Minutes - July 2021 - California Chapter - Lincoln Highway Association

Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes — Saturday, July 10, 2021

Moe Mohanna Event Center
El Dorado Hills, California

Meeting called to order at 1:00 PM
Welcome/Presentation
1. Thank you so much to Moe Mohanna for the delightful lunch and air-conditioned building to meet on this fine July day. [Joel, Neil, and Moe Mohanna]
Attendance Sign-in Count: [Joel and Paulette]
1. 36 people present, overlooking the Central Valley of California
Introductions [Joel]
1. Joan Griffin: Has been stalking LH for a couple years. Joan was first introduced to the LH in 2013 when she followed a few days behind the 2013 car tour to Nebraska.
2. Jerry D: Lives in Newcastle/Penryn. He has 200 feet of the Lincoln Highway on his property. He has also found three of the 6×6 monuments markers.
3. Tom Shepherd, originally from Scotland: Been a follower on the internet for a time. He is old enough to remember when the route over the Altamont Pass was referred to as the Lincoln Highway.
4. Walter Caplin: Walter joined the car tour in 2013, but the Firebird broke down. He was also in Utah for the convention. He said it was nice to see that the chapter has grown so much since the last time he was here.
5. AJ MacLaren: AJ is an archaeologist. After he watched the LH documentary, took off on the highway for some investigation. AJ loves the history of the LH and bought all the books.
6. Brent: Brent has produced a documentary for the PBS stations about the LH. He followed the LH with the military convoy in Nebraska. When he returned to California, he realized that the LH is in his back yard.
7. Dennis L: Was on the military convoy car tour in a 1943 Ford jeep.
8. Dottie: Joined when Norman Root was alive, who was a friend. They met through the Placer Valley Monument. She did a trip on the LH with Norman Root and Paul Gilger.
Approval of April 2021 Zoom Meeting minutes [online]
1. Motion to approve the minutes was made by Mark Hoffman. The motion was seconded by Myrna Johnston. The motion passed unanimously.
Officer and Committee Reports [* not attending]
1. Neil Rodrigues: State Director
  1. updates in Old Business below
2. Joel Windmiller: President
  1. Esther M. Oyster Queneau, longtime Lincoln Highway Association member, passed away. She was the wife of Bernard Russell Queneau, an Eagle Scout who in 1928 represented the Boy Scouts on a cross-country trip on the Lincoln Highway, who passed away at age 102.
  2. Gary Kinst has very bad health issues, so he is asking to resign as chapter historian.
  3. Motion that Trey Pitsenberger take over as Chapter Historian. Neil Rodrigues seconds the motion. No discussion. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Trey Pitsenberger: Vice President/Signage/Traveler/Newly Voted Chapter Historian
  1. Congratulations on VP of the National LH Association.
  2. Gary’s book: Bill von Tagen offered to contribute money toward the publication of the LH book of California. This would be an Arcadia book. It is mostly done, but there is a need for money for the photographs that will be in the book. Seven years ago we just didn’t have the money. He’s concerned that the highway is not known by people, but once they find out, then they are interested. We needed approximately $2,000. Bill, Joel, Trey, and Monica have made a pledge to give to this so the book can be published. We will use the website to have our first donation effort that we will tackle through our website.
  3. Folsom: working on getting the highway in town signed. Trey is continuing to work with the town to make this happen. Folsom’s sign department will make the signs and they will install them.
4. Grant Gassman: Treasurer’s Report
  1. Deposit from National: $234
  2. Joel: $70 for PO Box
  3. Balance: Contact chapter treasurer for details
5. Paulette Johnston: Secretary
6. Gary Kinst: Chapter Historian*
7. Tours: Mark Hoffman
  1. What’s happening on the roads today?
    1. People are just getting up and going instead of making a plan.
    2. Hospitality industry is short of help.
    3. Mask wearing differs from place to place.
    4. Kindness goes a long way.
    5. Recommendation: please be patient.
  2. 2023: Thinking of doing a tour that will end at the convention.
  3. Thinking about a program for the schools.
8. Jimmy Lin: Website update*
  1. Trey gave a presentation on LHA web stats for this last quarter since Jimmy could not be here today
  2. Online membership is exceeding expectations
  3. He fixed the link that was misfiring on the web
  4. His next to do list is: add links to Neil’s photos, add brochure, etc.
  5. Mobile phones are up, tablets are down
  6. Facebook is up
9. Speakers/Presentations: none
Old business [items below included in Officer, Staff, and Committee Reports above]
1. Facebook discussion group [Trey]
2. Adventures in California History LH [Trey]
3. Lincoln Highway Historic Highway Status in California [Trey and Joel]
  1. Stalemate on the byway progress: if you know someone in the State Legislature who could put up bill in congress for the byway progress please send letters, make calls, whatever you can do.
  2. Joel will make a templated letter that can be used to send a letter to the legislature
4. Signage/Markers [Trey and Joel]
  1. Joel did some marker cleaning along the LH.
  2. At the corner of California and Park in SF there is a LH marker. It definitely needs some attention. We’ve been given the green light to work on this marker. Joel would also like to put bumpers around the marker so it cannot be taken out by a car. Walter Caplan has the name of someone who can work with us to get this stuff done.
5. 2022 Illinois/2023 California Conference Update [Neil]
6. Groups.io [Neil]
  1. Send Neil an email to join
7. Elmer Butts recording [Trey and Neil]
  1. Carried the mail in the Sierras and audio recorded his travels over one entire day. Trey has the disc and he is planning on getting it to a format that can be shared with others. Elmer describes the old route (Trey is looking for photos of the parts of his road trip to add to a slide show that can then be displayed). Hoping to put out DVDs and possibly a link on the LH site.
8. Markers / Medallion for sale online [Joel and Neil]
9. Donation and membership on website [Jimmy]
  1. The button is up and running. The glitch has been fixed.
10. Members
New Business [items below included in Officer, Staff, and Committee Reports above]
1. Grant requests need to be made through the individuals state chapters.
2. Wishbone Drive Tour Brochure [Neil]
  - Neil has put a brochure together of this route, if you are interested in a paper copy of the map. The route is also available on the online map.
3. Directional Signage [Trey]
4. Ophur Road Monument LH sign [Trey]
5. Lincoln Highway in California book [Trey]
6. PBS Program on Lincoln Highway "edit presentation" [Trey]
7. Travel Realities, on The Lincoln and Elsewhere [Mark]
8. Gene Rabal LH Marker road trip [Joel]
9. San Francisco Concrete Markers [Joel]
10. Concrete Marker donation to Moe Mohanna [Joel]
11. Chapter Activities 2021 dealing with COVID 19 [Joel-Members]
12. Members
  1. Joan Griffin, a new member, suggested the following ideas to market the highway
    1. Placer County Book Tour: can we market to this group and get a LH book on this list>
    2. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Sierra College (open to 50 years and up) has a Travel Tuesday Program. Perhaps we can get a slot in their schedule.
Meeting Adjournment
1. Next Meeting: October 9
2. Paulette Johnston motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Myrna Johnston. Motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted by
Paulette Johnston, Secretary
September 19, 2021

Edited by Joel Windmiller and Jimmy Lin