Route 66 railroad exhibit

Jordan and I were out doing some Christmas shopping earlier this week. We found some gifts for mom and daughter, but while we were out, I decided to stop to show him this old locomotive that had been quietly rusting away in the rail yard here in Owasso. It's being restored at a site west of Tulsa near Red Fork along with an old Pullman car, a tanker, and a caboose. Eventually the site will be a transportation museum.




It will take a lot of time and money to fully restore this Pullman. It was damaged when an adjoining car was set afire by vandals, and time has not been kind. This is the kitchen. It's roughly the size of my daughter's closet, big enough for two people to stand if they're careful with knives and elbows.



This was the dining area. Small tables and chaired lined either side, and that area at the back was the sun room. All the windows were broken by vandals. They're covered temporarily with plywood and high-impact plastic sheets. The volunteer workers said they'd found a cache of brass fittings for all the windows and doors, but as brass is so expensive they were reluctant to attach the hardware. It's certainly possible to reproduce that with a 3D printer, so that may be a better alternative.

Andy Clarke addressing the summit.

Oklahoma had its first bike summit over the weekend at the Chesapeake Boathouse in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition organized the event.

Lon Haldeman, famed ultra-cyclist and the operator of the PacTours bicycle touring company, talked on the history and allure of historic Route 66 through Oklahoma. This state has more remaining miles of the original road alignments than any other state, drawing tourists from all over the world. This historic highway had tourist amenities roughly 20 miles apart along its length, a perfect distance for bicycle tourists. Additionally, other states have concluded that bicycling tourists spend as much as their motoring counterparts, yet they spend in a more confined area.

When asked, “What can communities do to attract cyclists?” Haldeman replied that two things help greatly: roadways free of drainage grates that cause diversion falls, and adequate signage to inform and direct cyclists along city streets. He mentioned that much of the signage for both historic Route 66 and cyclists has been vandalized or removed, and suggested pavement markings as an alternative.

Ginny Sullivan talked about the Adventure Cycling Association whose 44,000 members make it the largest national cycling organization. She said that the goal is to inspire bike travel. With hundreds of volunteers, maps, extensive social media contacts, and a website, Adventure Cycling is trying to attract a younger crowd as the present demographic is aging. One new idea involves bike overnights, simple out and back bike tours that begin and end at home. Sullivan spoke extensively on the economic impact of bike touring, both from the standpoint of a touring cyclist and those communities hoping to attract tourism dollars. Bicycle tourists spend $100 per day on average, and they do so in a relatively small area.

Joy Hancock, the new director of Oklahoma's Freewheel, shared her thoughts about the annual cross-state tour. As yet, no economic study has been done on the tour's impact in the small towns where it makes overnight stops, but she believes it contributes about $25,000 in each community. The first seminar that will detail the 2012 route will be held January 10^th.

Sandy Pantlik, director of travel promotion for the Oklahoma Tourism Department, talked about the Scenic Byways program, bike trails, and the travelok.com website. She noted that the state had bicycling maps at one time, but they are no longer in print. Oklahoma attracts $6.2 billion in tourism spending each year, and bicycling would add to that total. Like Lon Haldeman, she also spoke on the state's close ties with Route 66 and its history. Oklahoma plans to develop Route 66 as a bicycle route, but as yet funding is not available.

The Oklahoma Bicycle Coalition conducted a brief meeting over the lunch break, introducing a bylaw change would allow for new initiatives to be proposed by two or more members and voted on in any meeting. The bylaw change passed unanimously.

Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, addressed the meeting after lunch. Clarke is an engaging speaker and covered a wide range of bicycling-related topics. He spoke of Copenhagen, where the average number of commuting cyclists would be considered a huge turnout for any North American tour. Clarke brought out the 'safety in numbers' argument, which seems to indicate that increasing numbers of bicyclists do not lead to a proportional increase in bicycle crashes. He said, “We need complete systems, not just infrastructure.” That includes promotion, marketing, and education.

Clarke was concerned over the possible loss of transportation enhancement funds due to the political wrangling in Washington. He strongly advised those present to contact their senators and congressmen. “It's all about showing up,” he said, referring to the political adage that policy is set by those who make an effort to attend meetings.

When asked about the Reed Bates case in which a cyclist was arrested and jailed for riding on a public roadway, Clarke said, “His case was a disaster waiting to happen. It would not have set a precedent. He was not a sympathetic character.” Clarke defended the League's record regarding challenges to cyclist's rights by saying, “We have been involved in a number of such cases over the last several years.”

This is the text that appears on the Examiner, along with that photo up at the top. Believe me, that huge, back-lit window gave me fits. It overpowered the anti-reflective coatings in both my Olympus lenses, leading to numerous ghost images. I took some photos with the 50 year old Konica Auto S2 also, and it will be interesting to see how they look.

This piece is straight reportage. I'll write an op-ed with my views on the summit in the next couple of days.

Sapulpa Sunday

Sapulpa (pronounced sah-pa-LOOP-ah according to She Who Must Be Obeyed, but in reality it's sah-PULP-ah) is just southwest of Tulsa, a short drive or an easy bike ride along old Route 66. The downtown area consists of nicely preserved and restored brick buildings constructed just prior to World War One. Not all are restored, of course, but the town is making an effort to preserve its history.



There's a big regional car show coming up in Sapulpa in June. I asked Mary if she'd like to go, but it's a bit far for her and it would require a lot of walking. Lyndsay likes car shows, however, and it's possible she'll go along.






I use "Oklahoma Route 66" by Jim Ross for scouting out old routes and photographic opportunities. He detailed one of the old alignments west of Sapulpa that lead me to this dilapidated old drive in theater and this railroad trestle. The road winds up and down hills. It has a wealth of blind curves. At one time much earlier in life, I would have regarded it as a challenge, but these days I drive far more cautiously.

