Tour Day 5 - Wandering to Indiana

We began the day slowly, but in a very pleasant manner. We spotted this great restaurant called the Coney Island Diner in Mansfield, Ohio and decided to eat breakfast there. It was a beautiful place with great diner food; just what we were looking for. We took our time enjoying breakfast, and by the time we left we were the last ones on the road.


Our first stop in the morning was the Wyandot County Museum housed in a beautiful old mansion. The museum had a surprisingly large collection of memorabilia, including a nice display on the Lincoln Highway. They fed us a morning snack in the church across the street. By the time we left we were again at the end of the line.


One of the places I wanted to find was the intersection of the north-south Dixie Highway with the east-west Lincoln Highway. Sharon and I had spotted this place in a previous Dixie Highway trip. It's located in Beaverdam, Ohio. The picture below shows the view of the Lincoln Highway with the Dixie Highway coming in from the right on Church Street. The Dixie turns right and shares the road with the Lincoln Highway for several blocks before continuing left and heading south. Unfortunately the Dixie Highway isn't marked here, so if you don't know where it is you'll drive right by and miss it.


We stopped in Van Wert and were greeted with a great big celebration including a banner welcoming us to the city. We were supposed to have a picnic lunch but rains threatened so we ate in the church across from the park. After leaving we drove across another great section of Lincoln Highway brick in western Ohio.


Then we saw this parked right next to the highway. hard to miss!


We entered Indiana and were greeted by torrential rain followed by lots of construction and detours in and around Elkhart. It turns out that we managed the detours better than most, and we were some of the first people to arrive at our dinner destination at the spectacular Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana. I can't begin to describe how cool this place is. The event was sponsored by the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association, and we had dinner on the museum floor. The museum was closed to everyone but us and we spent the time before and after dinner wandering. Some of the pictures below give an indication of the size and scope of the museum. 


 

A 1907 electric car. Not such a new idea after all...



Check out the cutie and her ride!






This is a one-of-a-kind woodie prototype wagon. Studebaker never introduced this model.



After dinner we checked into our hotel and spent the night. Today we drive from South bend to Rochelle, Illinois.

Ciao!




Comments

Unknown said…
What can I say? Awesome!
Unknown said…
What can I say? Awesome!

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