Trip Peek #74
Trip #36
Five Bridges Road

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2005 Five Bridges Road day trip. The title is obviously a rip-off of Steve Young’s Seven Bridges Road, and I must further confess that, while I did indeed visit five bridges — all covered — on this trip, they were not all on the same road and they are not the reason I began the trip. The reason for the trip, and the source of many of its photos, was the Pumpkin Run car show in Owensville, Ohio. I did have one bridge on the day’s itinerary, and I stopped there after spending time at the car show. While chatting with another visitor to the bridge, I learned that a total of five covered bridges remained in Brown County and I proceeded to visit them all. I suppose calling this the Five Bridges County trip would have been more accurate but not as catchy.

Here’s hoping that I can regain a portion of the credibility lost in revealing just how much of a lie this title is with my visit to the real seven bridges road just two years later.

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 #73
Trip #67
Lincoln Highway East

Posted on July 22, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2008 Lincoln Highway East trip. I used a business trip to the Philadelphia area as the lead-in to a drive on the easternmost portion of the Lincoln Highway. That’s Times Square, where the LH begins, in the picture. After braving Manhattan, I spent the next day in Philadelphia looking over the Liberty Bell and other pieces of history before finally moving beyond the east coast congestion. I stayed with the Lincoln Highway to Greensburg, PA, then shifted to the National Road, which I followed to Zanesville, OH. When I reached Wheeling, WV, on July 5th, I learned that the Independence Day fireworks had been rained out and rescheduled, so I stuck around to see the show that was launched from the 1849 suspension bridge.

Trip Peek #72
Trip #111
2013 OLHL Meeting

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my trip to the 2013 Ohio Lincoln Highway League Meeting near Mansfield, Ohio. The meeting itself filled just a few hours in an evening so most of the journal involved the going and coming. On the way there, I spent a night in Columbus so I could see the Lone Bellow in the process of becoming stars. On the day after the meeting, I headed to Georgetown, Ohio, for Ulysses Grant’s 191st birthday. I spent the night at a B & B across the street from Grant’s childhood home where I shared a bathroom with Abe Lincoln. This particular Abe Lincoln’s real name is Fritz Klein and I not only got to chat with him over breakfast, I got this picture taken with him in front of Gran’ts home.

Trip Peek #71
Trip #6
Bikes & Stuff

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2002 Bikes & Stuff day trip. It shows the target of the trip which was the Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen, Ohio. I made a few interesting stops along the way with the most interesting to me personally being a funeral home in Centerville, Ohio. My g-g-g-great grandfather, Benjamin Robbins, was a co-founder of the town and the funeral home is built around the stone house he constructed in the early 1800s. I’d stopped by the house before but this time was different. As I approached the building taking pictures, a door opened and I was invited inside.

Trip Peek #70
Trip #139
Road Crew Redo

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Denny

This picture is from my 2017 Road Crew Redo trip. I’d seen the Road Crew perform their Route 66 themed songs at Route 66 events but never in their home state of Tennessee. I tried in January of 2016 but a snow storm played havoc with my plans. This time I was successful. The trip’s first day was spent getting to Nashville, doing some honky tonking, and attending the Grand Ol’ Opry in Ryman Theater. The picture is of a modern neon sign inside Robert’s Western World. On the second day I moved on to Franklin and did some sight seeing before catching the Road Crew at Jack and Jameson’s Smokehouse. A leisurely drive home filled the third day.

Trip Peek #69
Trip #91
Motorcycle Cannonball Plus

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Denny

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 Peek #68
Trip #98
South from the Crossroads

Posted on February 25, 2018 by Denny

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 Peek #67
Trip #131
It’s a Wanderful Life

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Denny

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 Peek #66
Trip #137
Sixty-Six and More

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Denny

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 Peek #65
Trip #121
Faux Fight at Franklin

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Denny

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.

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