story, with some overlap, there. Please note that I’ve yet to actually see one of these books so take that description with a grain of salt.

The one that I have seen is logically divided into two parts. They are described by a phrase on the first page that is almost, but not quite, a subtitle: “Auto Trails and the Quest for Good Roads”. Their actual titles are “Trail Blazers” and “Trail Builders”.

“Part 1: Trail Blazers”, a.k.a., “the Quest for Good Roads”,  focuses on the late 19th and early 20th century when devices capable of utilizing long-distance roads were starting to appear with essentially no long-distance roads in existence. Bicycles were the first such devices to arrive with automobiles close behind. People had, of course, been traveling long distances for quite some time. Some traveling was by foot or in wagons pulled by horses and oxen where smooth roads were appreciated but not absolutely required. Other traveling was by train which demanded and constructed its own specialized form of smooth roads. Bicycles and automobiles offered more flexibility than trains and more speed than walking but required supporting infrastructure. The quest for good roads was somewhat formally recognized in The Good Roads Movement originated by cyclists but soon supported by motorists as well.

Provost writes about individuals and organizations, including manufacturers, working for good roads, then uses a goodly portion of Part 1 to describe organized events that drew attention to the need for improvements in roads and demonstrated improvements in the machines that traveled on them. There is a chapter on “Road Tests”  such as the Glidden Tours and another on “Great Races to Strange Places” such as the 1908 New York to Paris race.

“Part 2: Trail Builders”, forms the bulk of the book. One of the builders is, of course, Carl Fisher so there is significant coverage of the Lincoln and Dixie Highways he promoted. Under the heading “Land of Confusion”, Provost provides coverage of the Lee Highway, Jefferson Davis Highway, Jackson Highway, Jefferson Highway, Pike’s Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, Yellowstone Trail, and Ozark Trails. Other named auto trails are mentioned but do not have a dedicated section. The most surprising member of this group, in my opinion, is the National Old Trails Road which is often cited as the first nationwide auto trail with a formal organization.

As mentioned, the era of named auto trails ended with the coming of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926, and Provost discusses the big change in “End of the Trails” and “The End is the Beginning”.

The whole book is filled with black and white photos. Some are modern images taken by Provost but most are historic captures of the people, roads, and places he is writing about. Altogether it provides a great overview of the era of named auto trails and the periods immediately preceding and following. It is a very nice introduction for those newly interested in historic highways while frequently offering some details well beyond a simple surface scan. Guess I’m going to have to give Volume I a look.

America’s First Highways, Stephen H. Provost, Dragon Crown Books (April 29, 2020), 8 x 10 inches, 290 pages, ISBN 978-1949971118
Available through Amazon.

Trip Peek #106
Trip #79
Lincoln Highway West

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This picture is from my 2009 Lincoln Highway West trip. The last part of the trip would be my third caravan to the National Corvette Museum for an anniversary celebration. In 1999 and 2003, I drove Historic Route 66 to join a caravan in Los Angeles. This time I would join a caravan in San Francisco. I had previously driven the Lincoln Highway east of the IN-IL border in piecemeal fashion and would pick it up there to drive the western bits. My oldest son lived in San Francisco at the time and joined me for the first part of the caravan east.

The Lincoln Highway portion of the trip allowed me to see in person things I’d only read about or seen in videos. As I looked over the journal in preparing this post, I was saddened to see that some of those things were already gone. Among them is the fellow cleaning my windshield in the accompanying photo. Dick Grudzinski died in 2016. Kensinger Service and Supply lives on, however, with Dick’s grandson Joe managing, pumping gas, and washing windshields.

The sixth day of this trip coincided with the tenth anniversary of the first ever live post to this website. From that day forward, a sidebar in the trip journal paid homage to the events of ten years before.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Trip Peek #105
Trip #58
Indiana Cool Roads

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This picture is from the 2007 Indiana Cool Roads trip. The picture is of the big dome at the West Baden Springs Hotel around which Pat and Jennifer Bremer organized the trip. The small caravan got there on cool roads like IN-58 and IN-450 then toured the recently restored 1902 “Eighth Wonder of the World”. We spent the night nearby then part of the group drove to and toured Santa Claus, Indiana, the next day. The small group became smaller and in the end, I led a one-car caravan on to Owensboro, Kentucky, before heading home.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Meet the New Phone…

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…same as the old phone. When I woke up a week ago Friday, my phone didn’t. I believed that it had been well charged when we (my phone and I) had gone to sleep but I plugged it in just in case. A few hours on the charger failed to restore any signs of life, and it was now time to go pick up my groceries.

