U.S. 20

US 20 is the longest numbered highway in the United States. Its eastern end is in Boston, and the western end is at the Pacific coast in Oregon. The nearby posts report on a recent 2,340-mile motorcycle trip from Chicago to Boston and back, mostly on US 20 in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

A Lima Divided.

Sunday 13 August 2006, on U.S. 20, near Buffalo, New York.

U.S. Highway 20 is the longest road in the United States. It is 3,365 miles long, from Boston to near the Pacific coast in Oregon. It does not exist officially in Yellowstone National Park, not being signed as such there, but it is all the same road in fact.

Traveling along this route is like visiting pre-Interstate America. When they built I-90, which runs generally parallel and a little north of U.S. 20, most of the usual development went with it, leaving U.S. 20 quieter. It has acquired a preservation following similar to U.S. Highway 66 that used to run between Chicago and Los Angeles. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_20

One place that shows the old and new well is Lima, New York, about halfway between Buffalo and Albany. When I passed through today, there were yard signs all over town, taking sides in a classic Wal-Mart conflict. Yellow “frowning face’ signs, with $s for eyes, said, “Never in Lima.” They designated the homes and businesses that opposed the building of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lima. (As I discovered later, there are 2 or 3 W-M SCs in the villages to the east of Lima.) Then there were green yardsigns all over (somewhat fewer than the yellow ones) that said, “Wal-Mart Means Jobs.”

According to the convenience store clerk I talked to, Lima is divided between (1) the affluent people who love the retro life, the unions and their supporters, the tie-died back-to-naturists, and the small retailers, and (2) the new Hispanics and the other hourly workers who want cheaper prices than are charged by the boutique retailers in this quaint place. Very much a class struggle, it seems, with the unions siding with the more affluent side.

See: The Never In Lima Committee, at http://www.neverinlima.org/ and Lima Citizens for Responsible Development http://www.neverinlima.org/townletters/LCFRDLetter.html

The President Never Came

Sunday 13 August 2006, on U.S. 20, in Auburn, New York.

This is the home of William H. Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State. Doris Kerns Goodwin write a wonderful account of Seward’s career and service in the Lincoln Administration in her latest book, “Team of Rivals,” which well worth reading. The two men fought each other for the Republican nomination in 1860, and Seward resented Lincoln at first. As the Civil War progressed, they became close allies and friends. When Seward was nearly killed in a carrage accident, not long before Lincoln’s assassination, the president visited Seward regularly, sitting on his bed, and read the day’s war dispatches to the injured Seward.

The evening Lincoln was killed, Seward was also attacked while confined in bed from the accident. He survived the knife attack, but was seriously injured. No one told the fragile man that his chief has been murdered. But when Seward finally was able to look out his window, and saw the flag at half-mast, he said, “It must be that the President is dead, because if he were alive, he would come visit me.”

See http://www.sewardhouse.org/

Who is there to mourn for Logan?

Sunday 13 August 2006, On U.S. Highway 20, in Auburn, New York

In 1852 an obelisk of native stone, fifty-six feet in height, was erected to the memory of Tah-gah-jute, or Logan, the celebrated Chief of the Cayugas, a tribe of the Six Nations. On the north side of this memorial a marble slab bears the inscription: "Who is there to mourn for Logan." The quote comes from this speech, given by Logan

“I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace.

“Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as I passed, and said, "Logan is the friend of the white man." I have even thought to live with you but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, who last spring in cold blood and unprovoked murdered the relatives of Logan, not even sparing his wife and children.

“There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This has called on me for revenge. I have sought it; I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice in the beams of peace.

“But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.”

See http://www.cayuganet.org/forthill/logan.html and http://www.cayuganet.org/forthill/

IN Walden Pond

Thursday, 17 August 2006, on U.S. Highway 20, in Concord, Massachusetts

Today I fulfilled a lifelong dream and swam in Walden Pond, a pause on the way to Fenway Park.

There were many other people there too. A good replica of Henry David Thoreau’s 10x15 cabin, where he lived from July 1845 to September 1847, is just across the road. The bookstore and gift shop nearby has lots of interesting information about Thoreau and his mentor, Emerson.

“Because of Thoreau's legacy, Walden Pond has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is considered the birthplace of the conservation movement,” reports the website for Walden Pond State Reservation (915 Walden Street; Concord, Massachusetts). The Reservation encompasses 400 acres, which includes the 102-foot deep glacial kettle-hole pond.

It is worth a visit, if you’re in the area.

Blue Red Sox

Note added August 9, 2015: 
In remberence of David Soleau, for his grace under pressure on this occasion. 

Fenway Park, Boston.

Friday, August 18; 4PM ET: This afternoon NYY beat BOS 12-4. Attended with Dan Lass, from UMass, Lisa and David Soleau, and Valerie Curtis, all BOS fans but Dan and me.

Saturday, August 19; 1:30 AM ET: In the double-header, NYY beat BOS 14-11 in the longest 9-inning game in MLB history.

Saturday, August 19; Again, a few hours later, NYY beat BOS 13-5.

Sunday, August 20; NYY 8, BOS 5.

Monday, August 21: NYY 2, BOS 1.

“…The last time the Yankees swept a five-game series against the Red Sox was in 1951, and the last time that happened in Boston was in 1943, while Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and most young and healthy men were in military service…bashing Boston in outscoring them 47-25 over three days and two early morning, the Yankees relied on their pitching to win the sleepy series finale…” reported a satisfied New York Times.

See “A One-Sided Chapter Is Added to the History of a Rivalry”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBA-Yankees-Red-Sox.html?hp&ex=1156219200&en=c96b23f381c7809b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

THE Longest game

"The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the triple-A International League, played the longest game in professional baseball history in 1981 at Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium.

"The game began on Saturday, April 18, 1981, and continued through the night and into Easter morning before finally being suspended. Although most leagues have a curfew rule that would have suspended the game, the rule book that the home-plate umpire had that night did not contain one. So the teams continued playing until the president of the league, Harold Cooper, was finally reached on the phone sometime after 3 a.m. Finally at 4:09, at the end of the 32nd inning, the game was stopped and would be resumed at a later date. At this point, there were 19 fans left in the seats, all of whom were given lifetime passes to McCoy Stadium.

"The game resumed on the evening of Tuesday, June 23, the next time the Red Wings were in town. A sellout crowd and news media from around the world were on hand, partly because the major leagues were on strike at the time. On that evening, it took just one inning and 18 minutes to settle the game, with Pawtucket's Dave Koza driving in Marty Barrett for the winning run in the bottom of the 33rd."

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_baseball_game