Trip Peek #89
Trip #33
The New Kid

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2005 trip to see The New Kid. This was a working trip that I extended with some vacation time and a weekend. I also extended the journal backward a little bit by including a few pictures from working days. The new kid was grandson Noah who had been born barely a month previous to my sailor son who was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, at the time. Most of the drive home was on US-60 with stops at Colonial Williamsburg and in Richmond to visit friends. I even got in a few miles of Blue Ridge Parkway.

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 #88
Trip #29
Rock and Stone

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2004 Rock and Stone trip. It was one of those working trips that I stretched into a personal trip with a weekend and a couple of vacation days. The work site was in Ty Cobb’s birthplace, Royston, Georgia, so that’s where the trip journal really begins. The title comes from stops at Rock City and Stone Mountain. The picture comes from a ride on Chattanooga’s incline.

Trip Peek #87
Trip #141
Lincoln Highway Conference 2017

Posted on September 8, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2017 Lincoln Highway Association Conference trip. The conference was in Denison, Iowa. The photo was taken during a bus tour stop at Lions Club Tree Park near Grand Junction, Iowa, where bridges from three different periods can be viewed. I made it to the conference in a little more than a day by sticking mostly to expressways. My drive home was a bit more leisurely as I revisited some of the same areas that conference bus tours had covered only I did in on narrow — and sometimes dirt — old alignments that the busses had not been able to follow.

Trip Peek #86
Trip #133
Rock ‘n’ Rail Redux

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2016 Rock ‘n’ Rail Redux trip. Readers may recall that previous railroad based trips to Washington, DC, have had issues ranging from extremely late trains to completely canceled trains. This one was essentially problem free. The “Rock” in this particular outing was a Willie Nile concert at, as the sign says, The Hamilton Live. In addition to a pretty much on schedule train ride and a rollicking concert, I enjoyed a day on the National Mall including an independence for Punjab parade.

Trip Peek #85
Trip #148
Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and Nile

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2018 Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and Nile trip. It consisted of a day driving to Pittsburgh, PA, a day in the city, and two days driving home during which I got to visit with three old friends. The picture shows the Duquesne Incline which I rode down on after riding up on the Monongahela Incline. I also checked out a couple of museums in Pittsburgh and another on the way home. The Allegheny and Monongahela are the rivers that meet in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. Willie Nile is the musician whose concert the trip was centered around.

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 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.

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