Recap of the Lincoln Highway
It was an adventure - with libraries!
Had you heard of the Lincoln Highway before this summer?
I found a book about it at a national park last summer: The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate by Michael Wallis (author) and Michael S. Williamson (photographer). Before that, I had not heard of this Highway - and I’m someone who really like big driving trips, interstates, and other big projects.
The Lincoln Highway is the oldest interstate highway in this country, stretching from New York City to San Francisco. The planning and work for it started in 1913, and now it’s 3,140 miles long (according to the Federal Highway Administration). A rich guy, Carl Fischer, got some friends together and decided to build the Highway.
“He was an early automobile enthusiast who had been a racer, the manufacturer of Prest-O-Lite compressed carbide-gas headlights used on most early motorcars, and the builder of the Indianapolis Speedway. (In the 1920's he would be known as the promoter and builder of Miami Beach.) He believed that, "The automobile won't get anywhere until it has good roads to run on."
He began actively promoting his dream, a transcontinental highway, in 1912. On September 10, he held a dinner meeting with many of his automobile industry friends in the Deutsches Haus in Indianapolis, his home town. He called for a coast-to-coast rock highway to be completed by May 1, 1915, in time for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The project would cost about $10 million, he said. "Let's build it," he told the group, "before we're too old to enjoy it!"“
What was driving across the country like in the early 1900s? Well, you had to be tough! Way tougher than I am, for sure. Check out this excerpt, again from the FHA:
“At a time when a service infrastructure to support the automobile did not exist, the guide urged motorists to buy gasoline at every opportunity, no matter how little had been used since the last purchase. Motorists were advised to wade through water before fording it with their vehicle and to avoid drinking alkali water ("Serious cramps result"). Firearms weren't needed, but full camping equipment was, especially west of Omaha, Nebraska. The guide advised motorists to select camp sites early ("If you wait until dark you may be unable to find a spot free from rocks"). Equipment needed included chains, a shovel (medium size), axe, jacks, tire casings and inner tubes, a set of tools, and, of course, 1 pair of Lincoln Highway Pennants. In view of the mud the motorist could expect to travel through, the guide offered one bit of practical advice without further comment: "Don't wear new shoes."“
After I got that book, I spent some time flipping through the pages, looking at all the photographs. Several years ago I drove the Lewis and Clark Trail, visiting all the libraries along the way. (I wrote an article about the libraries, Public Library History on the Lewis and Clark Trail, to share some of the great things libraries were doing.) I knew I would have some time available this summer, and had been thinking about a big road trip.
But I had been thinking about Route 66! Everyone has heard of it, in a big contrast to the Lincoln Highway. Even in places I was driving through that were right on the Highway, people often didn’t know what I was talking about. (I was in more than one library, where I had to point “it’s that street right in front of your building” to puzzled people!) And, as I said when we all stopped in a few weeks ago, I grew up in Springfield, IL - Route 66 goes right through it. So it feels familiar.
But, maybe in a future year. Because the Lincoln Highway caught my imagination, and I became determined to make it happen.
I left home on this trip the day after our school’s graduation, May 11, 2024, with The Husband. We headed down to Georgia, so we could get him started on hiking the southern half of the Appalachian Trail. I hung out in Georgia for about a week, then bolted across the country on I-40. That was a very long two and a half days of driving, and I worked through several audiobooks.
And then I was in San Francisco, at the Western Terminus of the Highway. It’s more usual to go NYC to SF; but it worked better for my schedule to move East - and after doing it, I think that was the better direction. You start a little slower, and pick up speed on all the Highway things you find, so you have a chance to get used to it all.
This is where I started: the Western Terminus. This was a beautiful spot, with easy parking. I had seen a lot of pictures of this post, so I was very excited to hop out of the car and zip over to it. We’re overlooking a lovely golf course, and if you turn around there is an amazing art museum: The Legion of Honor. (On my visit to the museum, I started my tradition on this trip of being the one you could pick out of a crowd in a museum, if you were asked to identify the person who was clearly road-trip-trash! At least I had more fun here than at the Frick, and I had a lovely lunch sitting outside.)
I drove the Loneliest Highway in America, across central Utah. (I listened to the Stephen King book set there while zooming along, which may or may not have been a great idea!) I visited the center point of the Highway, the spiritual half point at least if not in reality, in Kearney, Nebraska. I did a side quest to Springfield, IL, and visited a variety of Lincoln sites in his hometown. I had that interesting trip to the Frick museum. I had a momentous day of visiting both Philly and NYC.
I slept in tents, in the car, in cheap hotels (only one truly scary one!), in nice hotels, and in a motor court. I saw zero bears, but I spent several nights in my hammock, without a tarp but with the bug net, looking at hundreds of fireflies lighting up the forest around me. I slept in the car one night while it poured rain and flooded my tent. (And was proud of my foreshadowing that this was going to happen!) I encountered severe thunderstorms, hail, tornados, and floods. I slept in hotels that had air conditioning, so very grateful not to be camping while it was over 100 degrees; and was still over 90 degrees at 9pm. I slept in my hammock when it was 90 degrees still at 9pm, and survived it. (A cooling gel cloth and portable desktop fan really helped!)
I visited 72 libraries! On the one hand, that feels like a lot of libraries to visit in less than two months. And on the other hand, it felt like there should have been more visits. I guess my perception is somewhat skewed, because I spent thirty minutes to an hour in each one so it felt like a LOT of library time. And I was occasionally popping into other libraries off the Highway to do work in their Wi-Fi, but I didn’t count them because they weren’t part of my arbitrarily designated population of libraries on the Highway.
