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Pine to Palm Tour '09
Preface
This is the story of a trip down the Historic Jefferson Highway. In November of
2009 one man in a car (Mike Conlin) started from New Orleans, Louisiana and
drove for 3 days a distance of 1600 miles (2500 kms) to Winnipeg, Manitoba. At
the same time another guy in a motorhome (Gary Augustine) had already left
Prince George, BC also heading for Winnipeg which co-incidentally is also 1600
miles away. They met in Canada’s most famous prairie city in order to locate the
beginning of the Jefferson Highway (the Palm to Pine Highway). While essentially
an American Highway the fact remains that in order to travel the entire route
you must go to Winnipeg, so we both did and it was excellent. The following are
the daily accounts of that trip as posted my Mike Conlin on the Jefferson
Highway facebook page.
Day 1 – Friday, October
30, 2009. Leaving home, heading for Winnipeg.
Well I've made it past St. Louis the first day of 'dead heading' which means
driving all the way to the beginning of the Jefferson Highway on interstate
highways without actually going on the JH. It rained hard for half the day but
as the sun set the sky was red so should be a good day tomorrow. Nothing
exciting happened just 12 hours of driving. I even made sandwiches without
stopping so not to lose any driving time. This part of the trip is just about
getting there....Winnipeg here we come. Oh yeah, I got lost in Memphis after I
missed a turn while talking to a reporter from the Time Picayune in New Orleans.
I guess I don't multi task too well.
Interstate freeways make it easy going for deadheading a long trip |
Day 2
Dawned clear and blue and a great day for driving (see Photos). There were some
detours in Kansas City and I got completely lost. Since I have set my computer
up to be a GPS I pulled over in some quiet neighborhood and spent a half hour
finding the bits and pieces to make it work and then setting it up. Once that
was working I was able to find my location and get back where I was going. After
that I played GPS all day, trying out different features and just seeing how big
the file got as I let the computer draw the line that I was driving. It worked
great but once it got dark the computer was so bright I couldn't see the road so
I figured it was time to stop. I stayed over in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and
tomorrow I will make it to Winnipeg if all goes well. I guess I have an extra
hour to work with as the time falls back tonight. I have a bunch of t-shirts with me and I just know the border
people are going to give me a hard time but it should work out.
Day 3
I made it all the way to mile 0 in Winnipeg and met my friend, Gary, at a Wal-Mart
parking lot. It was a good day for driving, although pretty flat prairie type
country that looks much the same all the way. I was given the third degree at
the Canadian border and even had to pull into their special spot to be
completely searched by two border security agents. One went through everything,
looking for weapons I'm sure, while the other one took a special interest in
going through my computer files. I was standing outside the car freezing while
they did this and every once in awhile they would ask me a question. Well I
finally got their seal of approval, went through the border and continued the
last 60 miles to Winnipeg. I did a small side trip to check out a piece of the
Jefferson Highway and it was basically a muddy farm road. Hmmmm....could be
interesting or there could be lots of detours, we shall see.
It's cold in Winnipeg and the motorhome has three air conditioners but the
heating system could be better. I think it will be wonderful in New Orleans. We
have two days here to see some people, get the tow bar hooked up for the car and
put some signs on the car and the RV. It looks like it is going to snow....BTW I
am sitting in a Safeway parking lot using their unsecured network. Ain't
technology wonderful?
Day
4
Winnipeg seems like a nice city but I now know why the nickname for it is
"Windypeg". The wind was just howling here all day and cold enough
that there was ice on the puddles. Anyway we had to set up the tow bar that goes
from the motor home to the car. So we went to an auto parts store and bought
what we needed then found a building near by that we could get behind to shield
us from the wind and went to work. Of course the "fits all" pieces
didn't quite match so we had a few problems but being right next to the parts
store we made several trips back in to get more pieces and we finally got it all
working. We haven't actually hooked the car on to the tow bar yet but all of the
hard part, like removing the front bumper of the car and hooking up the wiring
is done and the rest should work. Then we wondered how much my car weighed so I
went to look in my glove box for the registration and lo and behold it was gone.
After freaking out for a couple of hours I finally phoned my wife, Leah, who
found it in a pile of paperwork near the kitchen table at home. Well here I am
with no registration nor insurance papers and I have to cross the border again.
I'm glad they didn't ask on the way in. Leah is going to send me a scan of the
two documents and I hope that will work if needed.
Also
today we
made contact with a couple of the Winnipeg people who are interested in the
Jefferson Highway. We will be meeting them tomorrow and start getting the word
out in the Canadian end of the Highway.
Day 5
Today we had the best tour of Winnipeg that you can imagine thanks to Dave
McDowell. I am shocked at what a neat city Winnipeg is. I, like most Canadians
never even think of Winnipeg as anything but a dreary prairie town and nothing
could be further from the truth. They have lots of culture and history here and
some really wonderful attractions. We met several people in the tourism business
that were very interested in our trip. Thanks David.
The
Winnipeg Free Press came by and took our pictures for a story that is going in
their newspaper. We had just finished putting a sign on the back of my car
telling people about our trip when he came and it was snowing. I can tell you
that it is not as easy putting a sign on in the snow as it is on a nice warm
graphics department table. The big sign for the side of the motor home is going
to have to wait until it is warmer. It has stopped snowing and we are going to
be happy to be heading south tomorrow so maybe we can stay ahead of winter. If
you can't ski in it, play hockey in it or curl (for my American friends curling
is a game played on ice with rocks and brooms) then who wants winter anyway?
I am now getting about 50 emails a day, thank you very much, but it is going to
get harder to answer them all once we get going, so if you don't get an answer
please don't be offended. Also our connection to the internet is going to be
wherever we can find it so there may be days that we can't even connect. If you
don't need an answer and just want to tell us that you are enjoying these
updates then keep the emails coming because they are fun to get but as I say
please don't expect an answer. I will continue to write these daily updates and
post pictures to our facebook page and then when we do get a connection I will
send more than one if I miss a day.