Shortly after the Coronavirus pandemic hit, Kroger started waiving the five dollars they had been charging for their “Click List” service and I, who had sworn I would never buy groceries online, started to use it. An order I had placed a couple of days before was scheduled for pickup that morning. The normal drill is to pull into a numbered spot and share that information either by calling a posted number or using the Kroger phone app. I could do neither. I felt like one of King Arthur’s knights in a modern Connecticut. I walked up to the fellow loading groceries into the car in the neighboring slot and asked if he would let the appropriate people know I was there. He did and it worked out just fine.

After dropping the groceries at home, I headed to my go-to electronics repair spot, UbreakIfix. They checked what they could without disassembly but found no specific problem. A more complete diagnostic, which would require opening the phone, could be completed by the next day and would be free but wasn’t likely to turn up a cost-effective fix. The phone was about 4 1/2 years old and the battery had been replaced once. The screen was showing some pretty serious burn-in from too much solitaire and Sudoku. A new battery, which was the least expensive but also the least likely issue, would be about a hundred bucks. I had spent some of the morning looking over available replacements with my laptop and opted to forego further testing and move on to a new phone.

The dead phone was a first-generation Google Pixel which I was quite happy with. Its sudden demise aside, it had given me few problems, and its capabilities seemed to meet or exceed my needs. I concentrated on Pixel but did look at a few other brands. iPhone was not among them even though I frequently hear the products praised. I believe that this particular old dog is capable of learning new tricks but there are some tricks I’m just not interested in learning. Integration with other products I use was also a major consideration. I did consider some Samsung and LG models because Samsung seems to get a lot of attention and because I once had an LG phone I was happy with, but nothing about them enticed me to leave my Google Pixel comfort zone. I did not consider changing carriers. I moved to Verizon about six years ago when Cincinnati Bell exited the mobile phone business, and have generally been satisfied.

There are really just three Pixels currently being offered by Verizon. The Pixel 4 is technically still available but it is fading fast. My legitimate choices, in order of price, were the 4a, the 4a 5G UW, and the 5. The Pixel 4a 5G UW adds, as some may have figured out, 5G communication and an ultra-wide camera to the 4a. It also adds about an ounce of weight and nearly a half-inch of height. I believe the UW model is a Verizon exclusive. The Pixel 5 fits in between the two 4as in size and weight. It includes 5G and the ultra-wide camera as well as wireless charging, a bigger battery, and an aluminum water-resistant body. Of all the features just named, only wireless charging and water resistance seemed even slightly desirable and none seemed worth paying for. I opted for the Pixel 4a at about half the price of the 5 and about two-thirds the price of the 4a 5G UW.

The ease of the switch, once the purchase was completed, was amazingly easy. With the old phone completely dead, I anticipated hours or days reinstalling apps. Instead, the phone asked if I wanted to use the day-old backup, and a yes answer resulted in every app and most configurations that existed on the old phone being installed on the new one. User IDs and passwords excepted. This was, I believe, a function of my Google account and may have benefited significantly by going from and to a Google phone.

Another very much appreciated surprise was the degree to which the operation of the new matched the operation of the old. I was initially perplexed by the absence of the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, and thought I was going to be stuck with fumbling my way around with unfamiliar “swipes”. It turns out that’s what happens when navigation by “gestures” is enabled and setting that off (which was apparently set on from the factory) put me back in familiar territory.

I encountered the only thing I might call a real problem when I tried sending the first text message. Rather than sending the text, the phone displayed a “Waiting for connection” message. I thrashed a bit then took a look at some troubleshooting advice. It began with a very logical suggestion to always first check for updates. I did and found that, while the 4a ships with Android 10, a free update to Android 11 is available. Following installation of the update, the pending text message was successfully sent. I don’t believe that text messages were really broken in Android 10 so the update may or may not be what “fixed” the message problem but it was fixed nonetheless. And everything else seems to be working, too. Waking up with a dead phone was certainly not a happy moment but barely a day later I had a phone that looked and operated just like the old one except that it had more memory, a faster processor, a higher resolution camera, an unblemished screen, and probably some goodness I don’t even know about.

Plus there was one more surprise. The physical similarity of the Pixel 4a to my Pixel 1 was even greater than I first thought. Their dimensions matched exactly so that the protective case I had on the older phone fit the new phone perfectly and the cutouts even matched with the single exception of the camera. I had already ordered a real 4a case before I discovered this or I probably would have done a little snipping and saved myself a few bucks.