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Wonderful Wyoming Part One: Eastern Highlights

January 24, 2014 by Cece

And now back to our regular travelogue posts…

While the weather outside is cold in a lot of places, I thought it would be fun to hearken back to warmer days of August.

After a break from the road in Colorado, I was eager to get back on the road and finish the tour. I had 3 performances in Wyoming (Laramie, Rock Springs, and Evanston), and they all proved to be amazing on so many levels.

Driving the route in Wyoming proved to be pretty fascinating as well. Similar to what Michael Grass noted in this post, I found sections of Wyoming not on the interstate to be more isolated than what I noticed driving in Nevada (so much for it being America’s “Loneliest Highway”). With Nebraska and Colorado, you know that you’ll run into towns/populations of people regularly along the route. In Wyoming, this all changes. You’re checking your gas tank with every town you drive through to make sure you might have enough, especially if you’re thinking of off-roading it. The sky and the road would blur together at times (especially in the Medicine Bow Loop), and there were times that I thought I was driving into the sky itself.

Here’s 10 favorite memories of Eastern Wyoming:

1) I spent most of my time in Laramie, and I have to say the people were so warm and lovely. My dear friend Jen was an instrumental person to this part of the tour, and I wish there were more people like her in the world. It was wonderful to have the chance to sing with her again, and I hope that if you are in Laramie you’ll get the chance to hear her sing.

2) The bullet holes in bar mirrors at the Buckhorn Bar.

3) Driving my first section of real interstate on this tour again (parts of the Lincoln are directly under I-80), and really feeling weird about it.

4) My interview on Wyoming Public Radio was a blast!

5) The Medicine Bow loop. Everything about this stretch of the road is remarkable. You will definitely get a taste of what it was like to drive the Lincoln 100 years ago in this part of the route.

6) The abandoned gas station at the Nebraska/Wyoming State Line (you can see a photo of it in my Western Nebraska Post).

7) That part of the Lincoln Highway is called “Otto Road”! It’s just west of Cheyenne.

8) Standing at Sherman Summit on the original route – the view was breathtaking.

9) Stopping at the Fossil Cabin and listening to the wind rumble across the land. The cabin is awesome, and again the view is quite beautiful.

10) I was granted permission to wander around the Virginian Hotel to check out and photograph the rooms freely. There weren’t many people around, so it truly felt liked I stepped back in time.

There’s plenty more I could list, but this should hopefully give you some highlights to look forward to when driving this stretch of the road. Now onto the photos!

Just outside of Cheyenne, the 1913 Lincoln Highway turns into what is now called “Otto Road”. I of course had to pose by the sign.

Here’s the famous Tree Rock, which is smack in the middle of I-80. Definitely a good stop along the route for you to stretch your legs.

The Ames Monument was built in 1882 by the Union Pacific Railroad. That black dot in the middle of the mounment is me standing at full height (I’m 5’10”).

From my list above, here’s the view of from Sherman Summit, the highest point on the Lincoln Highway. You can see the Lincoln Statue in the distance.

This Memorial to Henry Joy (one of the founders of the Lincoln Highway) was originally placed West of Rawlins at his favorite campsite. Due to vandalism, this monument was moved to Sherman Summit.

Here’s the famous Lincoln statue up close, with an LH marker in the foreground.

You read this right! Buford, WY is the smallest town not only along the Lincoln Highway, but in the nation as well.

Taking in the sights of Laramie, here’s a great old sign along the route.

Another sign not too far from the highway, which has seen better days.

This is St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Laramie, the highest Cathedral in North America. I am honored to say that I performed my concert here, and it was one of the best shows I did along the route.

Me at the the Buckhorn Bar in Laramie. If you look really closely in the reflection you’ll see a couple bullet holes in the mirror from an angry husband back in the early 70’s.

The Dinosaur Fossil Cabin was built in 1933, and is referred to as the World’s “Oldest” Cabin.

With the fossil cabin at my back, this is the view of the area around it. I can still hear the wind.

The Virginian Hotel became famous after Owen Wister wrote his novel “The Virginian” in 1902.

Hallway in the Virginian Hotel, preserved beautifully.

This is the Owen Wister suite, where “The Virginian” was written.

Love this old hotel buzzer. Remember, there’s no phones in these rooms, that’s how old they are!

The road met the sky here many times. It was lonely at points, but so beautiful.

Western Wyoming is up next, so until then stay warm and enjoy your weekend!

