This past week I’ve started sharing.

It turns out I have some pretty unique information.   There is very little information online about the Union Pacific Hwy and I have a guide book to it from 1922.  I have a Utah map and an Arizona map that shows the named highways thru the states and I have the TIB guide to Colorado and the Pacific.  I’ve not seen any of these on the web so I’ve let different online groups (including facebook road groups) know of their existence.  I’ve gotten good feedback from sharing.   I’ve been so excited about the help people have given me that it’s my time to let people know what I’ve found.  That doesn’t just include what I have but also what I’ve found – like a Magnolia Route map (I’m still trying to get permission to use it but I posted a link to where I found it on some of the groups).

As for updates to this site, I have added more pictures this past week as I’ve found them and gotten permission to use them.  I still have several outstanding “can I use this” requests.  Some say it will take weeks before they get back with me.  The 3 I’m really waiting on are

• an old picture of the Purvis Mississippi courthouse and jail, where granddad spent the night
• a picture of the Verne Bartholomew dance house in Filmore Utah where granddad camped beside
• the Magnolia Route map

There are other requests out there but the 3 above are the 3 I’ve only found one picture of so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

You probably won’t hear anything from me for 2 weeks and the web site will only get minor changes during that time as I’m heading to Portugal and Barcelona for 10 days.  My eldest daughter lives in Barcelona and I have to go visit.  We always take a side trip when I visit and this trips is to Lisbon.

After I return I’ll definitely be working on the website again and in July we (my sisters and I) are meeting with the Model T Club in Boone NC for their Annual Tour.  I hope to get some more Model T information from them to add to the site.

Until I return – enjoy your summer.

Claire

This has been a slow week.  I’ve not been able to spend a lot of time on the website.  I have gotten some good pictures from the Library of Congress and most of those are public domain.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/

I’ve got several requests out for permission for a lot of different items.  It just takes time to get permission back to use them in some cases.

Wikipedia is another great place to get stuff, again because most of it is public domain.  You need to look at each image and get the specifics before you use it.

When I research a topic I google all kinds of stuff.  I follow the links from any article that has anything on the topic.  I go to the google images and when I find an image that I think is cool, i click on go to that page.  Those pages sometimes have the best data and again links to other pages.  One topic may take me hours to research and I might still come up empty handed.  Sometimes I’ll try again on other day if I get brain dead.

I keep a log of places where I’ve found interesting information so I can always go back to it and if I think the people reading the blog, I’ll add links into my page.

This week I’ve also started sharing some of what I’ve learned or have in my possession.  Granddad had maps that I’ve not seen anywhere.  Several groups seem genuinely excited about getting access to them.  All I ask is if you use anything on the page, please add a link to my page from your website and if you have anything that might interest me, please let me know.

The next few weeks will be slower for me, lots on my plate but I will still work on the site whenever I can find a spare minute.

Claire

I’ve added links to the approximate mileage that shows in google maps what I think our route will be during our trip next year.   It’s my best guess at getting the closest to Lloyds route.  I based the towns off of the 1927 road atlas and a lot more digging.  If anyone sees where I should be on a different road, please let me know and I’ll update it.

The next special thanks goes out to http://www.txgenweb.org/postcards/ for letting me use the Texas postcards I wanted.  In return I sent them the digital versions of the San Antonio Postcard book of LLoyds.

I also found a neat website for LA old pictures.  I added the link in the page on LA but you might miss it so I figured I’d let you see it here.

I’ve got several emails out to try to get some other really cool pictures.  I hope to hear back from them soon so that I can continue to add to the site.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this past week.  I finished adding all the stuff I have (so far from my granddad – I’ve heard rumors that my uncle might have found more).  I’m now in the progress of contacting sites where I have found information that I would like to include to add to the story or the history.

This week I’ve heard from a variety of people.  I’ve gotten many of the trail markers that I’m slowing adding to the website from Steven Varner (also known as parsa9 on many websites and the person in charge of the http://www.americanroads.us/ web site.   I’ve gotten permission from the Utah State Historical Society to download ( as long as I site the pictures correctly) access to their digital library.

Here and there I’ve gotten permission to use other pictures too and I even found that movie posters before 1923 are in public domain.  (hey this trip was in 1922).   This has been such as experience to find out what I can and can’t use and how to ask for the correct citations if I do get to use material.

I really want to make this story something people will be interested in reading.  I still can’t imagine all that my granddad went through.  I just wish I could roll back the clock and interview him instead of taking what he left and putting the story back together.

If you ever have a question on how I found some of the information, please ask.  Maybe I’ll remember but now, I think if I fell back in time I really could be a detective.

Claire