Right
now we are driving around Winnipeg looking for a sani- dump to empty the
motorhome's shower water so all you people along the way that have asked us to
stop please be ready to tell us where there would be one in your town. We may
not need it but if we do it is rather important. Tomorrow we go......
Dave
McDowell and Mike at mile 0 on the neutral ground
Stafford Street and Pembina
Highway, Winnipeg |
Day
6 – Wednesday, November 4, 2009. Leaving from mile 0, heading for New Orleans.
This, the first day of the actual JH trip dawned clear and blue in Winnipeg.
Dave McDowell met us at the mile 0 marker and took some pictures and brought a
copy of the Winnipeg Free Press which had run a very nice article about our
adventure, so now Winnipeg has been reminded about the Jefferson Highway. We
headed off, all of our electronics and machinery working well, into the bright
morning sunshine.
It deteriorated quickly! After 60 miles we came to the
American border and since we are the suspicious looking types the border Gestapo
took our passports, my green card and the keys to the RV then made us wait for
half an hour while they Googled us or whatever they do. Finally three of them
came and searched our whole vehicle, asked lots of leading questions (they
already knew the answers) to see if we were honest people. Well ultimately they
found that we had nothing to hide and after an hour they let us go. The great
'undefended' border is a pain in the....
| Then
at St. Vincent we took a wrong turn which led us down a dirt road that kept
getting smaller. We didn't go far before we decided to turn around. So we
unhooked the car, turned the vehicles around and managed to get back on the
correct road...with one small glitch, I left the car in first gear. About 3 or 4
minutes down the road Gary stopped because he could see smoke out
the back so we ran around and the car was on fire! I managed to
get the hood up without burning my hands and there were flames all
over in the engine compartment. Being a member of the Ness Lake
Volunteer Fire Department, Gary grabbed an extinguisher and put
out the fire. The car is now dead! I completely destroyed the
engine, blistered the new paint on the hood and now my wonderful
Toyota Corolla is nothing but a trailer to keep our stuff
in.
If we have to turn around again I don't know how we will do it. I am sick to my
heart. I considered throwing in the towel, forgetting the Jefferson Highway and
heading back to New Orleans but there are lots of people waiting to see us and
my wife Leah encouraged me to keep going saying, "We will deal with the
car when you get home". Just for the record this is the second time that I
have done an official Jeff Hwy trip and I lost the car motor both times. I
can't afford to do any more JH trips.
|
The
life blood draining out of my car |
So
we continued on to Lake Bronson where I asked Gary to stop so I could see if I
could find an internet connection. I did, so we were sitting there, emailing
away, when a guy pulled up, big smile, said that he was glad we were doing this
and that the JH used to run through his property. We talked a bit then he left.
The next thing you know there is a lady standing beside the RV, that the first
guy had called and she was not only the Curator of the Kittson County History
Center & Museum but she was Cindy Adams, the one person who I had lost in my
notes who wanted us to stop. What a lucky break, I was within one minute of
missing someone who wanted to see us. We went to the museum and it was extremely
impressive for such a small town. They had lots of JH stuff including an
original metal Pine to Palm sign. We took pictures and had a great visit. Cindy bought a bunch of my merchandise for
their museum and ordered some maps that I will be printing when I get back. Then
she and Gary noticed that they had almost the same last name and after Gary told
her that his grandfather was from the Minneapolis area and I noticed that they
kind of looked the same we figured that they may be related. Go figure....
Anyway Cindy and her excellent museum put a bit of a smile back on my face so we
headed off into the sunset finally reaching our destination of Thief River Falls
after dark. We parked at their Wal-Mart and went and had pizza and beer to try
to make ourselves feel better. It did and not too much beer so we are OK today
too as we head off to Menahga where we will spend tonight.
Cindy
and Gary
Could they be cousins? |
Real
Jefferson Highway Sign
Kittson County Museum |
Day
7
A much better day today although I'm still in mourning about my car. Caryl Bugge
met us early at the Wal-Mart campground and took me for a tour of Thief River
Falls and showed me a house that used to be a gas station on the Jefferson
Highway. You can still see the cement bases for the pumps in the front yard (see
the JH facebook page) and she took me to meet the local newspaper editor for an
interview. Then we hit the Highway with our "trailer" in tow, that's
what we call my car now and traveled stretches of the Jeff through to Gonvick
where we met reporters from two more newspapers. Then on to Bagley to meet local
people and another editor who were all very enthusiastic and another retailer of
JH merchandise was established. Ultimately we ended up at the municipal
campground in Menahga where we met two more newspaper reporters one of whom
invited me to a short meeting of the Menahga Museum. There were about 20 people
there and we had a great chat and all agreed that we hate border agents. They
have a cool museum with tons of neat old stuff including a 1925 model T Ford
that may have driven on the Jefferson Highway. You can see the pictures on the
JH facebook page. It is worth mentioning that every one of the reporters and
other people that we have met have been super nice to us and welcomed us with
open arms. I wish we could stay longer in each place but we might never get back
to NO.
1925
Model T Ford in the Menahga Museum |
We
came through Itasca State Park and as we were doing so we passed a sign that
said Mississippi River next to a creek that you could have jumped over. That
park is the headwaters of our famous "Old Man River" and it is some of
the most beautiful country that we have ever seen. Tall Pines, stalky Birch and
very little undergrowth and for you BC people it looks a lot like the North Okanagan.
The homes along the way are extremely well kept with clean paint and mowed lawns
everywhere and it seems like none of them had old cars in their yard, unlike
most country homes that I've ever seen. One
of the people at the museum meeting told me that she has been trying to make it
to Mardi Gras in New Orleans for so long and has not, that she has asked her
friends, upon her death, to cremate her, put her ashes in an urn and throw it in
the Mississippi in Itasca Park so that she can float by the debauchery in the
Crescent City and thus make it to Mardi Gras.