Cece’s First Visit to New Jersey

April 23, 2013 by Cece

I can’t honestly believe I’ve now been on the road with this tour for about ten days now. Some things feel like they happened weeks ago, other things seconds ago. No matter what the feelings I’ve had the last several days, the common denominator is this:

I have never been to New Jersey before. Ever.

This part of the trip is completely unfamiliar to me. Which makes everything that much more exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time.

I’d like to say that New Jersey doesn’t fulfill all of the stereotypes I’ve seen on TV all these years, but there’s a little truth to everything isn’t there? There’s both good and bad in everywhere you go, and no place is perfect. In my roughly 45 mile drive from Weehawken (right across from Manhattan) to Princeton, I saw a lot of things that fell into that nasty stereotype. I’ve driven in a lot of places around the world, and I can honestly say that I’ve seen more aggressive driving here than anywhere else I’ve ever driven-hands down. Those first 20 miles in New Jersey right outside of New York City were incredibly depressing and bleak. But on the other hand, Princeton, New Jersey is a beautiful college town. Lovely people and picturesque places make this well worth a stop if you venture out this way. I was lucky to be here when the all of the trees were flowering, and it just elevated the experience to a whole other level.

Driving this part of the Lincoln is not easy-you now have fair warning if you didn’t know it already. Compared to other states, it’s not as well marked. I relied on Jerry’s paper guide (see the previous New York post) and my GPS to tell me where I was. What dawned on me while I was getting lost in Newark was that 100 years ago, this would have been the main route for people to follow of just a handful of routes that existed. On some levels, it might have been easier to follow the road a century ago (that’s if you car didn’t break down).

On that note, I did have a minor emergency while in Princeton with my car. My trunk latch broke (eek), but luckily I was able to get it fixed right away (no rope needed). I guess everyone has a car story for their cross country road trip, let’s hope I got mine out of the way.

I finished driving through New Jersey yesterday afternoon, and am now in the Philadelphia area for the next week. Here’s some of my New Jersey pictures I wanted to share with you all. Enjoy, and keep finding the songs and roads wherever they take you!

View of Manhattan from Weehawken, New Jersey.

Picture of downtown Newark, on the 1913 route.

Phonograph collection at the Edison museum, Edison NJ. All of the records played too!

Tap Dancer — This Uncle Sam would tap dance while the 78 played-pretty cool!

Me, Andrew and Al — Me, Andrew Sotomayor (my accompanist for both the NY and NJ shows), and Albert Einstein at the Bainbridge House in Princeton, New Jersey.

LH Survey book — For all of the hardcore buffs out there, the Historical Society let me take a look at the Department of Interior’s Lincoln Highway Book.

NJ Lincoln Highway Marker — The only surviving Lincoln Highway marker in New Jersey is in Princeton, right across from the street by Carnegie Lake.

Front view of the marker — Front view of the LH marker.

Graffitti — This graffiti was on a shed right on Carnegie Lake. I thought it was quote that had to be shared.

Front of the Bainbridge House in Princeton, a house that has been standing since 1766. This is the building where I performed my concert on the 19th-what a great space to sing in!

Flowering trees — Flowering tree path. I found these trees while spending an afternoon walking around Princeton University.

Interesting building along the route in Trenton, NJ.

View of the Capitol building in Trenton NJ from the PA side.

Built in 1884, the Calhoun Street Bridge truly takes you back in time as you go across it. That 15 mph speed limit is definitely enforced-it’s one of the most narrow bridges I’ve been across in a car.

Bridge Signs — Signs posted when entering the bridge-all for good reason. I would definitely not want to bring a horse on this bridge, ha ha!

LH Sign — Lincoln Highway Sign on the PA side of the Calhoun Street Bridge.

Post-Conference Highlights and Reflections

July 4, 2011 by Cece

Happy 4th of July everyone!

So it’s been about a week since I last wrote, and my brain is still swimming from all of the things I learned at the Lincoln Highway Association conference. I did not come directly home after the conference, because of some other traveling I had to do. Now that I am home, I now have the time to write about all of my impressions of my first Lincoln Highway Association conference (you can read highlights of it all here on their website). I have photo highlights of Tuesday and Wednesday on this website in previous posts if you would like to see more photos.

