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Day 7 - Marshalltown IA to Omaha NE

From the Diary of Eagle Scout Bernard R. Queneau
Member of the 1928 Lincoln Highway BSA Lincoln Highway Promotional Tour

Saturday - July 21, 1928 - Last night we slept at Mr. Badley's house.  During the night there was a cloudburst but it only helped to keep the dust down.  Except in one place there was a detour and we had to waste an hour putting chains on since the ones we were outfitted with did not fit.  We reached Omaha just after eating at Council Bluffs.  But here we had trouble finding camping facilities, so we stopped at the 'Y'.  We did not stop hunting, though, till after search two hours.  Here we had a keen swim.
Saturday - August 23rd

The Wal-Mart pharmacy closed early last night, so we have to wait to pick up Ken’s prescription at 9.  However, the first event of the day is local.  The local AACA chapter – the Marshalltown Area Restorers Club (led by President Tesha Huffaker) has set up a wonderful full breakfast at a community center just a couple miles from the hotel.  Club members lead us to the center, where they have scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and coffee. 

Outside the center, I find some other tour participants working with a laptop to get their GPS (Global Positioning System) working – I’m not the only one with technology.    After breakfast, the MARC members explain the plan for our next activity – a Lincoln Highway Days parade in Nevada (pronounced (nuh-VAY-da) Iowa.  The tour group is supposed to take part in the parade, and heads off to the town as we return to Wal-Mart to grab Ken’s prescription as soon as the pharmacy opens at 9 a.m.

Or not – the pharmacist did not fill the prescription last night, and proves to be less than responsive this morning.  It takes almost a half-hour to get the prescription, putting us an hour late leaving for Nevada. 

We make good time and get to the starting point of the parade just before the kick-off.  The lady directing traffic tells us the tour group has already passed by and should be lined up in town – we can drive around and join them.  However, when we get to the main staging area we find out that the tour cars actually drove straight through instead of taking part in the parade itself.  They are going to send us ahead of the parade to try catching up when the police cars leading the Veteran Color Guard pull out in front of us.

The parade marshal takes a look at the long line of floats, and then shrugs.  “I’m going to slip you in ahead of the lead float – nobody will know you aren’t supposed to be part of the parade.”  Of course, we know that the tour cars were just the warm-up act – the town was really holding the parade to make our glamorous Sophie the feature car.  What? You don’t believe us?  Pictures don’t lie (but they may stretch the truth a bit).

Bill and Ken roll out in front of the Lincoln Highway float while I run alongside getting photos.  The streets of this small town are decked out in flags, and lined with people on both sides.  Kids, grandparents, rows of people in wheelchairs from the local nursing home, even the family pets.  It looks like the whole town and most of the surrounding area has turned out to join the celebration.

The spectators stand as the flag goes by, and applaud and wave as Sophie rolls past.  I get some much-needed exercise running from corner to corner down the entire parade route.  Bill calls wife Karen on his cell phone as they roll slowly through town, prompting a couple of people to comment on the mix of technology.  At the end of the parade route, Bill stops to pick me up (I was a little worried he might not after some of my recent puns), and we continue on 30W and try to catch up with the tour.

We skip the Ogden rest stop, figuring that we can reconnect with the tour in Dennison, our lunch stop.  This morning is one of the longest single legs – we have 150 miles to go before lunch.  There aren’t any special stops along the way, but we enjoy the scenery.  One small town had a huge Indian head sculpture by the road that we couldn’t figure out the purpose of – but it looked neat.  The street names are often interesting – one intersection had North Dakota Avenue and South Dakota Avenue meeting head-to-head at the Lincoln Highway.

This definitely farm country – cows, corn, and soybeans as far as the eye can see.  The soybeans are so lush and green they look like emerald carpet.  There is no traffic on this clear and sunny day – the road looks almost deserted.  One constant is the main rail line – trains pass by every few minutes.  The Lincoln highway follows the cross-country rail most of the time, except where local politicians lobbied to route travelers through their towns.
 