Today the focus of this JH trip has shifted from mapping to PR. There are so
many people and newspapers who want to see us that we have had to miss some of
the more remote pieces of the Highway in order to be able to have time to reach
our destination each day. We are only planning on 150 miles a day but with the
stops we can't even make that much. We have found all of the pieces and verified
with locals that what I have on my map is correct and what condition the roads
are in. Because we are driving a motor home there are parts of the Highway that
we don't want to go on because of the condition of the road and we agreed that
if a big motorcade is ever organized we are going to plan two routes. One on the
best roads for the big rigs and the other will be the actual route which people
can take at their discretion and we will all meet in the same place at the end
of the day. Most of the road is on good highways but there is still a lot that 4
wheel drive would be recommended.
Nearly all of my cell phone plan minutes were used up yesterday by friends
calling me from New Orleans about a wonderful article that appeared in the Time
Picayune, the large daily newspaper there. Not just in the paper but the first
headline on the front page. I haven't seen it yet although Luis Monzon put the
link on facebook for me but I will probably wait until I get home to see it. I
guess all of NO knows about us now, it will be interesting to see how many hits
the website got. I was hoping to raise awareness of the Pine to Palm Highway and
I figured that as we moved along it would begin to snowball but after two days
it's more like an avalanche, thank you very much.
Also thanks for your many condolences about my car. In lieu of flowers
please send money. Talk to ya tomorrow.
Day
8
Again we woke to a beautiful sunrise, blue sky and anticipation of a good day
and it was. We managed to find a municipal campground in Sebeka where there was
a sani dump still in operation although the water taps were shut off for winter
but we found a service station that let us use their tap so we loaded up shower
water etc. We were seeing deer everywhere but that should be cured today as it
is the first day of hunting season and we have been seeing literally hundreds of
hunters heading up the roads in search of Bambi.
The
Jefferson Highway in this part of Minnesota is paved almost all of the way. We
only found one piece that was dirt road and it was well maintained and only
lasts for about 4 miles and then back on good road. We met several more
newspaper people and had lunch with one in a restaurant in Little Falls that
used to be a gas station on the Jeff. It was on Lindberg Road, named after the
towns most famous son, Charles Lindberg. As we were leaving town we crossed the
Mississippi River which was much bigger than where we saw it the day before but
the water was still crystal clear.
We
made our destination of St. Cloud just as the sun was going down and found a Wal-Mart.
Each day the weather has been getting warmer and it was warm enough this evening
that we decided to put the big sign on the side of the RV. The parking lot we
were in had a nice 3 foot retaining wall that we pulled alongside so we could
reach and we went to work. If that sign had been applied at the sign shop that I
used to work at we would have been pulling it off and re-cutting it because it
wasn't my best job. Lots of bubbles and I spent way too much time poking holes
to let the air out. Anyway it is on and you can see a picture of it on the
facebook page.
We
were all excited that we had Saturday off and we were making plans to find a
golf course that may still be open but then I checked my emails and we now have
two more appointments. It's OK though because the trip is about publicity for
the JH and those two appointments represent 3 more newspapers so a lot more
people will hear about it.
I
had an internet connection at this Walmart so I was able to catch up on all my
email and fix one problem that we discovered on the website yesterday. There is
one more but it involves code so I'm going to wait until I get home, just don't
try to buy any stickers on the store page because you will get fridge magnets,
although they are really neat too and you all should have some. I just noticed
that the sun is coming up and there is not a cloud in the sky. Maybe that is why
they call this place St. Cloud? Have a great Saturday....
Day
9 (Saturday, November 7)
We awoke to a cloudless sky in St. Cloud, MN,
we were on schedule and life was good so we headed off into the bright morning
sun. We travelled on two pieces of the Highway that are still called Jefferson
in Big Lake and Osseo. Minneapolis, St Paul is a massive metropolitan area and
it took us way over an hour to get through there. We missed our first newspaper
interview in Farmington because we couldn't connect with our contact so we
headed off to our next one in Fairibault. I finally remembered to ask the
reporter, Kay Fate, to mail me a copy of the story that she was doing and she
said she would. All of the rest of you that I forgot to ask would you please
send me a copy of your newspaper with our story so I can make a great scrap book
of this trip? We have noticed that by being on the old streets where the Jeff is
there are many fantastic old homes in these small cities that have been well
maintained and great examples of early 20th century design. Someday one of you
can make a book entitled, "Homes of the Jefferson Highway".
Unique
homes on the Jefferson Highway |
Love
the balcony |
The
Highway took us through many back country roads that are in surprisingly good
shape. Many are paved but even the gravel ones in this area are no problem and I
would drive them on my Harley although you wouldn't want to follow too close to
another vehicle or you would just look like a dust lump when you stopped. I took
lots of pictures because it is just down right beautiful country.
Near
Northwood, Iowa the Jeff is now Highway 65 and at Northwood we were suddenly
detoured due to the highway being closed and we headed off back into the
cornfields off of our chosen route. If we hadn't had GPS we probably would have
still been back there somewhere. We never did see another detour sign to show us
where to go, the sun was setting and we were way back in the boonies (Canadian
word for "No where").
Sunset
as we are lost somewhere in rural Iowa |
We came across the biggest windmill farm I have
ever seen and even went by a place where they had the components stored. You
can't believe how big those blades are. Laying on the ground flat they are
taller than a man and as long as two train cars. We charted a course for
Kensett, finally arriving there in the dark and the Hwy 65 was still closed.
With frustration setting in and being reluctant to head back into the corn we
started meandering around town to find someone to ask directions. It was then
that we noticed that there didn't seem to be lights on in any of the houses and
not a soul on the streets. It started feeling like a scene out of "Children
of the Corn" and we felt kind of spooked. We finally found a couple of guys
who were surprised to find out that they lived on a famous highway and they told
us to ignore the detour signs, dodge the barricades and we could make it to our
destination of Mason City. We did and apparently so did everyone else.
Wal-Mart
welcomed us with open arms (just kidding) and we stopped next to another motor
home. We then did what Wal-Mart planned for us to do, we went shopping there and
bought one of those precooked chickens. I can tell you that there is nothing
left of it today except maybe two sandwiches. With that I am going to sign off
because today is a big day. We are meeting a bunch of people in Colo, Iowa at
the crossroads of the Jefferson Highway and the Lincoln Highway and I will
finally get to meet Lyell Henry who is the guru of Historic Highways. Hope your
Sunday is as exciting as mine is going to be.