Monday’s welcome dinner was quite a welcoming. The guest speaker was McAvoy Layne, who is “The Ghost of Twain”. He regaled us with Mark Twain’s first view of Lake Tahoe and the mishaps that ensued upon arrival. As a performer myself, I very much enjoyed how he engaged the crowd, but was genuine in his performance. For a first-time attendee like me (it was noted on my lanyard/name badge), the dinner also gave me a chance to meet new people and learn more about the association and the conference.

Tuesday’s tour of California was impressive. I’ve only been to San Francisco for a quick weekend trip, so I’ve never really explored the state. We started at our hotel in Stateline, Nevada taking the southern route of the highway along what would have been the pioneer route with stops along the way to Clarksville, CA. The view from Echo Summit was breathtaking. The paved road underneath my feet had been there to serve pioneers and motorists for a very long time, and it was humbling to think that people negotiated this road in worse conditions not very long ago.

The road near at Echo Summit — The road near Echo Summit.

The highlight of Tuesday for me was when the Hangtown A’s out of Placerville, CA treated us to a drive on the original Lincoln Highway roads in Model A cars through the ghost town of Clarkesville, CA. Here the road was only 14 feet wide in some places, and the texture of the road was not the smooth tarmac we are all used to. It was a conglomerate of stone and concrete. It is believed that Folsom prisoners laid this part of the Lincoln Highway. Driving along these roads in the heat of day (it was around 100 degrees), the speed of the car and sound of the horn all took you back in time instantly. Our driver Ernie was pretty “zen” with his 1927 Model A. It takes a delicate sensibility to know when to shift gears and when not to.

Driving along the old road, Clarkesville CA. — Driving along the original road, near Clarkesville, CA.

As we were part way along our drive, the car turned and we were on part of the road that had been updated and now paralleled Highway 50, the new alignment of the Lincoln Highway. Ernie commented on this, and I remarked about why they didn’t incorporate the old road in with the new road. Why did they build the new road right next to it? Ernie then said, “It was much easier to build a new road next to the old one. That way people could still get to where they were going without stopping traffic.”

This echoed some of the comments made on the tour that morning. There were still a couple of these old Lincoln Highway roads that could still be used if US 50 had to be shut down due to inclement weather. These older roads still provided a temporary safe pass through the Sierras.

For some reason, this thought hasn’t left me in the last week. Maybe this shows what generation or locale that I grew up in, but that never happens now. No one cares if you’re stuck on construction laden roads, that’s just the way life is. It was quite a “Kodak” moment to be moving along on the old road while watching the traffic and construction on the new road.

View of both US 50 and LH road — View of modern Lincoln Highway (US 50) while driving on original Lincoln Highway road.

Wednesday’s tour of the Nevada side proved to be just as memorable. Starting off at the Carson City museum, we were able to have a special tour of Coin Press #1 which was in use for many years all over the country. Being part of the conference, we were given a unique coin memento which was made from this very machine. This museum is a great museum with plenty of exhibits. We had two hours there, but I’m sure we could have spent the whole day there if we wanted to.

Next, we were off to Dayton, Nevada, which was settled around 1863. The Dayton Historical Society really pulled out the stops for us as we ate lunch and were able to walk the old part of the town freely for the afternoon. They were truly wonderful people. We were able to get a tour of the old firehouse/jail, and see the museum (which is in the old schoolhouse). The museum houses hundreds of items from the community and is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. One neat hidden part of the town is actually off main street. There is a rock wall next to the Union Hotel building, which is the remnants of an Overland Stagecoach Station, and was a Pony Express stop.

Overland Stagecoach wall — Overland Stage Station Wall, Dayton Nevada.

Thursday was seminar day and all of the speakers were wonderful. The two speakers that stood out for me and my upcoming travels the most were Bob Chase’s talk on his motorbike ride across the Lincoln Highway in a Piaggio MP3 in 2008, and the keynote speech by Craig MacDonald. Craig spoke about the evolution of US 50 historically, going back over 150+ years to talk about pioneers and stagecoach drivers including the infamous Charley Parkhurst (a female stagecoach driver who was the first woman to vote in the US). We surprised everyone when I came up on stage at the end to sing and lead everyone in an anthem fit for Charley. I have video of me singing, and it will be posted at a later date.

There are so many memories of this week, I could write a book on it. For a first time conference goer, it was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to the California and Nevada Lincoln Highway Chapters for their organization of such an awesome week. I also want to thank all of the other members who went out of their way to help me, give advice on my project, and just make me feel welcome to the organization overall. I look forward to communicating with all of you in the future.