Day 6: June 26, 2010
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The final scheduled conference activity was this morning's general membership meeting. I've attended better meetings and I've certainly attended worse. I was initially a little disappointed in a few aspects of the meeting but I've decided that was because I expected too much. Everything else about the conference had seemed to go so well that I was looking for perfection. That a hundred sometimes passionate roadies aren't in 100% agreement 100% of the time is 100% reasonable. No blood was shed, some well reasoned arguments were shared. and democracy prevailed. And I survived my first LHA national membership meeting.

You've seen the car in this picture before. It was in yesterday's first panel and I imagine it's in the background of another picture or two. It's a 1935 Ford Deluxe Touring Sedan that belongs to John and Lynn Urban of Racine, Wisconsin. They not only drove the Ford to the conference, they drove it on the bus tours, too. Don and I shared a table with the Urbans at Thursday's lunch and learned that they've already covered Route 66 and big chunks of the California coast and the Lincoln Highway on a motorcycle. They've also covered some ground in the Ford and will definitely be covering a lot more. I had seen both car and owners several times since then but never together. I'd given up on a picture of all three long before I climbed into my car and headed out of the motel lot. Then they walked across the lot in front of me. I stopped beside John and asked about a picture. "Sure", he said and even pulled the Ford to a spot away from other cars. I think they're having fun.

ADDENDUM: Jun 29, 2010 - I had no real plan for getting home from Dixon until I was in Dixon so there is nothing about it in the trip locator map. Since, after a side trip to Oregon, I followed US-52 all the way, it would be pretty easy to figure out but that isn't necessary. A map of my two day drive home is here.

Don and I had seen a statue of a man on a horse near the river but time, construction, or one-way streets had always prevented us from getting there. That was my first goal on leaving the motel. At one point, Don had half jokingly it might be Reagan and danged if he wasn't right. It's a nice looking statue on a very nice Dixon riverfront.
Next I headed up IL-2 to check out some things we passed on the bus but couldn't photograph or completely appreciate. It was never on the Lincoln Highway but the Blackhawk statue was enough of an attraction to get Oregon listed in the early LH guide books as a good side trip. One thing I could only watch go by on the bus were the rocky walls near Castle Rock State Park. I pulled into a park parking lot and climbed the steps to a overlook for some great views of the Rock River.
I had seen pictures of this Jeff Adams sculpture in Oregon and it was definitely on my to-see list. I caught just a glimpse of it from the bus and knew I would come back. Lincoln and Black Hawk have only a nebulous real life connection but they were both men of extreme conviction and that is the basis for Paths of Conviction, Footsteps of Fate.
Tipis are scattered about Oregon advertising the upcoming Oregon Trails Festival. The first is in the park near the Lincoln-Black Hawk sculpture. the second on the courthouse lawn, and the third on a city street corner.
I once drove US-52 home from near Joliet, Illinois, and I drive US-52 along the Ohio River east of Cincinnati on a regular basis but I've never really thought much about it. It popped up in a discussion with Russell Rein and I realized that the Canada to Atlantic slash of US-52 has some of the same attractiveness as the crossing Canada to Mexico slash of US-62. I decided to add some Illinois US-52 miles to my experience and to repeat those Indiana miles. So, on returning to Dixon, I started home by driving the few blocks that US-52 shares with the Lincoln Highway. US-6 and US-52 run together for a bit in Joliet. The round barn is just east of Joliet and is included partly because I included a picture of it in my 2005 US-52 drive. I don't recall ever seeing doubled up signs like the 45 and 52 combo in Kankakee but my recall isn't so good. In that 2005 journal, I claim that US-52 is divided four-lane from the Illinois line to Indianapolis. The two-lane shown here is just east of Kankakee and there is lots of two-lane between there and Indianapolis.
I noticed Don's Drive-In in Kentland, Indiana, before I'd settled on a motel. When I checked into a place just down the road, I headed back for dinner. My order, a cheeseburger basket, was not delivered by a cute teenage girl but by a good looking teenage boy. It's possible he may have arranged that so he could talk to the "guy in the 'Vette". He asked a question or two about my car that showed he already knew something about it then pointed out a good looking GTO that was his. While I was eating, he made some sort of supply run in the GTO then parked it in a bit more prominent spot. I don't know if there's a roadie here but there is definitely a developing car guy.
My guess is that the Tri-Way Inn gets its name from the three US routes, 24, 41, & 52, that connect here. It has a playground, nice flowers, and "cheep cheep rates". It once had a swimming pool. It still has cheap cheap rates but both the birdhouse and the motel have seen much better days. Here's the interior of this P rated motel and I did check out the room before signing anything.
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