Day
10
Bidding Mason City adieu (?) at 10:00am we headed off on the Jefferson Highway.
Again it was a spectacular blue sky and shirt sleeve temperature. We were traveling
through a town called Sheffield, Iowa when I spied a guy carving a large
intricate face on a tree in front of his house. So I asked Gary to come around
the block so that I could get a picture and talk to him. As we were turning
around another guy, having noticed our signs, drove up and told us that he had a
map of the Jefferson Highway in his basement. So Gary went to photograph the guy
with the face carving and I went with Wilber Rust and saw his wall map that
shows every historic highway in 1920. It was framed in glass and in excellent condition.
He said that he watched them build the Jefferson Highway when he was a kid and
that he was a trucker on the Highway when he was a young man.
|
Wilbur
Rust and his Historic Highways map |
1917
Jefferson Highway Farm |
We
traveled on the JH all morning through unending corn fields and wind farms but
the road was paved all the way so it was very relaxing. I Had to get my driver
to stop near a barn with the words, "Jefferson Highway Farm, 1917"
painted on the side of it (pictures on facebook). Our destination today was
Reed/Niland Corner in Colo, Iowa where we arrived about 1:00pm. We are now
parked right beside both the Jefferson Highway and the Lincoln Highway, the two
most important historic highways in America. This whole intersection is owned by
the Town of Colo and they have done a fabulous job of restoring three original
businesses that have been here since the highways were in their heyday. A gas
station, a motel and a restaurant are living museums to both of the Highways and
the period in which they existed. When we do a motorcade Reed/Niland Corner will
be on our 'stopover' list.
I
finally got to meet Lyell Henry and he brought lots of actual Jefferson Highway
memorabilia. Maps, brochures and promotional pieces from JH days are all
preserved in his collection. |
Then he took us to a couple of places near Colo and
showed us some very interesting evidence of the Jeff including a 1918 underpass
with the JH symbol and a cement monument that had the JH symbol on it with an
anchor bolt stabbed right through the middle of the JH. I guess it was just in
the right place to hold up a farmers fence.
We saw where the highway curved
sharply and then went up precipitously over the railroad tracks so steeply that
a motorist couldn't see a train until he was on the track. Good plan, not. Lyell
gave us the guided tour of the gas station with all of it's period tools, oils,
merchandise and the real old gas pumps. Gary was in his element. You could just
feel the model t-Fords pulling up with a flat tire that needed fixing or gas
that needed pumping (by hand). The Jefferson Bus lines (which still exists) used
to stop here and their signs are still outside. Imagine a young country boy
waiting under the canopy of the gas station for the bus, heading to join the
army and then off to World War 1. There are tons of photos that really show what
people called a "highway" in 1918. Everyone seems to have been stuck
up to their axles and going nowhere. This is great Highway history!
Tonight it is a cloudless star filled night, like we can never see in New
Orleans. I am going to go outside to see the night and watch out for UFOs. Hope
your day was as good as ours.
Reed/Nilands
Corner in Colo at the crossroads of the Jefferson and Lincoln Highways. |
|
JH
fencepost and JH monument in Colo. |
Day
11
The motel at Reed/Niland Corner had great digital TV system and we watched the
first news we've seen in a week. We heard that yesterday was 25 degrees above
the yearly norm in Colo (I'll take it) but we also heard that there was an
actual hurricane aimed at New Orleans with landfall expected today. Leah said it
was just supposed to be a tropical storm when it gets there so it should be OK
but it is going to be wet there today. The Colo area newspapers came to meet us
at the cafe and we had interviews, coffee and doughnuts before we headed out on
the road again. Thanks again Scott Berka and Lyell Henry.
| We traveled for about
20 miles on the road that is both the Jefferson Highway and the Lincoln Highway
noticing the nice Lincoln Highway signs everywhere (it will be nice to see some
JH signs) before reaching Ames, Iowa where we had an appointment with the Iowa
Department of Transport. Would you believe that they had a reception committee
waiting for us? They had a giant and very beautiful banner hanging in their
lobby welcoming us, they had goody bags that they presented us and they gave us
a tour of their highway archives where we obtained some great historical
documents. Then they gave us the banner and wished us well. Dena Grey-Fisher,
Keven Arrowsmith and the others couldn't have been more accommodating and it was
an excellent visit. I even enjoyed the fire drill that the DOT had while we were
visiting.
|
Lincoln
Highway sign. |
Dena
Grey- Fisher showing Mike the Iowa, DOT archives. |
We
finally got into the travel mode about 12:30 which put us quite a bit
behind schedule but it was worth it. We stayed faithful to the Jefferson
Highway route all the way through Iowa which is real easy because all of
the old Highway is paved in that state. The corn fields continued until we
got into the southern part of the state where it is more hilly and cattle
seemed to be the crop of choice.
|
The
many small towns that we passed through look like they haven't changed since the
Jeff was a Highway. They look like drive through museums. It
was a day of making miles but it got dark before we reached our destination of
Albany so we ended up in Bethany, Iowa. I can tell you that as the sun sets and
darkness overtakes us the great Wal-Mart of China signs are a welcome sight. We
are currently parked among more motor homes and several big rig trucks so the
blue "W" is becoming known as a travelers destination.
We
are now at the point of the Highway in Missouri where it splits into two
distinct roads. One through Missouri and one through Kansas. Apparently in 1915
they couldn't make up their mind for the route so we have two. Which poses a
problem for us as we have 4 or 5 people to see on both routes. We spent last
night trying to figure out how to do it and I think we have but we are going to
be cutting across country between the two routes a couple of times. Oh well,
judging from one of the 1917 pictures that I saw at the DOT yesterday which
said, "Please do not drive in the same ruts," I think it will be OK
for us.
