Trip Peek #84
Trip #30
Through Some Gaps

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2004 Through Some Gaps trip. This was a short two-day drive tacked onto a business trip to Georgia. The picture is of a tree festooned with bits of motorcycles near the south end of The Tail of the Dragon where I set myself apart from the typical visitor by driving it uphill in the rain in a Pontiac Vibe. This trip marked my first visit to the Nickel brothers’ airplane shaped gas station near Knoxville, TN.

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 #83
Trip #3
Corner to Corner to Corner

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2001 Corner to Corner to Corner trip. As only the third trip I journaled, it certainly had its share of oddities, experiments, and learning. I consciously considered it something of a practice run for a major trip planned for later in the year. One odd aspect, which I hope never to repeat, was its division into three episodes. To help fit the bulk of the trip into one weekend, the initial miles of the northbound leg were covered on the preceding weekend and the final miles of the southbound leg were driven a couple of days after the big weekend segment. The target of the trip was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (pictured) in Cleveland, Ohio. The name comes from the fact that travel was from the southwest corner of Ohio to the northeast corner, then back. The route north followed US-42 while the route south followed the 3C Highway which influenced trip’s name just a little.

Trip Peek #82
Trip #138
Finding It Here

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2016 Finding It Here trip. It was that year’s Christmas Escape Run. I wanted to keep the CER short in 2016 and, having enjoyed Christmases at state parks in West Virginia and Indiana, selected an Ohio park for this outing. The name came from the fairly new state tourism slogan, “Ohio, find it here”. Burr Oak, the chosen park, is in the east half of the state about halfway between Columbus and Marietta. Although technically a four day trip, the last day was an uneventful quick drive home from the park. The first night was spent in Athens and included visits to a couple of local breweries. Burr Oak Lodge sits near the south end of the Morgan County Scenic Byway, a section of which locals have nicknamed “Rim of the World”. That was my route to the lodge. On Christmas Day, I explored some of the park and the narrow roads around it. I also made it all the way to Cambridge which is taken over by a Dickens Victorian Village each year. The photo is of a huge chandelier in the lobby of Burr Oak Lodge.

Trip Peek #81
Trip #119
Route 66 Festival 2014

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2014 Route 66 Festival trip. The trip title is accurate, the Route 66 festival in Kingman, AZ, was the target, but it hides the fact that a major component of the trip was a full length drive of the Old Spanish Trail. Not only did I clinch that historic auto trail, I did it in a Mazda Miata which qualifies as the smallest car I’ve ever driven coast-to-coast. The photo is of the trip’s only disappointment. When I reached San Diego with plans to photograph the OST terminus marker, I was shocked to find the park containing it closed and being refurbished. The photo was taken through the surrounding barricades. The disappointment was soon forgotten in a visit with my younger son who lives in a suburb of San Diego. I had visited his older brother in New Orleans on the way out making this one of those rare trips where I am able to see both of my boys.

After a few days in San Diego, I headed north to finally connect with the road in the title. I picked up Historic Route 66 at its symbolic end at the Santa Monica Pier and followed it to the festival in Kingman. The festival was a good one that included a Road Crew concert and the first (to my knowledge) conference element along with the party. My path home was on Sixty-Six all the way to St. Louis, and included a stop in Santa Fe and an international rock concert at Afton Station.

Just in case anyone is concerned about the mental anguish caused by the missing marker, there is good news. A little more than two years later, I made it back to the reopened park and had a happy meeting with the returned stone.

Trip Peek #80
Trip #82
International Blues Challenge 2010

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2010 International Blues Challenge trip. Three things came together to make it happen. One was my retirement the previous month which gave me the required free time. The other two may not have been quite as big in absolute terms but they sure were big in terms of pure luck and in actually getting me to the event. About the same time someone posted the availability of a spare ticket via the local blues society group, someone else posted the availability of a room in a block reserved at the host hotel. I snagged the room but was just a little too late on the ticket. It still worked out great. I was able to get my own ticket and I learned that the person offering the extra was a fellow I worked with some years back. We connected in Memphis and have kept in touch since then.

There were 224 competing acts performing on two nights with a third night for the finals. There were also many non-competing acts performing around town in various showcases. I’ve heard the IBC called the largest gathering of blues musicians in the world. Knowing two of the bands in the finals was cool, and having one of those bands place third was downright phenomenal. The picture at the top is of those third place finishers: Cheryl Renee & Them Bones.

