(45) Michael Dowling, A Most Inspiring Figure

Michael Dowling, a most Inspiring Man

July 8, 2017
Marshfield, Wisconsin to Montevideo, Minnesota

This morning was the third morning that we awoke in a motel. We have had some difficulty finding suitable campsites, and the weather does not always cooperate. Yesterday, for instance, we had planned to camp but at approximately 3 o'clock in the afternoon the heavens opened up. We were heading west on the Yellowstone Trail through Wisconsin and had to slow to about 35 miles an hour because of the heavy rain. Many other drivers simply pulled off the road and waited for the rain to subside. Perhaps I should've done so as well, but I was concerned about somebody from behind running into me.

After seeing how wet the rain had made things we decided to get a motel room. The funny thing was when we arrived in Marshfield, Wisconsin not only had the rain stopped, but the sky was clear and things were dried out. Oh well, the motel bed was nice and soft.

Wisconsin Farm

This morning we woke up and left Marshfield driving west towards Altoona, Wisconsin. Very soon, we found ourselves in the Dairyland that we had expected from the time we entered Wisconsin. The dairy farms were neat and orderly.

Back in Amish Country

We also found ourselves back in Amish country. We slow down several times for horse and buggies that shared the road with us.

Amish Traffic Jam

When we reached Altoona we spent a couple of pleasant hours with John and Alice Ridge.

John and Alice Ridge

John is the president of the Yellowstone Trail organization. He and Alice devote countless hours towards mapping the Yellowstone Trail and providing detailed information both on the website and in response to any and all questions. The maps on the Yellowstone Trail website are second to none. They are both detailed and easy to follow.

John and Alice just returned from a trip west to verify Yellowstone Trail alignments. Unfortunately the records of the Yellowstone Trail are not complete when it comes to highway alignments. John has gone out into the field and used his knowledge of the trail and his observations to provide more detailed records and maps. For John, being close is simply not good enough. John is a retired math professor and for him the answer is either correct or incorrect. I marvel at the knowledge that both he and Alice have of the Yellowstone Trail and other old highways. I'm also grateful for their hard work and determination.

Coffee and Kringle

After we talked old highways, we had the opportunity to socialize a bit over coffee and Kringle. Kringle is a delicate pastry that is filled with butter, brown sugar, and nuts. It is delicious with coffee.

After coffee we said goodbye to John and Alice and continued west on the Yellowstone Trail. We drove from Altoona to the Minnesota state line. We decided not to drive through Minneapolis, but instead skirted it on Interstate 494.

Norwood Minnesota

After escaping the Minneapolis Metropolitan region we rejoined the Yellowstone Trail, driving through Waconia, Glencoe, Olivia, Granite Falls and are spending the night at Lac qui Parle State Park where they raise voracious mosquitoes. The state park was overpriced and inadequate. The electrical hook up did not work. The mosquitoes, however, were working overtime and harassed us all night!

Michael Dowling

Dowling's Bank in Olivia, Minnesota

Dowling writing with only a thumb to hold his pen,

We stopped in the town of Olivia to take a look at the building that housed the bank owned by Michael Dowling. One of the things that I enjoy about studying old highways is the personalities behind the highways. Dowling was truly an inspirational and exceptional figure. During the blizzard of 1880 Dowling was riding on the back of a wagon and was bounced off the wagon and into a snow bank. The blizzard was such that the driver of the wagon could not hear Dowling's cries for help. Dowling stumbled around in the below zero temperatures before seeking shelter in a haystack. In the morning he found that his limbs were frozen. Two legs, one arm and four fingers on his remaining hand and arm were amputated. Despite this Dowling went on to be a successful figure in Minnesota politics, he was a successful businessman and he "blazed the Yellowstone Trail West to Yellowstone National Park and East to Plymouth Rock."

He was an inspirational speaker and told World War I amputees not to mourn on what they had lost but the focus on what they had. Dowling often said to friends: "Thank God I'm not a cripple"
We are camping tonight west of Olivia, and I can't help but think of Michael Dowling and what he accomplished and what he overcame.

