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Journeys in Vintage Music with Cecelia Otto

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Bricks, bricks and more bricks! Exploring Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska

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“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”  –Jack Kerouac

With the nearing centennial celebration coming up this weekend in central Nebraska, the highway came to life on a whole other level as soon as I crossed the border. From billboard signs to little Lincoln highway signs taped to telephone poles, the whole state is “Thinkin’ Lincoln” and rightfully so. This past weekend, hundreds of cars of varying ages, makes, and models left both San Francisco and New York City and are heading this way right now. While I’ve certainly longed for this weekend and to see my fellow LHA Members for the conference next week (it will be amazing on so many levels), I have to admit it’s been a little weird to see the metaphorical “wrinkles smoothed over” of the towns I’ve been going through in the last couple days. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see all of the changes and celebrate the highway, but I also wonder what the towns look like when there are no celebrations going on. Are there many Lincoln Highway signs up, or would one get lost trying to find everything? It’s something to think about.

The photos in today’s post are from Scranton, Iowa all the way to Central City, Nebraska. Landscapes start to change from corn fields to rolling hills. The city of Omaha breaks up the highway’s routine of being sleepy and quaint. You drive parallel to a major train route, and you see trains coming and going constantly. Traffic is busier than you would think as it’s still a major thoroughfare for the area. Roads are narrower (with minimal to no shoulder) to keep their historic integrity in some parts, which makes it tricky to drive when it’s super windy as I experienced. You’ll see a TON of brick roads that have been preserved by various communities that I passed through, and it’s interesting to see how different the bricks look in each place.  My favorite finds below are the following (and you’ll see pictures of all of this below):

1) The Village of Boys Town – This place is a must stop for you if you take the original route. They do amazing work, and there are several places that visitors can tour. It’s an important part of the highway’s history (as well as US history) that I fear may be overlooked at times.

2) Elkhorn Brick Road Stretch: You’ll find this west of Boys Town. 3.5 miles of a perfectly preserved brick road including signs, markers, and bridges.

3) The “Avenus of Trees” in Duncan: In the heart of Duncan you’ll see two rows of trees which used to flank the original route.

4) Gardiner Station Section: This can be found in between Duncan and Silver Creek, and here you’ll see an iron truss bridge with a wooden plank floor in amazing condition.

The next week will be crazy for me blogging-wise as I have performances in several places over the next 8 days including: Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte, and Sutherland Nebraska. I will post in real time when I can on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, so if you want to check in to see how things are going until the next blog post you can visit me there. Until then everyone, safe travels wherever you may and have a Happy 4th of July weekend!

The Reed/Niland Corner: One of Best Places to Experience Highway History

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It’s hard to believe this, but I’ve now been on the road touring and performing along the Lincoln Highway for three months. I’ve got three more months to go still, and it’s times like these when you need to regroup and recharge. This is where the historic Reed/Niland Corner comes into play.

I’m a firm believer that history is alive all around us, and appears in so many different ways, not just in books. At this part of the route in Colo, Iowa it’s so alive you really feel it. Built at the intersection of the Lincoln and Jefferson Highways (more on the Jefferson Highway shortly), this corner of the world saw a heavy amount of traffic. So much so, that back in the early 1920’s, Charlie Reed built a gas station. The Reed and Niland families quickly built a lunch stand which turned into a café later, and then also turned a makeshift campground into more permanent lodging for travelers. This area became one of the first if not the first place where you could get everything in “one stop”. It also quickly became one of the first places along the route that was open 24 hours as well!

As noted in my previous post, the Lincoln paved the way for other auto trails to be created throughout the country. The Jefferson Highway was the 14th route to be created after the Lincoln Highway, was the first North-South Transcontinental Route, and was named after founding father Thomas Jefferson. It was built in 1915 and runs from Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana (it contains states which were involved in the Louisiana Purchase). To quote a Colo local, “It’s the only place where Lincoln and Jefferson actually do meet!” It is also called the “Palm to Pine Highway” to note the change in the trees along the route.

