Today I moved this trip from the "Fixed Leads" section to the
"Done Deeds"-"Recent" section just as I do with every trip at some point
following its completion. With the completion of this trip, the home page
got one additional change. The Yellowstone Trail has been listed in the
"Just Seeds" section since at least July of 2004. That's a long time to be
a seed. It has now been removed but the Trail's "Just Seeds" entry can
still be read here.
Somewhere along the way, I started referring to this as my CCCC
(center to coast to coast to center) trip as opposed th my CCC (corner to
corner to corner) trips. It was a dandy on two historic highways whose
heydays occurred in slightly different eras. The Yellowstone Trail was an
important pathway in the earliest days of automobile travel, while US-20's
importance was probably greatest in the pre-interstate 1950s and '60s.
East of Chicago, they often overlap or at least share a corridor. In the
west they are totally distinct from each other and are often separated by
a couple of hundred miles. I tried to follow the original alignments of
both. For the Yellowstone Trail this meant stretches of primitive dirt and
gravel roads that were bypassed quite early. This is not a trip for
motorcyclists or classic cars drivers wanting to avoid gravel, ruts, and
dust. It offers wonderful scenery and opportunities for early twentieth
century flashbacks. Historic US Route 20 is more "modern" with
fewer unpaved segments and classic motels and diners we associate with the
middle of that century. The path of the Yellowstone Trail also has some
wonderful motels and eateries but they mostly date from a a time after the
Yellowstone Trail officially ceased to exist.
At 37 days and 9094.9 miles, this was my second longest trip in both time
and distance. My 2016 Alaska trip covered
11108.2 miles in 41 days. The trip this one displaces for the number two
spot is the 2013 Lincoln Highway Centennial
trip. That was also a center-to-coast-to-coast-to-center trip but was
positioned somewhat more southerly in the tapered United States and
covered a mere 7341 miles over 35 days.
Thirty-six days after I turned onto US-20 and headed east, I returned to
that point and headed south. If anything changed during my absence, I
did not notice.
I met up with another friend to start the day then finished off Illinois
with only light rain. The rain increased in Indiana, and slowly washed
away my thoughts of getting home tonight until, in South Bend, they were
gone.
After that long drive to Manchester, I set myself up with a couple of
short days to recover. This was the shortest of the two and spending time
with a couple of friends made it extra nice.
Presented with a photo op, I took it. I then visited a corn field with a
label and a town without one, took a short ride on the rails, and attended
the big game. All that was in Iowa, but I continued to Illinois where I
toured Grant's home and went to sleep.
I booked a motel a bit farther away than I like and I spent more than
eleven hours getting there. Of course, that time included pauses to
photograph windmills, jet fighters, and old gas stations plus one each
tire man, fifteen stripe flag, popcorn ball, and butterfly.
I entered Nebraska very early in the day and crossed about three-fourths
of the state before it ended.
Wyoming never disappoints. Today contained hot springs, hot sauce, retired
vehicles, large statuary, elusive breweries, tunnels, and a scenic canyon.
I passed through Yellowstone National Park today along with two national
forests that border it. I was taunted by a bird, impressed by a waterfall,
awed by scenic views, and surprised by a brewery.
It was a day of taters and craters and one very tall woman. It was also
Independence Day, and even though my camera didn't record anything special
today, there was something leftover I could use.
The day started near the Malheur River in Oregon and ended near the Snake
River in Idaho. I checked out some old ruts before leaving Oregon lucked
into a good motel in Idaho.
I can take the all-paved roads and seriously spaced-out turns every once
in a while. The two breweries I can take every twice in a while.
I took in some Oregon coast, touched the western end of US-20, and started
toward Ohio.
I spent time in two states today and visited a friend in each. Starting
home tomorrow is soon enough.
While excessive heat warnings continued, I celebrated completing the
Yellowstone Trail with chowder.
I got on the road fairly early and scurried back to where I left off
yesterday. Although I didn't do it the right way, I did make it through
Blewett Pass and on to the day's target at Snoqualmie Pass.
I relocated just a short distance to the west but drove quite a ways
beyond my target before settling in. I'll make an expedited pass over the
same area in the morning skipping the primitive roads and photo stops at
motels and hotels.
I spent the whole day in Spokane but the temperature limited my exploring
to purveyors of food and beverage.
This day started on the interstate as a way of eliminating almost certain
future regret. I made it to and through Idaho's skinny part.
A day that started with a cool encounter and included interesting bars,
sometimes impassable roads, and a century-old taxi ad ended on the
interstate.
