Day 28: October 29, 2024
NOTR Finish

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Pro Tip: Departing your route at a significant landmark makes it much easier to pick up where you left off.

Tip to Self: There's a Sunrise and a Sunset every single day, and they are absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them. --Jo Walton


A collector of vintage vehicles at the edge of Brownstown seems set on avoiding the image of a yard filled with cars on blocks. Restaurant owners have long been erecting "EAT" signs as a way of identifying their purpose with the biggest letters for the least cost. It looks like the Altamont Motel has applied the same principle to lodging.

The one-lane covered bridge west of Greenup has been converted to a zero-lane bridge. Greenup itself still looks cool with its charming balconies and an occasional tractor on Cumberland Street.

East of Greenup, there is a fairly long stretch of abandoned pavement beside the current alignment. It is interrupted here and there by crossovers and piles of gravel but I suppose short pieces could be driven if one were so inclined. The first picture faces east; the second west.

This is Casey, Illinois, a town filled with the world's largest things. I have been here a few times and have photographed many of those things so today I tried to stick to things I had not posted previously.

This nearly two century old stone bridge is still in use at the west edge of Marshall, Illinois. The second photo is the latest (until the next geek comes to town) version of George Stewart's famous 1950 picture of these buildings in downtown Marshall.

On an old alignment just west of Terre Haute, Indiana, there is a whole series of these large cutouts waiting to be filled by road crews or inattentive drivers. The ornate courthouse is in Terre Haute.

A couple of shots on the old alignment east of Putnamville.

Anyone who has been around here very long will recognize the Oasis Diner in Plainfield, Indiana. I stop here for breakfast, or maybe a tenderloin, now and then. But today I stopped for pie. I spotted the cherry when I entered, wavered after sitting near some very tempting pecan, but fought it off and went back to my first impulse.

A lucky stop at a traffic light in Indianapolis let me snap a picture of the old Dusenberg shop. The middle picture is rather contrived and I'm not only thinking of its lack of color. The National Old Trails Road passed through Indianapolis on Washington Street. That street is now one-way westbound with Maryland Street being its eastbound partner. So I drove around a few blocks to get a view of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument that was a little more like what NOTR travelers would have seen. The obelisk marks the intersection of the National Road (a component of the National Old Trails Road) and the Michigan Road. The two plaques mounted on it are here.

The Indiana Madonna of the Trail monument in Richmond is the eighth and final Madonna seen on this trip. Combined with the four seen in part 1, it completes a round of visits to all of the roadside statues. I had previously visited each of the twelve at least once and originally planned to make this round of visits in a single outing. I came close but real life requirements caused my NOTR drive to be split in two. This Madonna's unique panels are here and a descriptive plaque erected a few years ago is here.

Although my full length drive of the National Old Trails Road was laid out to begin and end at the Indiana-Ohio border, at the August start of part 1 of the drive I entered Indiana to reach the National Road/NOTR split known as the Dayton Cutoff. Today I once again followed the Dayton Cutoff to the state line. I further echoed the first day of that trip by spending the night at the Golden Inn, and eating at the Red Front. I had my first Red Front pizza on that August visit and today I did it again.

From the moment this trip was moved to October, attending the month ending Route 66 Miles of Possibility conference in Edwardsville, IL,had been something hovering in the background. I first thought it probably not possible, then at one point thought I might just naturally pass within range at the right time. In the end, I determined that this trip would end within one day's drive of Edwardsville with one day to go to conference start. So, instead of heading home at the end of part 2 of my PPOO-NOTR drive, I turned around and headed back to Illinois.


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