Category Archives: Trip Peek

Trip Peek #69
Trip #91
Motorcycle Cannonball Plus

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This picture is from my 2010 Motorcycle Cannonball Plus trip. The full name of the event it was centered on was the “Pre-1916 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run”. It was the first of what has become an  established biennial event. Subsequent runs have involved motorcycles of various vintages but all have been rather aged. The 2018 event is for pre-1929 motorcycles and will run from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. The bikes will start rolling September 8.

In 2010 the run’s closest approach to Cincinnati was Cherohala Skyway near Chattanooga, Tennessee. I got there in time to see many of the ancient two-wheelers pass by, then headed onto their end of day stop at Coker Tire. The picture was taken the next morning as the riders set out on the next leg. Once the first groups were on their way, I drove south to Little River Canyon then back the check out Ruby Falls. I spent the night in Chattanooga and had a wonderful time at the city’s aquarium the next day.after breakfast at Aretha Frankenstein’s. This was my first visit to the quirky restaurant which became an instant favorite. I made it to Nashville in time for a show at the Bluebird Cafe then stopped at a couple of car museums the next day as I headed home sort of on the Dixie Highway.

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 #68
Trip #98
South from the Crossroads

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This picture is from my 2011 South from the Crossroads day trip. One of many intersections to lay claim to the “Crossroads of America” is the place in Vandalia, Ohio, where the National Road and the Dixie Highway once crossed and the pictured sign is posted. Although I imagine I’ve driven all of the Dixie Highway between there and Cincinnati over the years, it was piecemeal at best and I needed to do it in some sort of organized manner. In July I used an Ohio National Road Association dedication of an interpretive marker near the intersection as an excuse and starting point for undertaking the drive. I drove south on one of two alignments and north on the other. I was quite happy with what I’d done. However, before the year was over, I learned of a rather significant marker I’d missed because I had made a wrong turn. I would correct the error In January by driving the proper route.

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 #67
Trip #131
It’s a Wanderful Life

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This picture is from my 2015 It’s a Wanderful Life trip. I had spent Christmas of 2013 in a state park lodge in West Virginia and in 2015 did something similar in Indiana. The park I chose was Turkey Run on the western side of the state. The suspension pedestrian bridge in the picture is on one of the park’s hiking trails. There was some rain involved in both the going and the coming but Christmas Day was dry — and cold. I worked up an appetite for the buffet by hiking a bit including crossing the pictured bridge.

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 #66
Trip #137
Sixty-Six and More

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This picture is from my 2016 Sixty-Six and More trip. It was my fourth and most recent end-to-end drive of Historic Route 66 although it wasn’t conceived as such. This trip just kept growing from first seed until I got home. In the beginning there was a decision to attend the Route 66 Conference in Los Angeles with a visit to my son in San Diego tacked on. I could fly to that but didn’t want to. A decision to drive was accompanied by a decision to follow Sixty-Six all the way. Before long I’d added a 5K walk in Tulsa and a Dirk Hamilton concert in San Pedro. Logistics for the concert gave me a chance to stay on the Queen Mary for a night. My route home was mostly on US-50 which allowed me to visit a cousin in Colorado and stop at the two Madonna of the Trail Monuments I hadn’t seen previously. Throw in a Super Moon and the LA protests following the presidential election and the justification for “More” in the title quickly becomes apparent. The picture is of the Palace Theater in the middle of what was the most western block of the original US-66 alignment. Trip Peeks really are selected randomly and it is pure coincidence that the 66th Peek involves Route 66.

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 #65
Trip #121
Faux Fight at Franklin

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This picture is from my 2014 Faux Fight at Franklin trip. The city of Franklin, Tennessee, was the destination and watching a reenactment of the 1864 Battle of Franklin was the purpose. I would reach my destination but not accomplish my purpose. The picture is of the main house at Carnton Plantation. It was used as a field hospital when the battle began nearby. The reenactment was also to take place nearby but a night of solid rain left the ground unsuitable and the faux fight was called off. I made do with an extended tour of the house and museum. Although the battle cancellation was something of a disappointment, the overall trip was not. I’d spent the previous day in Nashville with lots of music and a visit to the newly opened Johnny Cash Museum. On the way home, l stopped by the Horseshoe Camp Cabins for the first time since the April fire that left them essentially destroyed.

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 #64
Trip #40
Memphis & MO

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This picture is from my 2005 Memphis and MO trip. This was an outing cobbled together to fill the time between Christmas and New Year’s but which ended up extending a couple of days into 2006. The picture is of Billy Tripp’s Mind Field in Brownsville, Tennessee, which I was seeing for the first time. I have seen it several times since then and watched it continue to grow. This was also the first time I met fellow road fan Alex Burr in person. He still lived in Maine at the time but was visiting Memphis when I passed through. From Memphis, I followed US-61 to Saint Louis and spent New Year’s Eve with Route 66 friends in Rolla, Missouri, at a motel/restaurant that is no longer with us. Even sadder, one of those friends is no longer with us, either. Another first for me was a stop at John’s Modern Cabins on the way home.

By coincidence, this Trip Peek was randomly selected for publication just days after another visit to Billy Tripp’s Mindfield. The journal for the most recent visit is here.

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 #63
Trip #57
Ohio Barn Dance

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This picture is from my 2007 Ohio Barn Dance day trip. It was a rather spontaneous drive along some southern Ohio back roads prompted by some surprisingly warm weather. The drive culminated in a ferry crossing to Augusta, Kentucky, where a B&B Riverboats excursion was paused. The name comes from a number of barns, including four with Mail Pouch advertising on their sides, that I passed along the way.

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 #63
Trip #57
Ohio Barn Dance

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This picture is from my 2007 Ohio Barn Dance day trip. It was something of an impromptu outing made to take advantage of a warm and sunny late October day. The photo is of the Belle of Cincinnati docked at Augusta, Kentucky, which is where the trip ended. The name comes from the old barns I photographed while driving some Ohio roads on the way to the ferry that would deliver me to Augusta.

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 #62
Trip #51
2007 National Route 66 Festival

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This picture is from my 2007 National Route 66 Festival trip. The festival was in Clinton, Oklahoma. It was the centennial year for the state of Oklahoma which was a factor in holding the festival there and it also meant there were other things going on. One of those was the opening of a time capsule in which a brand new 1957 Plymouth had been buried. This was a fly-and-drive trip and I arranged my flights to be in Tulsa for the Plymouth resurrection then cover a little Route 66 before the festival. The capsule had leaked and the Plymouth pretty much ruined but it was still a cool event. My time on Route 66 was enough to get me to my first overnight at the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and a look at two almost but not quite ready to open new businesses on the Route: Boothill Restaurant in Vega, Texas, and Pops in Arcadia, Oklahoma. Among the things making the festival itself memorable was the one and only appearance of Route 66 e-group founder Greg Laxton and the first of many appearances of the now legendary Road Crew.

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 #61
Trip #70
Some Lincoln Highway

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This picture is from my 2008 Some Lincoln Highway trip. It was one of those cost cutter things I often tacked onto the end of work assignments. This assignment was near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the picture is of an abandoned bridge over Poquessing Creek northeast of the city. Built in 1805, it carried the early Lincoln Highway. It was where I started the personal part of the trip that would follow the Lincoln Highway west as far as Canton, Ohio. After visiting several roadside attractions along the way I spent the final day admiring classic cars at Canton’s Glenmoore Gathering. As I looked over the journal to prepare this entry, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that the “66 the Hard Way” idea came from preliminary planning for this trip.

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.