Day 3: April 24, 2005
Into Indiana


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Not just a few blowing flakes today. Further north there was even more snow but Delphos got only a couple of inches of very wet snow. Of course it is the date that makes this newsworthy so, even though I rarely use it, I thought using the camera's dating feature was a good idea. I managed to get it turned on but also managed to alter the date in the process. These pictures really were taken on the twenty-fourth and not the twenty-third. Honest.
During yesterday's meeting, there were a couple of compliments directed at Van Wert County and the status of markers there. I didn't have to drive very far into the county before I could see how deserved those compliments were. All four of these pictures were taken on the fairly short drive from Delphos to the town of Van Wert. Some may not know that, as part of its bi-centennial, Ohio had the celebration's logo painted on one barn in each county. Here is Van Wert County's copy.
A cousin of mine lives in Van Wert. When I spoke with her about my passing through, she suggested meeting at a local restaurant. That sounded good to me and I was really pleased when I learned that what she had in mind was an eighty year old eatery sitting right on the Lincoln Highway. Balyeat's Coffee Shop has been serving food here since 1922 and is not just on the Lincoln but is directly across the street from Van Wert's original Control Station, the Marsh Hotel. Control stations were easily identified points from which the distances to other points were given. A small LH themed park is just a few doors away and is where the last two pictures were taken. Thanks to cousin Tammy and her husband Gary for a cool roadside experience.
Modern improvements have left this bridge stranded on a dead end remnant of the old highway just a few miles from the Indiana line. There are Lincoln Highway signs on both ends but the one facing west is hidden under a layer of snow.
This isn't actually on the Lincoln but, when I saw a place called Four Presidents Corner on the map, I thought it might be worth a visit. It is where four townships meet just about a mile south of the current US-30 and about four miles west of the Indiana-Ohio line.
In Fort Wayne, I hooked up with my friend Dale and visited Corvette Classics on the west side of town. We just missed meeting "keeper of the keys" Jon DenHerder but Jon knew we were coming and left word to make us feel welcome and we did. This great collection of Corvettes is being put together by local businessman Keith Busse who clearly has wonderful taste and a wonderful budget. While not every model year is currently represented, there are only a few missing and I'm sure those will be filled before too many years pass. There is no filler here. NCRS Top Flight cars abound. There is a full set of Indy Pace Cars, a full set of ZR-1s, and plenty of big blocks. Mr. Busse certainly isn't depending on admissions to buy groceries but this collection deserves to be better known and better attended.

Besides guiding me to the museum (it's not all that easy to find) Dale loaned me a bit of bandwidth to update this web site. Plus, he and his wife, Marsha, treated me to a great "road house" called the Nine Mile but I failed to get any pictures. US-27 runs by the Nine Mile and I started home from there.

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