No Age Limit - Piaggio MP3

The sadly-dilapidated theatre in Bucyrus, OH.

We continued to be impressed with Ohio’s attention to marking the Lincoln Highway. This is in contrast to Indiana’s minimal recognition that the historic road even exists — which we understand (and seriously hope) may be changed next year. While portions of the Highway are four-lane and tedious (e.g. the Mansfield area) historic towns (Galion and Wooster, for example) that have accomplished some outstanding restorations make up for the boring stretches. An operational movie theatre downtown continues to be a sign of health. 

Bucyrus, about fifteen miles east of Upper Sandusky (I’m still puzzled by  the whole "Upper" thing) struck me as being on the edge; a town that could go either way. There are restored buildings from the late eighteen-hundreds, but the dilapidated Bucyrus moviehouse is an eyesore.  As I stopped to take a photo, a passerby suggested that I not stand under the marquee for fear of it collapsing. As a member of the Theatre Historical Society (a rather arcane group of lovers of theatre buildings) it was painful to see this once-proud center of entertainment and focal point of a town in its final days. We met an electrician/plumber who’d been commissioned to inspect the theatre. He thought a 2.5-million-dollar restoration grant was in the offing, but his surface impression was that it would never do. Bob concurred, saying, "Let it drop. Don’t spend the money. Some things are meant to move on, and this is one of them." He stared straight at me when he said this. It’s a violation of our "We’re not done yet" theme, but Bob The Practical surfaced in opposition to Buddy The Romantic. I’ll be reporting Bob to the Theatre Historical Society! I’m rooting for the Bucyrus theatre — like so much on the Lincoln Highway there’s life there waiting to be rescued. Linda and Tom Lortie’s log cabin serves as a model.

Meeting people ranks right alongside the historic landmarks as the highlight of this journey. At the Country Harvest Restaurant and General Store on the outskirts of Wooster, we met Dick Markley, Kurt Miller and Cuddles — employees of the Wooster School District. The MP3, once again, was the magnet. In moments there was lively conversation about the bike, our journey, the Lincoln Highway, and as always, the price of gas. Soon after, Ron Kreiling of Ron’s Sandblasting joined us for more discussion. If you don’t like meeting people, the MP3 may not be for you.

Eight miles east of Canton there’s an Old Lincoln Highway cut-off. It’s always rewarding to come upon one of these. It was evident to us that the original stretch of dirt road had recently been paved. That hurts! At the next designated cut-off we hit the jackpot that proved to be the high point of a 175-mile, 95-degree riding day. An original red brick portion of the second iteration of the Highway. I know it may sound nuts, but Bob and I get infantile when we make this kind of find. We cheer, we touch the brick, we take photos and we quietly stare. Then we observe that where there’s some damage in the red bricks they’d been paved over with asphalt and become very quiet  and sad. This historic piece of road ends with the red bricks gradually turning to dirt and disappearing into the woods. There’s only a cable stretched across two rusty poles as a marker. 

We were late coming into Calcutta (a great name for a town), just east of East Liverpool and a mere stone’s throw from the few miles of Lincoln Highway in West Virginia. By the time we settled into a motel and prepared for dinner it was dusk and the closest restaurant called for a short ride. As a rule, we prefer to avoid riding after dark. We were amazed at the intensity of the MP3 500’s lights on this first nocturnal jaunt. There are a full five in front, not counting the directionals (they also have a four way flasher): a parking light, two driving lights and two brights. The rear has two side-by-side taillights in addition to the directionals. On past motorcycles I installed aftermarket high-intensity lights to to feel safe during night running. I won’t be doing that with the MP3. Plus the dashboard lighting makes for easy reading.

Tomorrow, in Pittsburgh, we’re scheduled to lunch with Rick Sebak, the WQED/PBS producer of the Lincoln Highway documentary to be aired in October. Our last meeting with Rick and his team was in Medicine Bow, WY. Looking forward to comparing notes and impressions of life on the Lincoln Highway. We’ll also be meeting Brian Butko, author of Greetings From The Lincoln Highway — our most relied-upon reference book. By the way, if you want to read yet more about Buddy and Bob’s MP3 journey across America’s Main Street go to www.brianbutko.com and scroll down to Lincoln Highway News.

Buddy out

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