Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes — Saturday, July 7, 2018 · 1:30 pm

Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
Vallejo, California

Introduction

Thanks to Grant and Lee from Gracie’s BBQ in Vallejo for organizing the barbecue lunch!

Visitors to the meeting today:

• Patty found us through the PBS documentary A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway. Since then, she has had many encounters with the Lincoln Highway, including in New Jersey, Vacaville, and Vallejo.
• Norman has been a member for a number of years, but this is his first meeting.
• Chuck saw the PBS documentary. They have ties with the Lincoln Highway in Stockton.
• Christian from Germany was visiting the museum, and Neil invited him in for the meeting.

• 31 members present.
• Approval of April meeting minutes
  • Motion to approve by Paul Gilger
  • Seconded by Gary Kinst
  • Minutes approved

Officer, Staff and Committee Reports

State Director: Neil Rodrigues

• We have had a change in our state director. Bob Dieterich was our director for many years and was also one of the founding members of the Association. Many thanks for all his years of service.
• Neil is excited to be holding this position. He is interested in leading the promotion of the Lincoln Highway. He has been a member since 2012. He talked about how there are lots of great people in our club.

President: Joel Windmiller

• Old Monument from Clipper Gap: Have one full marker and a couple of pieces. We need to decide about repair and placement of the markers.
• Marker discovered in Wyoming. Creek washed off the “L” and revealed how they originally put in the pieces of the marker. Paul, Gary, and Neil are figuring about to use this knowledge to make our markers look more historically accurate.
• 270 reminders for the meeting, 2 returns

Vice-President: Neil Rodrigues

• Boomtown: Neil was an ambassador of LH at a recent car show. We really need more of these outings to get our brochures out to people who don’t know about the highway. There are a lot of people who are interested; they just don’t know it yet. If you are a member of a car club and want brochures to distribute, let Neil know.
• Norton Grade: Open on the weekends despite the construction. There are delays during the week due to construction.
• Question: Do we have a sign at the Ophir Road fishhook by I-80 in Newcastle? Consult with Mike Kaelin when we see him next.
• Strawberry Ridge work: next to US 50 in American River Canyon. We’ll be working on trying to save the stone bridge, a beautiful piece of our old alignment. When will you be working on this?
• Donner Summit: Neil was impressed with the number of people on foot walking along the Lincoln Highway. Maybe we should consider a little hiking trip on the old highway. Bill chimed in and said we should contact Greg Palmer of Donner Party Hike. He could help out with the organization of this event.
• 10 Streets That Changed America is airing on Tuesday, July 9th at 8pm on PBS. The Lincoln Highway is one of the ten streets — you can read and watch its segment online at interactive.wttw.com/ten/streets/lincoln-highway.

Treasurer: Grant Gassman

• Deposits: $200 from National for membership dues
• Disbursement:
  • $153.32 Klingstedt Brothers (Jim Cassler) for Neil’s LH Flyers
  • $200 to Joel for meeting
• Balance: Contact chapter for details

Secretary: Paulette Johnston

• No report.

Gary Kinst: Traveler Newsletter, Historian

• Gary showed off a hard copy of The Traveler, which was about 30 pages. We have gone exclusively to the internet because it is too expensive to print in color and send out to everyone.
• Gary fielded questions about the Lincoln Highway.
• Just a reminder to take pictures along the Lincoln Highway and submit them to Gary.
• Gary attended the 11th Street Bridge dedication in Tracy. He supplied pictures of the Lincoln Highway, US 48, and US 50 for the project. It’s worth a visit if you are in the Tracy area.

Webmaster: Jimmy Lin

• Jimmy keeps track of visitors to the LHA web site, including the map, California chapter, and The Traveler. Here is a summary of stats for the first and second quarters of 2018:

  	Q1				Q2
  	Sessions	YoY%	Users	YoY%	Sessions	YoY%	Users	YoY%
  Overall	21,727	−11%	17,057	−13%	30,970	+6%	24,247	−5%
  Map	15,260	−5%	12,274	−7%	24,247	+5%	17,051	+3%
  California	1,178	−16%	1,054	−16%	971	−17%	852	−18%
  Traveler	540	−41%	497	−41%	561	−16%	501	−17%
  Nevada	153	+30%	137	+27%	223	+77%	201	+81%

• There was a suggestion that an email be sent out when an issue of The Traveler is released. Joel reminded us that there is a link on the front of the reminder postcard for The Traveler too.

Sign Committee Chair: Michael Kaelin

• Unable to attend.
• Kevin Shawner spotted 2–3 signs missing in San Joaquin County, which have been replaced.
• Kudos to Gary for the 11th Street Bridge dedication.

Speakers

• Bill von Tagen spoke to a Ford Mustang tour from Idaho.
• Nora spoke to a classic Ford car club on a tour bus.
• Neil suggested renting an auditorium and giving a presentation on the LH for the general public, similar to the Nevada chapter’s talks.
• Trisha suggested sending an email blast out to the engineering or history departments at colleges to let them know that there is a Lincoln Highway Association. They might want presentations about the engineering or historical aspects of the road. There may also be automotive trade schools that may be interested in the information.