Day
12
As we were beginning our day in Bethany I noticed an Amish horse and buggy
coming down the main street (see picture on facebook). That explained the sign
that I saw with a buggy on it asking us to "Share the Road". After a
short drive on the JH we stopped in Albany to meet Frank Akers who owns a farm
that the Jeff used to run through. We started talking Pine to Palm stuff but
after enquiring about the model of a large jet that he had near his desk and
finding out that he used to pilot them, with nukes on board, the conversation
turned to all things flying. That was kewl!
Then it was off to St. Joseph which
was the International Headquarters of the Jefferson Highway back in the day. St.
Jo is a beautiful town, lots of ornate old buildings and after some back
tracking and hunting we found where the JH headquarters was in 1920. The key word here is
'was' because it is now a parking lot. Oh well, we'll just have to have a new
headquarters when a new JH Association gets active.
Frank
Justice at Smithville Historical B&B |
Again the Jeff was paved all the way and as we were going past the
"Farms" we noticed that these farmers must be growing a better cash
crop than most as there seemed to be mansions everywhere. One of them even had a
three rail white fence made of plastic. It turns out that this is where the rich
people from Kansas City live and I think I own half of one of them because it
belongs to an heiress of Budweiser. Our next stop was in Smithville where Frank
Justice was waiting for us at the neatest bed and breakfast I have ever seen. It
is an actual museum loaded with memorabilia that has two suites that people like
us can rent for a night. There is no family living there, like most b&bs, and
each suite has it's own kitchen and bathroom (complete with the big old legged
bath tubs) that guests can use. Frank bought us lunch and we had a great visit
and learned a lot about Smithville history and there is a lot. |
Frank
got us away in enough time that we missed most of the Kansas City rush hour
although their drivers remind me a lot of New Orleans drivers, they're nuts.
Gary kept me under control and I never gave anyone the bird and we made it
through to Olathe where we we hooked up with David Stearns, a fellow map geek
and I mean that in the nicest way. David and I started talking maps, GPS, GIS,
paper maps, digital acquisition etc, etc, etc until Gary finally had to go for a
walk. I think we started about 6 o'clock and Gary had already come back visited
a bit and gone to bed while David and I were still mapping the world.
Day
13
What can I say about today? Fantastic jumps to mind. Again it was clear blue
with warm sunshine and we found several great places to take pictures of
original JH bridges.
Abandoned
piece of Jefferson Highway |
As
we were motoring along we noticed a neat little piece of the old highway that has been
abandoned and is grown over but looks like a park. It took us two miles to find
a spot to turn around to go back and photograph it. Then at 11 minutes after 11
o'clock on this day, November 11, 2009, we stopped, marked exactly where we were on my digital map, got out and
put our American and Canadian flags up on the corners of the motorhome. We
remembered the soldiers at exactly the same time as you did.
|
Remembrance
Day Nov 11 |
Then
we motored on in to Paola. We had a bit of trouble raising the people who we
were supposed to contact because they were all at the remembrance day ceremony.
We finally did get hold of Cindy McGee who managed to contact Wayne Johnson and
Carol Everhart all of the Chamber of Commerce and the Museum. After picture time
and a show and tell under the hood of my dead car we had a great visit over
lunch at Beethovens Restaurant which is owned by another person who had
contacted me, Hannes Poetter. Excellent European
cooking in middle America. Hannes thought I should leave him out of any blog
that may be going to New Orleans, something about a party in the Quarter
that he was involved with some time ago. After lunch Wayne took us over to their
museum which featured a lot of really neat weapons from the civil war era that
caught our eye. Then Wayne presented me with a folder of documentation and
newspaper articles about the Jeff from the 1920's. He also gave me an actual
antique travel kit that would have been available during the early motoring
days.
Carol
Everhart welcoming us to Paola, Kansas |
Thanks, Wayne, I will treasure that at my home in New Orleans and I hope
it is just the beginning of a Jefferson Highway collection.
Mike
and Wayne Johnson at Miami County Museum |
We arrived at our next destination, Harrisonville, MO at about 3:00 pm
where we were met by Carol Bohl of the Cass County Historical Society and were
given a police escort into town. I have been escorted by the police before but
never as a guest of honour if you know what I mean. It was fun. We were taken to
Bill Shelton's shops where were shown two large JH murals that Bill had
commissioned for the side of his building. We met a press lady and other local
people interested in the JH. Then Bill took Carol, Gary and I on a tour of his
place and it was fascinating. He has a huge collection of classic cars and
trucks and we must have spent two hours there. It was just one classic car after
another. Some were in various stages of restoration while others where in mint
condition and they were almost all drivable. There must have been 40 or more of
them. Being a car guy Gary was like a kid in a candy shop. There were also
antiques of everything you can imagine including my favourite, a 5 cent slot
machine, the original one armed bandit. It still worked so we tried our luck but
lost our nickels. When I saw the 1890 something pool table I almost didn't want
to leave. Bill already has the makings of one of the best tourist attractions on
the entire Pine to Palm Highway although he is still in the planning stage. We
truly hope that he does open it to the public because it will be a beauty. After
a close inspection of a horse drawn 1930s grader with all the working parts we
were treated to dinner by our host Carol Bohl. I had to order small because I
was still full from lunch in Paola.
Carol Bohl, Mike and our police escort |
Bill
Shelton with murals and one of his antique cars |
We are again parked at the local Wal-Mart along with a couple of other
motorhomes and half a dozen trucks and we have already spent $50 here so I think
their new marketing plan is working. Our Winnipeg guide, David McDowell asked,
"If you are living in Wal-Mart parking lots are you Wal-Martians?"
