Minutes - January 2022 - California Chapter - Lincoln Highway Association

Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes – Saturday, January 15, 2022

Online video conference via Zoom

Meeting called to order at 1 PM
Introductions [Joel] and Attendance (15 members) [Paulette]
Approval of October 2021 meeting minutes
Officer and committee reports
1. Neil Rodrigues: State Director
  1. Speaker invitation: asked to speak at Greater South Bay Region of the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America on February 2
  2. California Wishbone Tour brochure, including map of Lincoln Highway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe – Neil is still working on it
  3. National board meeting: discussion of 2022 conference (next item)
  4. 2022 Conference in Joliet, Illinois: Monday, June 20–Friday, June 24. National President Kay Shelton Kozak will post details in next issue of the Forum
  5. 2023 Conference in Sacramento/Folsom area:
    1. Need conference committee volunteers
    2. Need to decide on a good central location, around Sacramento or Folsom
    3. Need to choose hotel or motel with rooms for Trading Post and speaking halls
    4. Need to choose speakers, seminar topics, and movies
    5. Paul Gilger and Mark Hoffmann are working on tour routes, both self-guided and bus tours
    6. Need to come up with list of local spots to visit (including museums and historical spots)
    7. Need to find catering
    8. Need to develop and produce documentation
    9. NOTE: Everything needs to be ADA compliant because, as Paul Gilger said, the average age of the participants is “dead”.
2. Joel Windmiller: President
  1. Chapter Historian: Gary Kinst passed away. We held an open discussion for everyone to honor Gary and his work for the Lincoln Highway. He was the voice of the California Chapter. We have definitely lost a valued member of our association.
  2. Sacramento County Health Department sent out an executive order to hold all public and private meetings online, including this one.
  3. Caltrans right-of-way maps: Joel collected 200 right-of-way maps for all five alignments of the Lincoln Highway in California.
  4. Clarksville Marker Project: No update on marker project for Moe Mohanna. Will update at the April meeting.
  5. Michael Lynch, co-author of Historic Signs over California’s Roadways (part of the Images of America book series) would like to do a presentation for our April chapter meeting at the Duarte Garage in Livermore.
  6. Davis 1928 concrete markers: Email from Doren Maxwell of Davis gave historical information on the two original 1928 concrete markers in Davis.
  7. Historic Highway Status: Working on a letter to urge the state legislature to have the Lincoln Highway be a historical California highway.
    1. Jimmy: there is no specific measure for the legislature to endorse, so the letter will not have any effect.
    2. Trey has a box of information on how US 40 became a California historical highway from Eddie Lang.
3. Trey Pitsenberger: Vice President / Signage / Traveler / Chapter Historian
  1. Caltrans right-of-way maps: located second Strawberry resort using the Caltrans right-of-way maps that Joel described earliler.
  2. The Forum: Wrote an article for the Forum on finding the 1917 bronze terminus plaque from the Native Daughters of the Golden West flagpole.
  3. The Traveler: Produced the latest issue of the Traveler newsletter, which is up and ready for reading.
  4. Social media: Donner Memorial Historical Society is a friend of the Lincoln Highway Association. Trey is constantly updating the chapter’s accounts on Facebook and Twitter.
  5. 1917 western terminus bronze plaque was bought by Trey and saved. Weighs about 40 pounds. Amazing story in the latest issue of The Traveler.
4. Grant Gassman: Treasurer
  1. From National: $270 × 2
  2. Book sales: During the October meeting, we sold $270 of Lincoln Highway books by Gregory Franzwa.
    1. We are in search of a single complete set of Gregory’s books. Paul Gilger found a set of books on eBay during the meeting. Motion by Paul for Joel to purchase the books and be reimbursed by the chapter. Seconded by Paulette. Motion passed unanimously. Joel will make the purchase through eBay and deliver the book set to Trey for safekeeping.
  3. Balance: contact chapter
5. Paulette Johnston: Secretary
  1. Nothing submitted.
6. Mark Hoffmann: Tours
  1. Spring Day Trip: up to the Rainbow Lodge and to Donner Lake