(44) A Lush and Beautiful State,

July 7, 2017
Winthrop Harbor, Illinois to
Marshfield, Wisconsin

After a good nights sleep we awoke and drove the 50 yards or so to the border and crossed into Wisconsin.

We stayed on the old Yellowstone Trail which is on the Sheridan Road along the shores of Lake Michigan. We drove north to Kenosha, Wisconsin to have breakfast with Mark Mowbray,  the executive director of the Yellowstone Trail organization. It was great to finally meet Mark. I've talked with him several times by telephone and he is always been very helpful. When he discovered that I had left my magnetic door signs for the car in the Ranchero, in California, he loaned me his set. I will mail them back at the end of the trip.

Mark and I Transferring the "gang colors" to the Mustang.

After a great breakfast, Mark enlightened Linda and I about the Yellowstone Trail through Wisconsin. He also provided us with some publications which are available in Wisconsin and which gave detailed information about the trail in this state. This will be a great help as I do not have nearly as much information concerning the Yellowstone Trail as I have for the Lincoln Highway.

This was the first time I met Mark in person, but I felt like we were old friends. Mark's father owned the Yellowstone garage in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Mark grew up working in the garage alongside his dad. His dad encouraged him to go to college and Mark decided that was pretty good advice. Mark eventually earned a Masters degree and taught vocational education at the college level. After that he went to work for an engineering company for the rest of his career. Every summer Mark takes a long road trip, usually on the Yellowstone Trail, and he is very knowledgeable about the trail.  

After breakfast we made our farewells and then Linda and I continued north along the Yellowstone Trail on the shores of Lake Michigan. We viewed some of the Lakeside mansions in Kenosha and Racine. Kenosha was an automobile town. Most recently, Chrysler had a plant here which they acquired along with American Motors who made Rambler. American Motors came about from a merger of Nash and Hudson. Nash was once the Jeffery Motor Company. Now it is all gone.

Early Motel in Kenosha

Restored street cars run on a scenic 2 mile loop along

the shore of Lake Michigan. This one is painted

with a San Francisco "Muni" paint scheme.

One of several Lakeside Mansions

From Kenosha, we drove to Racine, Wisconsin. In Racine we looked at the statue of President and Mrs. Lincoln. This is the only statue of Mary Todd Lincoln known to exist. She had visited Racine in 1867 to check out schools for son Tad. She must have made a good impression.

President and Mrs. Lincoln

We then continued our way into Milwaukee. Here the traffic was not nearly as bad as what we had seen in Chicago and Cleveland. But I still didn't enjoy it.

The Streets of Milwaukee 

In Milwaukee we viewed the Basilica of St. Josaphat and also got a look at the world's largest 4-sided clock tower.

Basilica of St. Josaphat, Milwaukee. 

World's Largest 4 sided clock tower.

Milwaukee is also known as the cream city, not for milk, but for all the white bricks used on the buildings. These bricks are a result of the clays which have a unique composition result in a very good and unique white brick. They once were shipped from this region of Wisconsin all over the world.

From Milwaukee we continued on the Yellowstone Trail to Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In North Fond du Lac we viewed the Yellowstone garage were Mark Mowbray once worked with his father.

Former Yellowstone Garage in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

From Fond du Lac we drove to Oshkosh. Oshkosh is located in Winnebago County, on the shores of Lake Winnebago. As Fozzie Bear joked in the movie A Muppet Family Christmas, "If you're there in  winter you need to be take care that you don't freeze your Winnebago."                                                

Main Street, Oshkosh, Wi.

Oshkosh is known for more than bib overalls and children's clothes. It was also a great dairy distribution point. Products from Oshkosh were shipped from the Great Lakes to points all over the United States.

North Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

After Oshkosh we proceeded west. We diverted from the Yellowstone Trail and drove up to the small town of Hortonville to have dinner at Charlie's diner.

This diner was featured in a recent article in American Road Magazine. After dinner we continued driving west until we reached the town of Marshfield, where we spent the night.

(43) The Country and the City and many miles in between...