The answer is, "Yes". See ya' tomorrow.....Mike
Day
14
Heading out of Harrisonville we were pleased to see that the folks there have
put up replicas of the Pine to Palm sign all the way through Harrisonville. I
also noticed that someone already tried to steal one as it is all bent up but
still there. I'm sure they are worthy of stealing but it sure makes it difficult
to keep the highway marked. I am convinced that we should re-mark the Highway
the old way, which is to paint them on the telephone poles. Thieves cannot steal
painted signs and it is a great way re-create history.
| Moving on to our first rendezvous in Butler, MO
where we met Melissa Philips and some city commissioners and got to hold an
original Pine to Palm sign. As hard as I tried I could not get that sign into my
car without them noticing. They treated us to lunch there and we heard a lot of
history about the civil war and the ongoing conflict between Missouri and
Kansas. I say 'ongoing' because to this day the two states have a rivalry
resulting from what went on during that war and it's manifested during football
games, basketball games etc. I'm thinking it's a good thing they don't play
hockey in this part of the country or there would be another civil war. |
Welcoming
committee in Butler, MO |
We
tried to stay faithful to the Jefferson Highway route which meant traveling on
gravel roads most of the day. But when your on that type of road with the old
bridges, narrow roadway and old farms it is very easy to imagine that you are in
the 1920s. At one point we were confronted with a giant harvester of some sort
coming down the road at us and it was obvious that the two of us were not going
to be able to pass each other. Gary had the foresight to stop just before
someone's driveway and the guy in the harvester pulled into there, let us go by
and then backed out and continued on his way (pix on facebook).
Very large harvester barreling down the road straight at us. Yes those
things are sharp! |
To say that it
was a dusty day would be an understatement. Inside the motorhome we were OK but
the trailer (car) and the outside of the RV were caked in dust. After looking in
the back of the car for something I closed the back door and it was like an
explosion of dust.
We stopped to see a dam that was built near the JH and it had a turnaround
for RVs so we just had to check it out. In fact we stopped so often to check
stuff out that we never made it to Carthage and our host Michele Hansford of the
Powers Museum until after dark. This museum is located where The Jefferson
Highway and Route 66 are the same road. Although Route 66 is the best known
highway in America, because of the TV show, I call it a historical highway
impersonator as it is just a name change set on top of real historical highways.
The people that had come to meet us had already
gone home, except Michele. She did manage to get the people from one news outlet
to come back to talk to us and then she took us and her husband to a great
buffet dinner. Although Carthage is now a city of 15,000 people they have kept
their small town ambiance so we had to eat quickly at the restaurant because we
arrived there at 8:00 and they closed at 8:30. Needless to say we were the last
ones in the restaurant but the food was still hot and yummy.
Reporter
in Carthage, MO |
We changed our routine a little bit by stopping in a Lowe's parking lot
which was right across from a Super 8 motel and we had lots of their wifi
signal. We were exhausted so we hit the sack as soon as we parked. We are going
to head out soon as today is the day we are going to try to start making some
miles and you may not be reading this until later unless we find another
unsecured wifi somewhere in this area.
Day
15
We were about to leave our Walmart home in Carthage when we got a call from
another newspaper. One of the ones that Michele Hansford had invited yesterday
that we stood up. Oh well we connected this morning and had another good
interview in the motor home.
Then
we hit the road heading for Franklin, Kansas where we were met by Phyllis
Bitner of the Franklin Heritage Committee and Randy Roberts of Pitt State
University in Pittsburg, Kansas. |
Randy was one of the
first people that provided me with info way back when I first started this
project. Phyllis took us on a tour of Franklin and showed us where a tornado had
leveled parts of that town several years ago. It was a massive one and the
devastation looks all too familiar for someone from New Orleans. You can tell
where it went because all of the houses are new. She took us to an antique car
museum that her and her husband, Scotty, own in Arma. I saw the car of my
dreams, a coral coloured, '57 T-bird convertible. OMG! You guys are going to
have to buy a lot of t-shirts so I can afford that car. His museum is on the
Jeff and it is free to the public. If you want to barter for any of the cars
that is what he does. Good luck, just leave the T-bird alone. Then we ate lunch
in the Jefferson Highway Garage with more folks that have interest in the
Highway and had our picture taken under an original Jefferson Highway Garage
sign in Pittsburg. At the Heritage Centre in Franklin they were about to have a
crafts fair and someone gave us a sweet potato pie which we are working on
tonight. I thought it would last a couple of days but it is so good that it may
not last the evening.
Welcome
Sign in Franklin, Kansas |
Jefferson
Highway Garage in Franklin, Kansas |
At one of our stops along the way I noticed that my Canadian flag had
blown off the pole it was on. I was sad because now I won't be able to represent
both countries of the Jefferson Highway. Then I realized it was Friday the 13th
and I thought that if this is the worst thing that happens today I'm a happy
camper. Once we hit the road again we had to push it to make our daily
destination which I will let you guess. Here's the clue, "We don't smoke
marijuana in ..........., we don't take our trips on LSD," all together
now......Yeah we are in the redneck capital of America, according to Merle
Haggard, but it looks pretty regular to this Wal-Martian. We have only one
contact in Oklahoma so we may be able to make some decent mileage tomorrow and
document more of the original JH route. I calculated wrong on the amount of days
to get back to New Orleans by next Wednesday so we have to go a little further
than we figured each day now to make up one day total. I wish I would have been
a little more diligent with my math homework, I might have learned to
count....have a great day. From
Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.
Day 16
After fueling and filling our water tanks at the Wal-Mart gas station we
departed Muskogee and headed out on Highway 69. The JH is completely abandoned
south of Muskogee although we could see it beside us for a long way. It is all
overgrown and gated so we just looked at it. There is an original piece that
goes through a town called Canadian so we headed onto it because that's what we
are. We have seen a lot of pretty towns but Canadian is not one of them. I would
say that it is 'challenged' in that department.
Fisherman
sitting on Jefferson Highway |
So we kept right on moving and
found some more actual Pine to Palm at Eufaula Lake. I had seen a satellite
image that showed the Highway heading into the lake (it is a lake behind a dam)
so we went there. The vestiges of the JH are all along this area but completely
abandoned. Where the road goes into the lake we found a guy fishing for catfish.