Coach tours/car cruises: Mark Hoffman

• There will be a Fall Coach Tour, a 2-day trip over Echo and Donner Summits, with an overnight stay in the Carson City-Reno area.

Old Business

Lincoln Highway in California brochure: Gary Kinst

Gary brought a rough draft of the brochure. It uses a 5-fold twenty-panel format, and includes of photos for 89 key places along four routes, based on past guided tours. It is amazing!

Once the brochure is in decent shape, have Brian look at it. Then we’ll have Neil, Joel, and Paul look through it to make sure there is consensus on the pictures and information. Jim Cassler will print it.

2019 Military Convoy: Paul Gilger

The official Lincoln Highway tour for 2019 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Army Convoy. The tour is in September so that it doesn’t overwhelm the annual conference in the summer. We will arrive in San Francisco on the same date as the original convoy. We can’t start the tour in front of the White House, as the original convoy did, so we will start at the Lincoln Memorial instead.

The Military Vehicle Preservation Association is conducting its own commemorative tour over 62 days. It will cross paths with the LHA tour at some point.

So far, the schedule is:

0. Washington, DC
1. (September 1): Gettysburg, PA — via Washington, DC Feeder Loop (Eisenhower farm, cemetery)
2. Pittsburgh, PA (along an LH alignment no tour has taken before)
3. Canton, OH — via Rochester, PA; Salem, Alliance, Mansfield
4. Fort Wayne, IN — via 1913 route (South Bend)
5. Joliet, IL — Route 66 party
6. Clinton, IA
7. Ames, IA — via Tama, Colo
8. Omaha, NE — via Boys Town
9. North Platte, NE — Lunch at Kearney Archway, rodeo at North Platte, photo at halfway point at Cozad
10. Cheyenne, WY
11. Rock Springs, WY — via Medicine Bow and its Virginian Hotel
12. Salt Lake City, UT — via Ogden
13. Ely, NV — via the Salt Lake desert over 267 miles of dirt road, with no gas, and lunch at Anderson Ranch in Callao. There will be one to two sweep cars, maybe a helicopter, to make sure no one gets lost. An alternate paved route through Wendover will be available. Afterwards, there is a train ride in Ely, cocktails at the Big Four.
14. Carson City, NV — via new alignment through Fallon, Dayton
15. Sacramento, CA — via South Lake Tahoe
16. San Francisco, CA — via Altamont Pass, final party in Officers’ Club in Presidio

The driving directions will be over 100 pages. A separate book will include historical inforomation, published by Klinstedt Bros.

The ideal number for the tour is 60 cars, about 105 people. It’s hard to figure out hotels, places to go to lunch, etc. with larger tours. Larger tours have wiped out the gas supply of small towns! The tour price includes everything: attractions and food.

The LHA does not offer tours every year anymore, it’s too much work. We’ve switched to every other year. The 2021 tour will go from San Francisco to New York. Going east is a very different experience than going west, which is the typical direction.

100th Anniversary of the Pioneer Monument at Donner Memorial State Park — June 9

Bill handled the booth, along with Brian from Nevada. It was very well attended, but it was noisy, due to being close to the roadway, and very windy. They handed out lots of materials.

Clarksville Days

Joel, Neil, and Myrna handled the booth. They answered a lot of questions and showed how the markers were put up. Neil brought maps, while Joel brought photo books. It was a well-attended event.

Lodi Signage: Kevin Shawver

The public works department has not yet installed the signs. They will hopefully go up soon.

New Business

New Meritorious Achievement Award

Joel and Paul had a new award idea that came up due to Bob’s recent retirement: an award given out by our chapter that we would give to various people who we believed did a lot for the Lincoln Highway and California. Two discussions: Do we like the idea of the award? Can we agree that Bob Dieterich as our first recipient?

2019 MVPA Military Convoy Tour: Joel Windmiller

As stated above, the MVPA is doing its own re-enactment of the 1919 military convoy across the Lincoln Highway. The chapter is looking for someone to help guide the convoy in California.

National Conference in New Jersey: Bill von Tagen

• Bus tour: included Revolutionary War historian. Stops included Princeton battlefield, a discussion of Einstein (and his absent-mindedness), the Lincoln Tunnel air vents, and Pershing Pier, where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had their duel. Some wanted more talk of the road.
• Lectures: Military tour of 1919 — speaker from the Library of Congress
• Board and business meeting: unofficial due to lack of quorum

Adjournment

• Motion to adjourn by Bill von Tagen. Seconded by Jimmy Lin.
• Meeting adjourned at 3:30pm.

Presentations

Jim Kern, executive director of the Vallejo Navel and Historical Museum, on the history of Vallejo and Mare Island.

Respectfully submitted
Paulette Johnston, Secretary

Edited by James Lin