On to Ohio

We travelled through Indiana - Fort Wayne and into Ohio to find some beautiful landmarks indicating connections to the Lincoln Highway.

Ohio Landscape -

In Galion OH we met up with Craig Harmon and his father George. Craig was curator of the Lincoln Highway Museum in Galion - which doesn't physically exist. It is now a virtual museum that can be accessed on line - http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/king/king-index.html

It was through Craig Harmon's site that I was able to learn the story about our aunt's great accomplishment. His research included newspaper articles that are now easily accessible online! 

Craig's passion for the preservation of the history of the Lincoln Highway was very evident. We had a mini photo shoot next to the Lincoln Highway (the road closed due to a car show). Craig asked if he could announce to the crowds in attendance that there were celebrities visiting their town. We asked him not to as we had to get to Pennsylvania by nightfall.

Craig had a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair in his possession for our photo opp -

We had Craig and George autograph our silk scarf along with the names of others we've met and shared Anita's story with along the way.

Photos of us with the American flag and the Lincoln Highway Association Flag. We felt so honored!

Craig sharing his amazing vision -

On the Road Again in Ohio

Van Wert OH - City Hall

Marsh Hotel in Van Wert

 

Lincoln Highway Banners and banners throughout the downtown/Main Street of Van Wert.

A beautiful informational display about the historic Lincoln Highway

Van Wert's museum has a cabin from a motor lodge that was typically seen along the LH

 Lincoln Highway Post marker

Indiana Wants Me. . .

We made it to Merrillville IN on Friday night - close to our hometown - Porter IN and Anita's hometown - Michigan City. 

We encountered rush hour going through Chicago - which impacted our drive time today!! The hotel we stayed at had a hot tub - woohoo and a full breakfast.  

Wish we would have had time to take a slight detour through Porter - but we did have a chance to do a phone interview with Joyce Russell and were able to pick up copies of the Merrillville paper in the morning - Thanks Joyce!!

Sisters trace great great aunt's 1915 road trip along Old Lincoln Highway

A Collection of Articles and Interviews

We have such fun doing interviews along the way! Here are a few articles written about our aunt and our journey!

http://www.nwitimes.com

http://www.newsjs.com/us/sisters-trace-great-great-aunts-1915-road-trip-along-old-lincoln-highway/

http://www.nwitimes.com

triblive.com/news/westmoreland/8975860-74/king-trip-lincoln

http://lancasteronline.com/features/together/three-women-retrace-great-great-aunt-s-cross-country-trip/article_6c6296e2-5800-11e5-be32-072b4e7380c9.html

www.omaha.com/living/

www.startribune.com/great-great-nieces-repeat-woman-s.../322650571/

http://www.hngnews.com/lake_mills_leader/community/article_7a87057e-4c1f-11e5-8454-53f7884bd4d0.html?mode=jqm

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/sisters-trace-great-great-aunt-s-road-trip-along-old/image_d7b403c6-58d0-5421-b563-e016fffa2471.html

bigdaddydata.com › Wisconsin › Localities

www.mynewsreader.com/46581/great+dane/

Gas Can Similar to the One Anita Had to Carry Along With Her on the Trip - No Gas Stations in 1915!

On the Road!!

We have been enjoying our rental car's satellite radio along the way. Aleta put together a play list - but we haven't had to resort to it yet - 80's on 8, 70's on 7 and 60's on 6.

We tried to invite to Ellen along - but since we didn't hear from her - decided to take a Flat Ellen instead

Heather's stretch of driving 

Still Smiling -

One of the campers that we met up with after the Burning Man celebration. We saw quite a strange collection of artists along the way. (Especially at our overnight at Circus Circus in Reno NV - quite a fitting place for the folks we ran into! We weren't sure if they were the clowns from the casino or who they were until we asked one of them what kind of convention they were a part of.) 

We decided maybe next year - we could venture out to the Burning Man Convention.

Scenery throughout the country was just amazing!!

Smiling!!

On the Road Through Franklin Grove IL towards Chicago!

Left the Lincoln Highway state of Iowa and made an important stop in Franklin Grove, IL - the Lincoln Highway Headquarters. It was located in a small storefront in a building that was once owned by a relative of Abraham Lincoln. 

A perfect piece of history where time has slowed down - loved the quaintness of the small town - the store and LH headquarters coordinator shared great info with us. Town residents have their own mugs there and they can be seen congregating there for their morning coffee and sweet roll. Some evenings you can stop by and the small building turns into a music venue.

All along our trip we made a point of sharing information about the Lincoln Highway and how the organization is hoping to have the route become a national monument. The president of the Lincoln Highway sent postcards for us to hand out and we also had small wallet sized photos with stickers that had our blog address and the site to sign the petition for the designation. It was, afterall, the first transcontinental highway from San Francisco to New York City. Also, a reporter from DeKalb did an article about the Highway and how we were helping spread the word.

Long road to appreciation for Lincoln Highway | Daily Chronicle