  2. 2023 Tour from Cheyenne, Wyoming to California for the conference
  3. Fall 2022 trip to San Francisco is also in the works.
  4. Mark will keep us posted as he has more information.
7. Jimmy Lin: Website
  1. Web Report
    1. Transferred lincolnhighway.org domain to National. In the future: make this the primary domain for LHA’s website
    2. Redesign of California Chapter website in progress. New URL: calincolnhighway.org
  2. Stats
    1. This is an unprecedented year.
    2. Quarter 4 has doubled from the year before, and there are more spikes of traffic than before. Paul and Paulette think it’s because of Amor Towles’ novel The Lincoln Highway. If you haven’t read it, it’s so good!
    3. Both map and homepage visits are up sharply, a nice trend reversal for the map.
    4. Mobile widens lead over desktop. Tablet stays flat.
    5. Social media: Largest year-over-year percentage increase ever, likely due to Trey’s consistent posting. Facebook up 11% and Twitter up 19%. Chapter Facebook group members is up 62%.
    6. 208 emails sent out, 3 bounced, 0 unsubscribed, 103 opened.
8. Presentations: no reports
Old business (may reference officer and committee reports)
1. Facebook group Lincoln Highway in the Golden State [Trey]
  - VP report item #4
2. Adventures in California History [Trey]
  - VP report item #4
3. Ophir Road Monument – LH sign replacement [Trey]
  1. Sign was replaced, but the L was red instead of blue. They are replacing it as soon as possible.
4. LH Historic Highway status in California [Joel]
  - President report item #7
5. LH historical book project [Trey]
  1. Trey will contact Gary Kinst’s daughter to be sure we have their blessing to move forward with the publishing of his book.
  2. Trey has already contacted her about any of Gary’s research that the family might be willing to share with the chapter.
6. Signage and markers [Trey and Joel]: no report
7. 2022 Illinois and 2023 California conferences [Neil]
  - State Director report item #4 (2022 conference) and item #5 (2023 conference)
8. Website report [Jimmy]
  - Website report above
9. Other business [members]: none
New business (may reference officer and committee reports)
1. Officer Elections [Joel]
  1. Running for re-election:
    - President: Joel Windmiller
    - Vice President: Trey Pitsenberger
    - Treasurer: Grant Gassman
    - Secretary: Paulette Johnston
    - Field Secretary: Trey Pitsenberger
    - Historian: Trey Pitsenberger
  2. Motion made by Mark Hoffmann to elect officers. Trey seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
2. Winter National Board meeting [Neil and Trey]
  - State Director report item #3
3. 1917 LH terminus bronze plaque [Trey]
  - VP report item #5
4. Lake Street slow street in San Francisco [Trey and members]
  1. City is considering making Lake Street a permanent slow street, which would prevent through traffic and allow only local traffic. We could have a permanent kiosk conveying to passersby that they are on the first coast-to-coast highway in the U.S. (There is no historic paving left, just that the alignment goes down that street.)
  2. Slow street conversion may allow us to have more of a presence in San Francisco.
5. Caltrans maps of as-built plans [Joel]
  - President report item #3
6. Remembering Gary Kinst, Chapter Historian [members]
  - President report item #1
7. 2022 meeting locations [Joel and members]
  1. Next meeting will be at the Duarte Garage in Livermore.
8. Effect of COVID-19 on chapter activities this year [Joel and members]
  - President report item #2
9. Other business [members]
  1. After Ike book and upcoming documentary: its website after-ike.com points to a video on C-SPAN of Michael Owen, the book’s author, narrating the film of the 1919 military convoy along the Lincoln Highway. At the end of the video, he gives a nod to the Lincoln Highway Association.
  2. Chapter Bylaws need to be updated and revised. A board meeting will take place to update and streamline the bylaws. These changes will be presented to the members in April or October.
  3. Altamont Pass signs are gone or faded. Paul has recently driven this route.
Meeting adjournment
1. Jimmy motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Lawrence Friedman.
2. Next meeting
  - April 2 at the Duarte Garage and Lincoln Highway Museum in Livermore.

Respectfully submitted by
Paulette Johnston, Secretary
February 27, 2022

Edited by President Joel Windmiller and Website editor Jimmy Lin