A Blog Along The Lincoln Highway

The fastest, most direct route from Sacramento to San Francisco would be along I-80 past Davis and Vacaville, through Vallejo and Berkeley to the Bay Bridge, a route that Butko identifies primarily as “3rd Generation” Lincoln Highway. We decide we will be historic for one last time and follow the path (if not the pavement) [...]

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OK. We drive the last few blocks of California Street, heading directly west, (starting to smell the Pacific?) counting the cross streets till we get to 32nd Avenue. It’s a stately and impressive residential neighborhood. And 32nd makes a T when it gets to El Camino del Mar. We turn left and immediately see the [...]

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We drive slowly uphill into Lincoln Park. The twilight is fading fast. It’s misty and foggy. We see people playing golf, walking in the park, we assume we’ll drive up to the top of this hill and easily find the concrete marker that proclaims this as the official end of the Lincoln Highway. The Terminus. [...]

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We had booked rooms for tonight in the Pacific Heights Inn, a convenient non-chain old-style motel on Union Street where we’d stayed in San Francisco twelve years ago while making our first two PBS programs: “An Ice Cream Show” and “Shore Things.” Bob had written it down because it was so unusual to find such [...]

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I meet Bob and Jarrett at 8 am, and it’s still a bit foggy outside. I explain that I’m going to skip breakfast, maybe grab a donut and coffee in the office, and work in my room for a while on this blog. Blogging is a new job on the road, and I’m trying to [...]

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All afternoon Jarrett does a lot of the driving. Driving fast. When you’re flying down the interstate, you’re removed from almost all that’s interesting, all that’s everyday, all that’s unique and personal and wonderfully funky about America, except the glorious landscapes. And we’re still out west, so it’s not too ordinary for us Pennsylvanians. We’re [...]

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We’re up early. Bob and Jarrett have the van packed and ready for my suitcase by the time I open my motel door. We all want out of here. But first we walk over to the Days Inn for the low-rent free breakfast. We each eat a bowl of cereal and vow to stop for [...]

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We get back on I-80 after lunch in Green River, and we eat the miles as fast as we can. There are lots of fences along the grassy hills of Wyoming. And lots of giant alternative-energy propellers turning in the wind. Not a lot of people. But plenty of fences and wind and propellers. Bob [...]

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Just east of Ogallala, we will lose the hour that we were so delighted to gain on the way west. And Jarrett is jumping to get back on the four-lane. Bob and I decide to grab a quick bite of breakfast because who knows where we’ll stop next? But it’s Labor Day and the only [...]

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So we’re pushed across Nebraska by the wind.  Interstate all the way. In mid-afternoon, the subject of lunch comes up.  Hmm.  Labor Day.  What will be open?  Can we find anything other than interstate interchange food? Between the front seats, where we keep the box of CDs and an ever-changing assortment of important things, from [...]

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