I'm sure glad that the screw I started the day with was a small one. A
bigger one might have kept me from finishing a climb that I started five
years ago.
I checked out more old cars, both inside and out, then ended the day at a
hotel and bar even older than the cars.
I got to see the outside, but not the inside, of where Joe Parmley once
lived and the spot where Sitting Bull might be buried. The day really was
a lot better than that sounds.
The day started with a surprise car show then I saw a Viking, a bell, more
cars, an anchor, a windmill, a rock, and some birds.
I found a great place for breakfast, a good place to sleep, and "A
Unique Shopping Experience" in between. A sign at that unique shop
said I was had 1487 miles of Yellowstone Trail behind me with 1635 to go.
The travel day was somewhat shortened by a delightful visit and surprise
but I still made it out of Wisconsin and beyond the Twin Cities.
Wisconsin has musician murals, skating car-hops, weird horses, old
breweries, and really cool neon signs. I saw one of each.
I finished off Indiana, began and finished Illinois, and got a decent
start on Wisconsin. Indiana was mostly Gary, Illinois was almost all
Chicago, and in Wisconsin Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee kept that city
thing going.
Indiana has great weather and, at least in certain areas, people who are
aware of the Yellowstone Trail.
Rain greeted me as I reentered Ohio. It had stopped by the time I reached
Cleveland and I then had a dry drive to within about fifty mile of where
I first picked up US-20 nine days ago.
After meeting a long-time friend for the first time, I battled my way
through Buffalo and almost through New York state.
I started the day by driving through some real rain for the first time on
this trip. It was dry, however, by the time I left Albany after visiting a
friend and his personal museum. I looked over, but didn't entirely
comprehend, a site with several layers of canal transportation history
before ending the day at a wonderful motel in the New York tropics.
It's pretty obvious where you have to start if you want to drive "A
Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound", and I did. Of course,
much of the day was through the same territory I covered yesterday, but I
did find a few things to take pictures of.
I met up with Historic US-20 guru Bryan Farr in the morning, then (after a
few on-the-fly itinerary revisions) made it (more or less) to the eastern
terminus of US-20.
After a great breakfast in an awesome diner, I encountered an almost tiny
detour then rolled into Massachusetts.
If you like straight down the road shots along with diners, drive-ins,
and old garages, today is for you.
I crawled through Cleveland, dashed through Pennsylvania, and eased into
New York. I ended the day at a familiar motel and a new-to-me restaurant.
I started barely an hour after sunrise but did not make it out of Ohio. I
didn't really expect to since I had to get from the bottom to the top of
the state just to reach my planned starting point. Good weather, good
food, and a few interesting sights contributed to a very satisfying first
day on the road.
Less than a month after Prelude 1 was posted, the world came to a COVID-19
induced halt and this trip, along with others, put on hold indefinitely.
Aided greatly by vaccines, things are starting to loosen up and I've
dusted off and updated my plans and am looking at a departure in early
June. The updating included refining my route using maps at
Yellowstone
Trail Association and Historic US Route 20 Association.
OK, so this is really just a sorta-fixed lead trip. I certainly intend to
drive the Yellowstone Trail this year and August seems the most likely
time for it to happen but I haven't nailed down a specific day and I
acknowledge that means that even the month could change before I actually
start rolling. The Yellowstone Trail has been in my "Just Seeds" list for
many years and it's still there. I'll remove it only after I get home from
this trip. A Yellowstone Trail guide book from John and Alice Ridge is
anticipated this year. While it had nothing to do with me starting to
think about it being time to tackle this "Seed", it is definitely a reason
to continue thinking about it and for thinking the timing is extremely
good.
A big consideration with long end-to-end drives is getting to and from the
ends. I know some folks fly and rent or have their favorite car trucked
in. I firmly believe that getting there is half the fun even when "there"
is the start of the core mission. In this particular case, there is a
natural solution in a road that just about matches the Yellowstone Trail
in length and whose end points don't differ by all that much. The
Yellowstone Trail runs between Plymouth, MA, and Seattle, WA. US-20
connects Boston, MA, with Newport, OR. Plymouth and Boston are less than
forty miles apart, Seattle and Newport a bit more than 200. The two routes
get pinched together as they pass the Great Lakes which means they are
very close or actually touching as they pass through Ohio. My general plan
is to pick up US-20 north of my home and follow it east to Boston. Then
I'll do the Yellowstone Trail end-to-end and finish off US-20 with an
end-to-middle run.
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