I still have several states to go on this tour, but I do have to say this part of the highway holds a special place in my heart. It truly feels like a home away from home, and I can’t say that about your average hotel and/or restaurant chain. You can’t get gas here anymore, but you can still stay in the restored Colo Motel and eat at Niland’s Café. If you can swing it in your travels, you should try to stay here at least one night so you can experience what this place is like, eat a meal, walk the grounds, and see all of the interpretive plaques and exhibits so you can learn about this place fully. You won’t regret it.

I again will put up some photos of this place, but know that the photos don’t do justice to how beautifully restored this area is.

For a more in-depth video of this historic corner, check out this great video on YouTube:

I’ll be hitting the road tomorrow so there will be a couple days where I won’t be writing much, so have a great first weekend of summer everyone and I’ll talk to you soon!

The Jefferson Bell Tower Festival Plus Sightseeing in Greene & Boone County

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There’s a bunch of pictures in this post, so I won’t write much here. What I will say was I had a wonderful time a being a part of Jefferson’s Bell Tower Festival. I performed both at the opening ceremony on Friday night, as well as a regular performance on Saturday afternoon. Another first for this tour was that I performed as part of a church service on Sunday in Grand Junction, Iowa. The minister said a few words, and then let me perform!

I also got a chance to hang out with a lot of great Iowa Lincoln Highway Association folks during this time, including Bob and Joyce Ausberger, Bob and Janet Owens, Dean and Jeannie Parr, John Fitzsimmons and many more! One beautiful day after the festival was done, the two Bob’s and Joyce took me on a driving tour of Greene and Boone Counties, and I learned more about bridges in one day than I had in my lifetime.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but if anyone has any questions about the pictures feel free to ask in the comments below. Thanks!

Summary of Eastern Iowa Highlights (Including a Special Trip to Belle Plaine)

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The modern Lincoln Highway Association had its rebirth in Iowa, and for good reason – many of the historic roads and places on the route are still unchanged and/or in use today. Agriculture is still the prominent industry along the route as it would haven been across the nation a century ago. The road has been categorized as a “Heritage Byway” by the state, and the signage here is excellent. You even have the options to take special loop sections along the original gravel routes to really get the old experience of what the route would have been like long ago.

My travels in Iowa thus far on the original route have been tricky. Due to the excessive rain in the state, many low-lying areas and rivers have flooded, and this includes some of the original gravel stretches in Eastern Iowa. Now normally I wouldn’t balk at a little water on the road, but when it has a current running through it, I didn’t want to take the chance. Between the Iowa mud (known as “gumbo”) and the rain travelers faced on the Lincoln Highway 100 years ago, I can see why many travelers turned back at this point.

Before I left Illinois, I received an unexpected but very cool phone call. A 94 year old man by the name of John Schild (known as “Dick” by most), heard of what I was doing. He then asked if we were related, as he had a cousin with the last name of “Otto”. I told him I wasn’t sure, but between us being possibly related, what I was doing for my project, and just exchanging general pleasantries, I had an invitation to visit and tour Belle Plaine, Iowa with John who had spent his whole life in town watching the Lincoln Highway grow and change before his eyes.

I spent about whole day touring the whole city with him, plus I had the pleasure of also having lunch at the Lincoln Cafe and afternoon conversation with him and Bill Sankot, the owner of the Sankot Garage, a place that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The intermittent rain that day facilitated some of the deepest conversations I’ve had on this tour thus far. Back in the heydays of the highway, men would gather at the garage to talk about the news of the day. This particular gloomy Wednesday in June, a 94 year old (Dick), a 60 something year old (Bill), and a 30 something year old (me) sat in the same garage and talked for hours about any and every topic you can think of in society. What did I (Cece) think of the country’s future? Are computers really the downfall of human society? If you could have one modern thing to take back with you a 100 years ago, what would it be? Take these questions and sprinkle in fun stories and anecdotes from our lives (including a few famous people), and you have an amazing, living aural history right in front of you. By the time my day had come to a close my brain was swimming with so much information, I was relieved I had recorded about 80% of our conversations that day.