July 6, 2017
Cleveland Ohio through Chicago

Yesterday, we began our day near Cleveland Ohio. We finished in a motel in Illinois within a few yards of Wisconsin. We covered many miles and I broke a few of the rules that I established before starting this trip. The first rule broken had to do with the miles covered. This was to be a trip that was more about seeing things along forgotten highways than it was a trip about covering distance.

The thrill of motoring through Ohio!

However, conditions were such that the time seemed ripe for putting a extra miles on the odometer. In addition some of the cities we found ourselves traveling through simply did not seem that interesting. Finally, road conditions would not cooperate. At one point in Ohio, as we approached Indiana we were detoured 20 miles to the east, then south before we were able to cross into Indiana. This put us on the Interstate 20 or 30 miles away from the Yellowstone Trail.

A second rule that I broke that is probably related to the first broken rule, we drove long hours. That's necessary when you're covering a lot of miles. We began the day about 7:30 in the morning. We ended the day at about 7 o'clock at night. It was over twelve hours if you count the time change. We are also staying in a motel again, partly because we cannot find a suitable campsite and also because we're tired.

Chicago Traffic, towing a trailer and

this wasn't even the bad part!

A third rule that was broken was that we drove through the heart of a big city (Chicago) during rush hour. We had originally planned to skirt around Chicago just as we had skirted around Buffalo, Erie and Cleveland. But skirting around Chicago at a distance to avoid the Chicago traffic would have meant a much larger detour. In addition, I put Chicago in a different category than Buffalo or Erie. I really didn't want to miss it. I also forgot that Chicago is on central rather than Eastern time. I really thought we were entering the city 6:30 rather than 5:30. In any event, we made it and  peered through our windows at the sights. At least now most of the big cities and the horrific traffic are behind us.

One of the things we noticed was that many of the midsize cities which are experiencing rapid growth look much the same. They have the same stores in the same strip malls and the stores within those malls are in the same order. This is happening to Boise as well. The identity of the cities is being lost through a process of homogenization. This homogenization doesn't appeal to me. I travel and tour in order to see new things.

Gee, it looks a lot like the one in Boise, or was it Fort Wayne?

The outskirts of Fort Wayne look a lot like the outskirts of any number of other Midwestern towns, and all of them look very much like our hometown of Boise, Idaho. What always seems strange about these places is that the mayors and the chambers of commerce are forever putting out press releases about what a unique city they have. This is done while the leaders of those cities themselves are working feverishly to make their city look just like one of a hundred other cities. Along the way they pick up the same problems, the same crime and the same traffic.

In Indiana, the Lincoln and the Yellowstone cross

and even share the road at a couple of points.

In Indiana we found ourselves back on the Lincoln Highway, in Fort Wayne and again in Valparaiso. In between, the Yellowstone traveled south of the Lincoln. This is unusual, because in most places the Yellowstone is the northern route. The Lincoln travels a little south through the heart of the country.

Neighborhood along the Yellowstone Trail in Chicago.

The Yellowstone Trail Organization has a terrific online map. It routed us on or very close to the original Yellowstone Trail. This took us right through quiet neighborhoods, and even through the heart of Chicago! Most of the time the places we drove through had changed very much. Other times they had changed very little. It was all interesting to observe.

I've talked a lot about the big cities in the traffic, but these Yellowstone Trail maps have also routed us through some beautiful countryside and some terrific small towns and even some great medium-sized towns.

Ohio Art, once the home of Etch a Sketch

We were able to see the headquarters of the Ohio Art Company, where they used to make Etch-a-Sketch. Another observation is the passage of time. When you consider that our drive across Nevada was in a blizzard and that even in Pennsylvania when we were heading east we observed the new crops coming up, we now are observing the harvesting of wheat. We realize that we've been on the road quite a long time.

A change in the architecture

The  Prairie Style home

Harvest in Ohio

Waukegan, IL

Today we will continue into Wisconsin and then head west towards Minnesota. I'm hoping to slow down more and to view what I think will be the heart of the territory traversed by an old named highway.