About 15 miles from our lunch stop, we see some balloons and Burma-Shave type signs on the right that invite tour cars to a refreshment stop in Westside IA.  We decide to follow the signs and balloons up into the community, and find group of neighbors waiting in lawn chairs.  The owners of Deb’s Bed and Breakfast and some neighbors have set up a terrific refreshment stop with homemade cakes and cookies, iced tea, and coffee.  It is a spur-of-the-moment idea that is really nice – but unfortunately, we watch many of the tour cars driving past down on the main road, unaware of the goodies and appreciative audience waiting hopefully one street up.  That is a problem all along the tour, especially as we move into rural areas.  A lot of people are excited by the event passing through their communities, and want us to stop and talk – but with so much distance to cover, we just can’t.
Cronk’s Café in Dennison already has a few cars out front when we arrive – including the owner’s lovely Model A roadster.  We go in for an excellent sandwich and salad bar, and some welcome air conditioning.  Temperatures have been climbing today, and it is a little uncomfortable.  Still, we take time to look at some of the local cars that have been brought out by their owners.  One is a stunning 1950 Oldsmobile convertible – a very rare beastie that brings back fond memories for Ken – his first car was a 1950 Olds coupe.
The original Lincoln Highway in this area was never paved, and rather than subject Sophie’s paint and sheet metal to gravel and dirt, we opt to remain on new 30W.  The next stop is in the town of Woodbine IA, where the community has restored a section of the old brick-paved Lincoln Highway.  We pulled up to the Merry Brook School, the town’s original 1-room schoolhouse, and find a large group of people with homemade pies and cakes, ice cream, and a variety of beverages. 

As a side note, we often say that the Tidewater Region AACA owns its cars so we can drive from one restaurant to another.  Compared to the Lincoln Highway Tour, we are absolute amateurs!  We don’t even make it to a restaurant before stopping for food.  I can see that September will be a big month for salads, water, and biking when I get back.

One thing that has become clear during the past week is the power of the Internet.  At every stop we find people who are following the Lincoln Highway Tour by checking up on this photo diary.  However, I am still a little surprised when I hear some kids calling out “Hey, look!  That must be Sophie!”  I turn to see a man and four kids approaching.  They have been looking at the web site every night, and came out to see the cars in person.  We chatted about the tour – it was really nice to see that people outside the club are enjoying the site.

The town has a special gift for each of the tour participants – one of the original bricks from the Lincoln  Highway!  (No, they didn’t throw them at us).  When I go into the schoolhouse to pick out my brick.  They have been cleaned and decorated with ribbons, and set out on the old student desks.  Behind the teacher’s desk is a surprise – a woman who taught at the one-room schoolhouse from 1937 to 1939.  She talks about the old days when you had to teach all subjects to grades one through eight.

The mayor has come out to greet all of us, and takes time to chat with the Tour’s celebrity, Bernie.  Also, the local Post Office has brought Lincoln Highway commemorative post cards which they sell for $1 each – a nice memento of the occasion.

We get back to the final leg into Omaha NE.   Traffic is starting to pick up now as we get closer to the city. A large group of motorcycles pass us heading the opposite way – we get a lot of thumbs up.   Bill is in familiar territory here – he met wife Karen while he was a student at Nebraska State.  We cross over the Platt River (mostly dried up now) and roll into Omaha and the first real traffic we have encountered in days.

The hotel has misplaced our reservations, but after taking a look at us they realize we are not with the old folks of the tour – we get placed in the back of the motel with all the other rowdy college freshmen who are hanging over the balconies and yelling at friends coming out of the Hucksters tent directly below.

Bill has called ahead to get the name of a really good steak house – we have dinner at Johnny’s Café, an 80-year-old restaurant that features aged steaks and onion rings that have made the Best Bet list of several national magazines.   Several other folks from the tour join us, including tour co-hosts Rosemary and Bob.  Good food and good company make for a nice end of a long and interesting day.

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