Before you check out all of the cool photos in the picture gallery below, here’s a couple websites that give more information about the pictures below.

1) Belle Plaine Museum: This museum is quite a find for the area, and has several wonderful collections. A must stop for any Lincoln Highway buff.

2) Youngville Café: Built in 1931, this was a fully functioning gas station, café, and small cabin court along the highway until the late 1960’s. It too is also on the National Register of Historic Places, and now is open a couple days a week for lunch.

And now onto the gallery!

There’s more posts about Iowa after this one, so subscribe to read more!

Living Gluten Free While on the Lincoln Highway

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While I post mostly about the sights and experiences along the Lincoln Highway, I want to talk about something that unifies all of us humans, and that’s food. Food defines us as a culture and some of our best memories come through the food we’ve made and eaten over time. For those of us who have food sensitivities, journeys like the one that I’m on can be intimidating. Since 2002, I’ve lived a gluten and dairy free lifestyle for medical reasons (there are more sensitivities than this, but these are the big 2 for me). 11 years in the gluten/dairy free world, and so much has changed. I never thought I’d be able to eat pizza in public again, but there are restaurants that make gluten free pizza with non-dairy cheese! Awareness has grown so much just even in the last couple years, rural America knows more about food allergies than ever before.

I’m currently in Iowa, about halfway time-wise on my tour (three months so far, and three to go), so I feel like I can speak about the pluses and pitfalls about living on the road with multiple food allergies. I’ll be honest, I’ve been sick a few times from food I thought was safe that really wasn’t safe (those places will not be mentioned in this post), BUT there’s a lot of great “mom-and-pop” places along the route that are way more accommodating to food-savvy folks like us than typical chain restaurants. As people are becoming more aware about what’s in their food, local diners (especially in the heartland) will source more and more ingredients from people they know. The retro diner that looks like it will have nothing to eat might actually have something that’s okay for you. The owner or owner’s daughter might have Celiac disease, and whoa, the whole kitchen is dedicated gluten free.

There’s tons of people and bloggers who have written about how to travel safe while on a restricted diet, and there’s a lot of great tips out there. I won’t be overly repetitive about what they’ve said, but I will tell you a few things that have worked for me.

1) Bring your own food

In a future post you’ll see how I packed for a 6 month trip (it’s not as easy as it looks), but I can tell you I packed and re-packed my “safe food” stash to have with me when I wouldn’t have access to food. Having food that’s shelf-stable is key for a six-month journey, and then supplementing with local produce/deli is crucial.

A huge plus with a growth in gluten free awareness is that I’ve been able to find and buy loaves of GF bread from reputable companies in grocery stores that were in the middle of nowhere. Amish and Mennonite areas even have gluten free sections now in their stores, as people in their populations have Celiac disease as well. Brands like The Gluten Free Bar, Schar, and Kinnikinnick make shelf stable products (many with non-GMO ingredients), and GFree Connect provides care packs that have sample sizes which are perfect for travel.

2) Bring extra supplements

Those of you who have a specialized diet probably have a supplement routine to keep yourself healthy, including vitamins and digestive enzymes. I am NOT a medical or health professional, so this section can and should be tailored to what’s best for you. If you eat something that makes you sick, remember your body needs an extra “nudge” to get better, especially while dealing with the stress of traveling. When I did get sick from food, the key was hydration, rest, and taking extra supplements. I am happy to report that after three months on the road, I’ve been food sick only and not other types of sick (knocks on wood). I realize getting sick from food is not great, but I feel the need to celebrate small victories where I can. My supplements have helped me cope with the changes in climate, time zones, and weird schedules without getting even a single head cold. Either way, follow the advice of your health care practitioner no matter what I’ve written here, and if your symptoms are severe while on the road seek medical attention immediately.