Small town Motel in Ohio

(42) The Aesthetic Ideal

Window in Roycroft Inn, East Aurora, New York

Tuesday July 5, Syracuse New York to Cleveland Ohio

The Yellowstone Trail in Central New York

Today we awoke just outside of Syracuse, New York. I decided to skip driving into some of these large cities of the Northeast because I'm a trafficaphobe. I tell myself that there is little in these big cities that resembles the way they appeared in 1912 through 1927; which is when they would have been part of the Yellowstone Trail or Lincoln Highway. Since I've never really gone into these cities, I don't know if my assumption is correct or not. In any event we skirted the big cities of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Syracuse New York

I have quite a few antique postcards, however, and I've decided to include some here. The postcards represent the Lincoln Highway and the Yellowstone Trail that I am searching for. There are only shadows of the two highways that remain. I enjoy seeing the shadows, but I've really set myself up for disappointment as what I want to see is the scenes in the tinted postcards come to life. Since I couldn't take photos of cities I didn't visit, I've provided copies of a few old postcards at the end of this journal entry.

Barn in Central New York, along The Yellowstone Trail

We proceeded west from Syracuse through the rolling countryside of New York. This does resemble how it would have appeared in the early part of the 20th century. Not all of the East is urban. Not all of it is excessively crowded. We enjoyed a pleasant drive through the country today.

After getting past Syracuse we entered the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

One of the Finger Lakes of New York

We also drove past some beautiful homes that lined US Highway 20 and State Route 5 which alternate in representing the Yellowstone Trail in New York State.

We admired the Federalist style of homes that dated from the 1840s and 1850s. We also were captivated by the picturesque towns along the route. We sought to take pictures which would do them justice. That eluded us.

We came to Waterloo New York which is the birthplace of Memorial Day. Waterloo became the first city to recognize Memorial day, or Decoration Day as it was initially called.

Both the North and the South, very early on, sought to recognize their Civil War dead. It was in Waterloo, however, where there was truly an organized effort for an entire town to remember its war dead. The date chosen was May 30. Waterloo's effort was later recognized in a congressional resolution as well as a bill signed by President Johnson in the 1960s.

We left the Yellowstone Trail in order to avoid the traffic congestion in Buffalo and instead proceeded to alternate route US 20 further south.

This brought us to the city of East Aurora New York. While driving through East Aurora we recognized the Roycroft Inn.

Roycroft artisans, like Gustav Stickley, were prominent in the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century. The entire Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction to the opulent styles of the Victorian era with all their decoration and excess. The Roycroft movement was led by Elbert Hubbard who, like Stickley, urged his followers to adopt a more simple and natural lifestyle.

The trouble with adopting that simple and natural lifestyle, was that it can be very, very expensive. I think that to furnish a house with Roycroft furniture, pottery or copper ware, one would need to be a very successful, driven and highly paid Wall Street lawyer, a workaholic on the fast track. Living the simple life proves to be expensive.

Nonetheless, even though we can't  afford it, we appreciate it. We also appreciate its goals even as we recognize that they are incompatible with the prices charged for reproductions or for original pieces - antiques. They were expensive when they were made in the early twentieth century too.

Elbert Hubbard,
Founder of Roycroft

After leaving East Aurora we proceeded west towards Lake Erie. We stayed on State Highway 5 and drove along the shore of Lake Erie through the city of Dunkirk, New York.

Lake Erie, Dunkirk, New York

This technically was not the Yellowstone Trail. But it was nice to get a good clear view of Lake Erie and the weather favored us.

Near the Yellowstone Trail

We got back on Highway 20 and proceeded west into the tip (only 40 miles wide) of Pennsylvania and  then Ohio. When we reached Ohio, we left the US and State highways for the interstate. We recognize that we were cheating, but there really wasn't a lot to see here. We decided it would be better to make time and to use the time saved in the Midwest which is the heart of Yellowstone Trail country just as the Midwest and Pennsylvania is the heart of the Lincoln Highway.

We covered a lot of miles today and are sleeping tonight in a motel west of Cleveland Ohio.



Postcards From The Edge

Lafayette Square, Buffalo

Erie, Pa. Public Baths

Downtown Cleveland Ohio