He told us that they have caught 70 lb fish near where the highway comes out on
the other side but you can only get there by boat now.
|
JH
abandoned in Oklahoma |
Back
on 69 again seeing many bits of the old road and then turning off south of
Tushka, OK we got back on authentic historic highway. There are lots of old
bridges in this area from back in the day and I took so many pictures that I had
to dump my memory card into the computer twice today. Does anyone remember film?
I love digital. North of Caddo it is all Jefferson Highway and it is all gravel.
With the washboard we were down to 12mph for about 7 or 8 miles but we finally
rolled into Caddo the quintessential little town left over from a by gone era.
We were met by Mary Maurer who started us off in the museum where I was
fascinated by an old stereoscopic viewer with lots of pictures. It was the
precursor to the Viewmaster but so much cooler. Then it was over to a real early
20th century 5 and 10 cent store loaded with unique stuff. Shoppers would go
nuts in this place. After that we hit the Caddo Cafe where it was 'rib day'
which turned out to be awesome. My compliments to the owner and cook Shellie
Parker. I noticed that among a lot of other memorabilia there was a Route 66
poster showing a 50s car and kind of a drive in theme. I think the Jeff needs a
good poster so if any of you out there are artistic lets see what you can do
with a real historic highway.
Caddo
Indian Territory Museum |
Old
Stereoscopic viewer in Caddo Museum |
Then
it was back on the road and we crossed into Texas today. The highway is all
paved in this area as most of the JH is still significant roadway, so it is easy
going and I highly recommend it for a nice drive. We ended up in Sulpher
Springs, Texas and another Wal-Mart where I not only have no internet connection
but I have no cell phone either. That is a bummer because I can talk free on
weekends. Anyway I walked around the parking lot and by standing on the curb,
near a high piece of ground and holding my face just right I managed to phone
Leah to let her know where we were. I moved 5 feet once while talking to her and
I lost the call. I guess my cell phone supplier doesn't sell many phones in
northern Texas. Well it's time to crash and then in the morning go searching for
an internet connection. Bye for now.....
Day 17
North East Texas has good roads including what was the Jefferson Highway. Even
the country roads here are paved so we could move along pretty well. Add to that
fact that I missed three potential meetings today and we made a lot more miles
than normal and we did all of it on the Pine to Palm route. There were a few
places where we found buildings like the old gas station in Mt. Vernon and then
just before Longview, Texas we saw a sign announcing a 'Historic Marker' ahead
so we started looking. We never did find the marker but we spied a post that
looked like a JH marker so we doubled back to check it out. I searched that mini
obelisk all over but I couldn't find anything that said it was a JH sign but I
also didn't find a reason to think that it wasn't either. I took several
pictures and I'm sure
somebody will be able to tell me what it is.
|
Mini
Obelisk in Longview, Texas. Is it JH? |
We found several parts of the Highway that are closed but much of it in Texas is
modern divided highway. When we got to the last town in Texas, Wascom we found a
whole row of buildings with the names of the businesses imprinted right onto the
cement of the building and more importantly they had the dates when they were
built on them and they are definitely JH period buildings. As we hit the border
of Louisiana it started to rain lightly and that is the first precip' we have
seen the whole trip, notwithstanding the snow in Winnipeg the day before we
left. People have asked me why I wanted to start in Winnipeg instead of New
Orleans. Of course it's because that is where mile 0 of the Jefferson Highway is
but If you have ever been to Canada at this time of year I can assure you that
you will want to be heading south rather than north. That is why they call
Canadians that head to Florida, Arizona or New Orleans each fall 'snowbirds'.
Even the birds know why.
Jefferson
Highway in backwoods Louisiana, scary |
As we headed south east through Louisiana the road got smaller and less traveled,
still easy driving but the further we got the smaller the road became. Finally
just South of Pleasant Hill the JH became a dirt and gravel road again and Gary
wanted to strangle me. It wasn't that bad (for a fishing lake) but it shook the
heck out of the motorhome so we were down to 12 mph again but only for about 5
miles. Let me tell you those were five miles of 'Deliverance' that I would
rather travel in a group. Add to that the fact that there was no cell phone
signal at all, not even the SOS connection, just a red X where there should have
been bars and I was glad to see pavement again. After that stretch the JH got
good again, suitable for motorhomes and great for motorcycles.
Well
we are making such good time that we are going to try to find a golf course that
is open tomorrow and take a break. Then with any luck we can put in some miles
and still make it home to New Orleans by Tuesday night. All that good road and
missed contacts have put us a day ahead of schedule and home is starting to be
on the horizon.
|
PS: It is morning now, we have to go find an unsecured connection so I can
send you this but it is raining steadily so golf is out. I hope we don't find
any more dirt roads, although I suspect we will and that could be a little
dicey. If you don't hear from me in a couple of days send out a search party
please, we'll be somewhere between Natchitoches and Baton Rouge. This stretch of
road is where they made the scene at the end of Easy Rider where Peter Fonda,
Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson all get shot by some country
boys....."cause they was hippies."
Day
18
Today we woke up to rain and lots of it. It reminded me of Louisiana....,oh
yeah, we are in Louisiana. In Natchitoches (pronounced Nakitesh) we fueled up at
our Wal-Mart du jour then drove around for awhile until we found an internet
connection. After doing my daily e-chores we found our way back to the Jeff and
were passing through downtown remarking about what a nice looking town Natchitoches
was when a lady waved us down.
She came up and asked if I was, "That guy
driving from Winnipeg to New Orleans?" She was excited when I told her that
I was. She told me that her mother had sent her a copy of the Times Picayune
from New Orleans with our story on the front page and she recognized our motorhome. Well we
had a great visit with Arlene who just happened to work for the Tourist Bureau
and she told us lots about the town.
|
Old
cash register still in use |
Arlene
Gould finding us in Natchitoches |
Gary and I couldn't get enough of Natchitoches
and I think if they would let him into the country he would move there. I said
that their main street looked just like the Quarter in New Orleans and Gary
said, "Only better." What a beautiful town! We missed their Christmas light up
by one day. We also discovered the best hardware store I have ever been in (tied
with the Northern Hardware in PG) and when you do your shopping on the Jeff trip
this place is a must. I bought the things that I haven't been able to get at my
local big box store.
|
Then it was out on the road passing through the Louisiana sugar cane and
cotton fields. I should add that the area we were in today is where my wife's
family is from and she has been doing a lot of genealogy research lately so from
what I can understand she is related to almost everyone in this very French part
of the state. I felt almost at home.