3) Do Your Homework Before, During and After Your Trip

Anyone who lives this way knows your work is never done in regards to keeping optimum health. You’re always reading labels, looking at menus online, and calling restaurants in advance of your arrival to make sure everything is safe. If you have a smartphone, use those apps that will help you find what you need. For me, Find Me Gluten Free and Yelp have been a godsend and extremely crucial for my trip so far. I’ve been able to locate and read reviews of restaurants and grocery stores (again I like to give my money to local communities, not chains if possible) and use them to my benefit. When in doubt, don’t eat there!

4) Consider Alternative Housing Arrangements While on the Road

This tour has been a grassroots tour from the get-go, and that means I’ve relied on the kindness of strangers to give me a couch/bed to sleep on. One of those components of finding people to stay with is through CouchSurfing. With CouchSurfing, you can create a profile and note your food allergies. You can either be a host to people, or people can host you. Depending on where you are going, you can find people who can accommodate your lodging and dietary needs (i.e. cross-contamination free kitchens) plus get a local’s perspective of the community you are traveling through. Air Bnb also has affordable accommodations as well that might have kitchens where you can cook your own food as well.

Below is a few snapshots of some of my positive food experiences. I couldn’t put the web links to the restaurants in the pictures, so click below on the name of the place if you want to learn more about them.

Grandma’s Grotto

Little E’s Pizzeria

Mad Mex

*I was not compensated by any places or companies above to endorse their product(s). Please read all labels and menus before consuming any food to make sure it’s right for you.

Illinois Lincoln Highway Highlights (outside Chicagoland)

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I’ve lived in Illinois for several years, and have driven the Lincoln Highway in these parts a few times. As noted in the previous post, navigating the highway is very easy to do in this state thanks to its excellent signage. There’s some memorable points along the route that one should check out once the traffic of Chicago is far behind you, and these are my personal highlights of this last trip in Western Illinois.

1) The Loveland Community House

George and Emma Loveland lived in Dixon, Illinois their whole lives, but traveled extensively. When they both passed away, they noted in their will and testament that all of their estate funds and belongings from their travels would be donated to the city of Dixon. With this endowment, a museum and community center was built that has continued to serve the community in a number of ways. The museum has one of the most eclectic but fun collections I’ve ever seen (it also includes donations from other Dixon Locals too), as well as meeting rooms and a huge auditorium. I performed my 3rd Illinois concert here and it was a fantastic show. You can see video of some of the songs from this performance on my new YouTube page.

2) The John Deere Historic Site

While this site is not on the Lincoln Highway (it’s about 5 miles from Dixon in Grand Detour), make the journey to visit this place. Between the Archeological Site, the resident Blacksmith doing demonstrations, the gardens, and the original home, you will really get a wonderful, interactive glimpse into life in Grand Detour in the early to mid 1800s.

3) City of Dixon, Illinois

For a population of 16,000, Dixon has a lot going on! The biggest claim to fame is that Ronald Reagan spent his boyhood here, and you can tour this home as well as follow the Reagan Trail. There’s a lot of Lincoln Highway sights here too (see in pictures below), plus there’s five gorgeous state parks all within a short driving distance of the highway.

4) De Immigrant Windmill, Fulton Illinois

Who knew an operating Windmill was in Western Illinois? Originally built in the Netherlands, disassembled and shipped to Fulton. They process 5 different grains in this mill (depending on how the wind is that day), and you can buy it on site. Check out the Windmill Cultural Center next door too, you can see really intricate models of dozens of different types of windmills from all over the world.

Other Lincoln Highway related sites include the Lincoln Highway Association Headquarters in Franklin Grove, IL (they’ve got so much cool stuff there, make sure you have a whole afternoon to check it out), plus the seedling mile in Malta, IL (right in front of the community college). There’s plenty of things to see and do along the route in the “Land of Lincoln”, you easily could do multiple trips.

Here’s a few snapshots of all of the places that I’ve mentioned, plus a couple extra surprises :-) – Enjoy!

Up next, I’ll be taking a break from my road reporting and doing a special surprise post, so stay tuned to see what it is!