Trip Peek #79
Trip #97
Lincoln Highway Conference 2011

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2011 Lincoln Highway Conference trip. It’s a trip that was in doubt almost to the day it started. Dad’s health was not good and I worried about traveling for any length of time. I apparently decided I could probably at least dash to and from the conference and sent in my registration just ahead of the deadline. Dad’s health took a bad turn near the end of May and I cut short a St. Louis trip to hurry back. He improved a bit but never really recovered. He died on June 2. When I eventually returned to thinking about the trip, my initial thoughts were to cancel it. Then I realized there was no reason. There was nothing for me to do after the funeral and long solo drives sounded much more useful than sitting at home.

With no reason to dash, I may have gone overboard. I left home on June 9 and drove the full length of US-36. I camped — in a tent! — in Rocky Mountain NP for a couple of nights.I picked up the Lincoln Highway in Utah and drove the unpaved stretch around Dugway to Ibapah. I met a group in Fallon, NV, for a pre-conference caravan. I hooked up with two groups for two different post-conference outings. One was my first visit to Donner Summit and the second an aborted attempt to drive Kings Canyon. Of course there was the conference in Tahoe with a bus tour west into California and another east into Nevada. When all that was over, I followed the Pioneer Trail alignment of the Lincoln Highway on to San Francisco and a visit with my oldest son. Then it was down the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles. I’d have gone on to visit my younger son in San Diego but I knew he was at sea with his Navy buddies. I had actually visited him and his family in January. I headed home from LA but took in assorted pieces of Route 66 on the way. I reached home on July 3.

And the picture? It’s from the California conference tour. At our stop in Clarksville, a group of local Ford Model A owners provided rides on the 1914 Lincoln Highway Pavement. The picture was taken from inside a 1928 “leather back”.

Trip Peek #78
Trip #122
Christmas Escape 2014

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2014 Christmas Escape trip. This was a nineteen day affair that involved plenty of motel rooms but also included a night with friends in Savannah, Georgia, another with a friend in Saint Augustine, Florida, and a couple nights with my uncle in Lake Alfred, Florida. Christmas Day was spent in Saint Augustine. While staying on Marathon Key, I made a day trip to Key West and that’s when the sunset photo was taken. I worked in several new-to-me Dixie Highway segments on the trip and made a point of visiting all ten known Robert E Lee/Dixie Highway markers.

Trip Peek #77
Trip #13
To & From Two Johns

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2003 To & From Two Johns day trip. Even though it was categorized as a day trip and documented on a single page, there were actually two days involved. The first day was spent driving to Indianapolis on back roads. After a night in the city, we headed south to visit Columbus and Madison, Indiana. The reason for the trip and the source of the title was a concert featuring Johnny A and John Hiatt. That’s Johnny A in the picture.

Trip Peek #76
Trip #52
Blues, Books, & Battles

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2007 Blues, Books, & Battles trip. It was, as indicated by the title, a three parter. The blues part was a Patrick Sweany show at The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, West Virginia. I got there on the rather scenic US-50. Following a night in Thomas, I headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the book part. The target was a promotional event for a new book, The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate, from Michael Wallis and Michael Williamson. I’ve met Wallis several times before and since but this was my first and only time meeting Williamson. Although I enjoyed that and wandering through the Heinz History Center, the real highlight was meeting Brian Butko and Bernie Queneau for the first time. I did not charge into battle for part three; I visited the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial where lots of military history is on display. Of particular interest and the reason for my visit, was a section devoted to the 78th Infantry Division. That’s the unit my dad was with in World War II.

Trip Peek #75
Trip #78
Chattanooga Queen

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2009 Chattanooga Queen trip. The Delta Queen steamboat had been forced to stop cruising about six months before and was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as a stationary hotel. I’d never felt like I could afford a cruise on her, and the odds that I ever will get an opportunity are not good. This might very well be the closest I’ll ever get. The minimum stay was not determined by the length of a cruise , and rates for the non-moving rooms were less than they had been for the moving ones. I reserved one of the cheapest rooms for two nights over Independence Day.

The experience was far better than I had any right to expect. Even though hopes of a reprieve from the cruising ban were dimming, they weren’t entirely extinguished when the Queen first arrived in Chattanooga. Although virtually all of the existing crew/staff had or were working on plans to leave, the majority were still in place during my July stay. I was treated to food and lounge service, and even entertainment that differed little from that offered during cruises a few months prior. I stayed twice more on the Delta Queen while she was in Chattanooga, and, while I truly enjoyed both of those stays, neither compared to that first one.

The photo used as this blog’s banner was taken on the Delta Queen‘s next to last stop (so far) in the Queen City. She paused in Cincinnati, her home port, twice during the wind-down to docking in Chattanooga, and I was at both. My report on those visits is here.

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