Following the Jefferson Highway took us to
a town called Melville where there is the last remaining, working ferry on the
Highway. Due to monetary restraints the ferry only operates for a few hours in
the morning and the same in the afternoon (during peak rush hours I guess) but
we were about an hour early. So we decided in order to make Baton Rouge while
still light we better not wait so we took the detour and continued on our way.
I'm pleased to say that all of the JH in Louisiana has some kind of pavement on
it so we didn't have to eat dust today.
We
made it to Port Allen (right across the Mississippi from BR) just as the sun was
setting and found a great park dedicated to another ferry that used to cross there
in the JH times. It has now been replaced by a couple of big bridges although I
could see the actual ferry is still sitting on the BR side.
|
Last
operating ferry on the Jeff in Melville (JH of far bank) |
After negotiating
the notorious Baton Rouge traffic and taking several wrong turns we finally
ended up at, you guessed it, Wal-Mart. We had been invited to spend the night in
the newspaper parking lot (The Baton Rouge Advocate) but we couldn't find it so
we just went to our traveling home. My daughter, Erin, attends school at LSU so
we went with her and a couple of her friends (all future doctors) to dinner at a
very nice restaurant catering mostly to college students. It was fun and great
to see some family.
Day
19
Today is the last day and it will be a busy one. Although we are only
about 3 or four hours from New Orleans on the Jeff (1 hour on the regular
highway) we have three more newspapers and a history group to see so it will
take all day. I am so looking forward to seeing my family and home. It's been
fun but it's almost over now. It is a beautiful sunny day so I expect it will
warm up because believe it or not it was colder in Baton Rouge last night than
it was in Winnipeg. The difference is that we can expect to see warm days back
again in a day or two not next May. Talk to ya'll tomorrow (southern for 'you
guys'). Mike
Day
20
WE'RE THERE!!! I am writing this the
next day. We made it all the way to the obelisk at the corner of St. Charles
Avenue and Common Street in downtown New Orleans last night. This update is
coming a little late today not because I can't find an unsecured wifi since I
currently have 5 bars of signal and I know the password to this 'secured'
connection called 'Home'. It's also not because I 'slept in' because I didn't, I
was awake and going by 6 am. It's not even that I don't know what to say because
I can think of a lot. No, it is because every time I go to put these words to
digits I get another email from Jefferson Highway friends and I go ahead and
answer it. Right now I'm ignoring my email, oops there goes my text messages on
my phone.
Jimmy
Swaggert's headquarters in BR |
Yesterday started in Baton Rouge with a press interview at the Advocate
the BR daily newspaper. They are located in one of the most impressive glass and
steel buildings that I have ever seen. Of course we commented on it and their
reporter told us that it belongs to Jimmy Swaggert. It's not quite on the
Jefferson Highway but the Baton Rouge country club is and that is where we went
for pictures. When we followed the photographer into the parking lot the
security guy nearly broke out in a rash. It is a real country club and we
weren't members. After talking nice to him and his boss and a few fridge magnets
later they loved us, the pictures were taken and we were back on the Jefferson
Highway.
|
In Baton Rouge it actually is The Jefferson Highway and it is a major
street that took us all the way back to the Mississippi River. There we hung a
left and followed the river all the way into New Orleans. We passed a lot of
heavy industry in this area. But hidden amongst the majestic Live Oak trees and
Spanish moss of Southern Louisiana, that were here long before the Jefferson
Highway, there is a lot of evidence of history. Historic plantation houses that
are museums to another bygone era are the biggest attraction here and well worth
the visit for Pine to Palm travelers.
We
did have another stop to make along the way in Laplace about 15 miles from the
end of the Highway. Jane Montz DesRoches had organized a welcoming party,
literally, for us. They were waving and taking pictures and enjoying the day
when we drove up and I knew we were close to New Orleans now. They presented us
with Newspaper articles about the JH from the 1920s, a framed label from the
very early Montz family farm and a pound cake (3 pounds cake) which may see one
more day if it's lucky. After a beverage, a meeting with L'Observateur from
Laplace, some great conversation it was back on the road and on to the final
destination, the obelisk (sounds like 2001, a Space Odyssey).
Laplace
welcoming committee. Mostly from the Montz family who pioneered the area |
Leah
and our son, Andrew, met us where River Road becomes The Jefferson Highway in
Metairie and rode with us the last few miles. Of course we got turned around
about 3 blocks from our destination by one way streets and construction but we
finally made it to St. Charles and Common where The Time Picayune was waiting
for us. Believe this or not there was a parking space or should I say a place to
stop right past the corner so we pulled the motorhome and car (trailer) into the
spot. I walked over and hugged that stone post because now we have done it all
the way. The photographer was snapping dozens of pictures and a bunch of
tourists were standing across the street and as soon as they realized that
something was going on they too started shooting pictures. Today one of those
pictures is in the Time Picayune along with another excellent article about the
Jefferson Highway so now those tourists will know what they were taking pictures
of. When we finished talking to Mark Waller, the reporter who wrote the original
story about the Jeff that got me interested, we headed home where I am right
now.
Thanks
for everything, I can't believe it's over (or just starting). I don't know what
to do with myself, I think I'll go have a beer. There may be an epilogue but I'm
going to have to let my brain cells quiet down for a couple of days first, maybe
go shopping for a new vehicle and just enjoy an absolutely cloudless day here in
New Orleans. We have friends coming in from Canada today, supper out with them
tonight, Leah's birthday tomorrow, Thanksgiving coming up and I'm feel'n good. I
know I'm going to have a beer. Talk to ya soon.
Mike
hugs the obelisk at the end of the Jefferson Highway |
Mike
Conlin
www.jeffersonhighway.com
|