Indiana and Suburban Chicago Highlights

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You know how you feel an unexplained change in energy when you cross a state line or a huge body of water? I felt that leaving Ohio and crossing into Indiana. Some of that was because of its own familiarity (I’ve been based out of Chicago for the last several years and have driven some of these sections before), but I truly think there’s a shift in how the Lincoln Highway’s route changes. I’m grouping Indiana and Suburban Chicago (aka “Chicagoland”) together, not because filling out a blog post, but because the route in this point has its own “feel”, and once you get outside of Chicagoland, the feel changes again.

Once you get outside of Fort Wayne, there are two completely different routes that you can take through the the state of Indiana. Both routes are recognized by the Lincoln Highway Association, and each has their own charm. I took the 1913 route since this is the Centennial of the road mostly, but did drive parts of the final road alignment from the late 20’s. I will be honest, the signage along either route is not great, and I often got lost driving around these parts. The route recently acquired a “National Byway” status, and I hope that the signage in these parts does change quickly.  In the meantime, there are turn-by-turn guides you can see on the Indiana Chapter’s website, and I strongly recommend using them. The route becomes one unified route in Valparasio, and then it mostly follows US 30 until the border. Once you cross into Illinois, the signage becomes much better for the route, and you can easily drive the Lincoln without additional help. There’s some major old roads that intersect with the Lincoln Highway of note, and those are the Dixie Highway and Route 66. There’s some neat things at these intersections, which you will see in the Photo Gallery below.

I did three performances in Indiana and in Chicagoland, and each one went very well. My performance at The Music Village in South Bend was probably the most memorable one. This organization is “a community musical arts alliance, that celebrates music and cultural expressions rooted in the traditions of diverse local and global communities in the heart of downtown South Bend, Indiana. This is a place where young and old, beginners and advanced players, and people from various cultures and traditions come together to create music, experience dance and learn from each other.” I really had a wonderful time performing there , and would love to perform there again. If you live in the area, I would definitely check out what they have to offer.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for, here’s a few pictures from this stretch of the road I thought I’d share with you. I’ll be talking about the rest of Illinois in my next post. Enjoy!

Western Ohio Highlights (including the J&M Trading Post)

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When I was visiting with New York Director Jerry Peppers at the beginning of this tour, he handed me a postcard with a red building on it. He said, “If you can swing it, stop by this place. Nancy and Joe are lovely people and they are true fans of the highway.”

The J&M Trading Post Antique Shop lies about 20 miles West of Mansfield, Ohio. Built in 1830, it has been store of some type in continuous operation ever since its opening and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is an antique store full of wonderful things as well as Lincoln Highway souvenirs (Note that if you are thinking of making a visit here, you should call them beforehand; they open the place by appointment only). But what makes this stop special is the people who have taken care of the place all of these years – Nancy and Joe Everly.

From the time I was greeted to the time that I drove away, Nancy and Joe became my family to me for that hour I spent at the store. When I told them who I was and what I was doing along the route, Nancy said, “I know who you are! I saw you in the paper yesterday!” She brought down a big box of vintage sheet music for me, and I looked through it. Whatever music I wanted, she said I could keep it and take it with me. We laughed over all of the crazy song titles from the time like “You Can’t Get Along With’em or Without’em, You’ve Got to Have Them, That’s All!” and “Take Your Wife to the Movies (If She Won’t Make Love at Home)”. In that short visit, I found my new “old friend” along the road. Definitely take the time to stop here, it will be worth the trip.

The rest of my time in Western Ohio was pretty much spent in Lima relaxing with an old friend, as well as exploring the Allen County museum in the city. I did take pictures of murals and markers in Crestline, Bucryus, and Delphos, which are all below in my latest photo gallery. Enjoy!

The road beckons! My next post will be about my performance in Indiana as well as photos from the road both in Indiana and in Eastern Illinois (which is part of “Chicagoland” as it’s called). Until then, have a good weekend!