I visited 30-ish museums, historical societies, and other interesting places across a range of interests. One of the most surprising things for me is that apparently I’ve become a car person! Well, I continue to not care about cars in general; I’ve had no interest in them my entire life and that hasn’t changed. But I’ve now been to probably a dozen museums or exhibits of old cars, and I kind of get it. A nice mixture of archival ideas (right in my professional wheelhouse!) and history and cool things people have built - all things I do enjoy.
I saw the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. (Not quite on the Highway, but close enough that I couldn’t resist!) I saw some amazing and beautiful art. I saw J. C. Penny’s house and first store! (I didn’t even realize before this trip that he was a real person!) I saw pioneer propaganda that made me really uncomfortable. I visited old military forts that reminded me some of the laws of this country were not, and are still not, always aimed at justice as much as they are at keeping people impoverished and powerless. I saw history and science across many museums, including the Strategic Air Command museum. (I was practically born there!)
Everywhere I went, I had maps open to look for Lincoln Highway items and memorabilia. I even got to email back and forth with the LH Association web person, when a glitch happened with their map. (It was cool to be helpful in real time - kind of like a librarian!) I read a ton of historical monuments and signs, and learned about so many people who contributed to this piece of our country’s history.
It was amazing. I spent time being dazzled by everything I saw. I was tired. I was mad. I wanted to sit in my hammock and not talk to anyone for days. I had someone open their front door, way out in the countryside of Pennsylvania, and release their dog - who ran at me, barking angrily, when I stepped out of my car to see a monument. I wanted to never visit a library again. I wanted to see fifty more. I saw so many wonderful libraries. I talked to so many wonderful library people. I saw beautiful art in museums, and painted on the sides of buildings.
It was everything that could have happened over two months of travel, and that was perfect.
One of the best things about stepping out of your daily routine is your perception of time. I find it hard to believe this was only two months. It really felt like I have spent months and months searching out everything Lincoln Highway themed. I’ve noticed this even on weekend trips: when you are doing new things, unique things, things you haven’t seen and done before, your perception of time passing slows way, way down. (Research agrees with me on this; I’m not the one who originated the idea!) Most of what I saw this summer was new to me, and the resulting opportunity to have every day feel like two or three days was pretty great.
Here is where it ended! This is the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway. It would have been nice to have a niftier sign to memorialize this excellent moment, and I think there was one at some point. But there was a lot of construction on this block. And if you read yesterday’s article about NYC, you have a sense of how many people are zooming around here. So, I grabbed a couple of pictures and was satisfied with that. (I did want to start shouting about how I just finished driving the Lincoln Highway. And it was not only New York but also Broadway - so I could have been overlooked as just another weirdo on the street. But my Midwestern genetics prevented me from making a scene.)
I didn’t keep track closely, but with assorted side trips added in, I drove about 15,000 miles this summer. Of course, I drove across the country on the Highway. But I also drove across the country to get started (Georgia to California). And if you count driving from MN to Georgia, then West Virginia (where I’m picking up The Husband) to MN, along with zipping from Utah to MN to go to my library conference and then back to Utah - it was a lot. Thanks to Enterprise for my two rental cars!
I’m sending in my passport from the Loneliest Highway, to get my certificate that says I survived it! And I’m sending in my information to the Lincoln Highway Association, to let them know I drove the entire Highway. I should get a nice certificate for that too! I’m pretty excited to get them; because this was a big adventure!
I wanted to be sure that I said thank you to all of you who have been reading along with me. I started doing these posts mostly to help me keep track of everything for later review and research work. And then I started hearing from people I haven’t seen in a long time, as well as people I see regularly in my at-home life. It was so great to hear from colleagues and students, to get caught up with the wonderful things they are doing. And I heard from strangers, who stumbled across these notes here and on LinkedIn. I was surprised that anyone else cared about my trip, that sounded objectively kind of silly even to me. But I was touched and appreciated your kindness!
And I especially wanted to say thank you to all the library people, who were so kind and so nice about it when a traveling librarian popped up in their library asking a bunch of nosey questions. It was wonderful to see so many awesome library people, and to admire so much fantastic library work!! I’ll be happily busy with collating the data on this for MONTHS to come! (rubbing my hands with glee here)
(And to the few library people who were…not helpful when I showed up - I roll my eyes at you, and hope I caught you on a bad day. Do better, people. We’re libraries; we need to be awesome.)
And this is not the end! Tomorrow is the first report from Virginia, with a few more to come! Then I’m off to San Diego for a library conference. And a teaching conference back in Minnesota right after that. And another conference presentation in September.
AND!
I found out that I was accepted to give a presentation about this trip at the Minnesota Library Association annual conference in October! (time and date TBD) I was surprised and pleased about that as well!!! If you had been considering attending the conference, show up and you can give your insights as an at-home participant in the trip. :)
So there is more travel to share. And once I’m safely back in my library (I miss you, library!!!), I’ll be starting to work through the surveys, and to pull together some ideas to share. Hopefully I’ll have more publications to share, and some conferences to attend with this trip research.
Stay tuned. And thank you for your interest!
And please: be inspired to do your own adventure! This one was bananas; but even an afternoon of adventure is good for you. It’s probably easier than you think it’s going to be. Feel free to reach out to me any time for trip thoughts - I’m (clearly) filled with them!