Sapulpa is a fascinating town. I spent about 4 hours there on Sunday. Chances are, I'll make more trips out there soon.

Doctor Wally news

This is just a heads-up message for regular readers. I'm seriously considering setting Wally loose on an unsuspecting world. Most of the Wally posts have been coming from the Red Dirt Pedalers newsletter, as you can see from the one earlier this week. But I'm thinking about diving back into some of that old material in order to re-post it over on the Examiner.

Dr. Wally would reach another, hopefully larger audience. He really deserves it, especially in light of the upcoming presidential election next year. The last time, you may recall, he ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency. Recently he's been grumbling about the whole process again, so it's on his mind. He hasn't declared that he'll actually run, though he's soliciting money and numerous young women to assist in that effort. I hope he gets some cash soon, because it will help defer his bar tab at Larry's Cafe. Wally is calling it his "I'm NOT campaigning" headquarters. Larry doesn't mind because all those women help pack the place with free-spending men, especially on weekends.

In fairness, I have to say that I may run into some problems with posting on the Examiner. But I think the fairly straight forward advice pieces, while still containing some humor and satire, will be acceptable to the editor. The stories are another matter.

Other news: I did some wandering in Tulsa today - the first Saturday I've had free in quite a while - so there will be some photos to post probably tomorrow. Meanwhile, go look at these photos on The Mave Site. Here's a sample, and it's the kind of thing I'd like to accomplish along old Route 66:


In the Tulsa City County Library and in the Library of Congress, there are photos from the heyday of Route 66, when Tulsa was the Oil Capital of the World and Art Deco was the rage. I have to admit that I'm fascinated by all those old photos, and I enjoy looking for the old buildings.

No comment

I did some wandering along old Route 66 in Tulsa this morning. I posted most of the photos in my Picasa web album.

Michael Wallis, Route 66, and Stephen Colbert!

Image from JimForeman.com

This could be fun. Michael Wallis had done much to popularize Route 66, and since Oklahoma still retains more existing miles of the original road than any other state, it would seem a natural draw for tourists whether they're traveling on two wheels or four. I've bicycled on portions of the road between Tulsa and Claremore, and I've driven on it as far west as Edmond. Honestly, it's like stepping back in time.

There's another Oklahoma author, Jim Ross, whose Oklahoma Route 66 covers the road and its various alignments in great detail. For a bicycle tourist, this book is a treasure trove of imformation.

And finally, there's Jim Foreman's Riding the Joad Road that I've written about previously. It's an account of riding the old Route 40 as the Joad family did in Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Oh, go read Steinbeck too. Literature is good for you.

Tulsa author to appear on ‘Colbert’

(Link to full article)

By JAMES D. WATTS, JR. World Scene Writer
8/14/2007

Tulsa author Michael Wallis will explain the “truthiness” of old roads Wednesday, when he appears on “The Colbert Report,” airing at 10:30 p.m. on the Comedy Channel (Cox Cable channel 61).

Wallis recently published “The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate,” a history of the cross-country highway dubbed “The Father Road.”

100 ideas theme...

Here's more on the 100 ideas theme. These are from Commute By Bike, originally posted by Fritz, and including some comments appended at the end.

http://commutebybike.com/2007/07/20/ideas-to-promote-cycling/#comment-43636

• Signage: “Cyclists allowed use of full lane”. For examples around the United States see this page. I see these all over the place in San Francisco, and cyclists do indeed use the full lane in many locations. I believe these are much clearer than the ambiguous “Share The Road” signs. Motorists complain that when cyclists take the lane, the cyclist is not “sharing” the road.
• Effective bike education in schools. When the state of Colorado opened up “Safe Routes to Schools” funding for 2006, communities requested $6 million for infrastructure programs — things like bike paths and bike lanes — and half a million for non-infrastructure programs such as educational and promotional activities. My former hometown of Longmont, Colorado received one of non-infrastructure grants, and Bicycle Longmont, the city of Longmont, and the St. Vrain School district made very effective use of their small grant. The money paid for overtime for teachers to take bicycling education, for the two LCIs in Longmont to provide the instruction to the teachers and children, and for promotional material and prizes for elementary and middle school children to take part in the Safe Routes program. Of the five Longmont elementary schools that take part, three of them have the highest walk/bike rates in the United States. “Prior to Safe Routes to School, our parent survey showed that 189 students were getting driven to school each day, some from closer than a quarter-mile away,” says Safe Routes coordinator Buzz Feldman of Columbine Elementary. “After the program began, the number of cars dropped to around 30 cars per day.”
• Sharrows. Sharrows or “shared use arrows” are a symbol of a bike with two chevrons over it. These are painted on the streets to remind motorists and cyclists that bicyclists may position themselves anywhere in the lane for safety. These were pioneered in Denver, Colorado. In California, these are approved statewide for use on streets that have on-street parallel parking, and that are too narrow to accommodate
  full bike lanes. The San Francisco Bike Program is to be thanked for over two years of studies and lobbying the state to adopt a sharrow standard.

What are some things you’ve seen in your community that improve conditions for cycling or encourage people to ride a bike?

---

4 Responses to “Ideas to promote cycling”

1. 1 huphtur on Jul 20th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

   * Public Service Announcements on TV (preferably by Mayor, Chief of Police) to let people know that bikes belong on the road and not on the sidewalk.
   * Police need to start handing out tickets to people who ride bikes on the sidewalk.

2. 2 James Fellrath on Jul 20th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

   This summer, Columbus started providing bike corrals for parking at our series of downtown festivals.

   This calls attention to the idea that bikes can be ridden downtown instead of driving cars. It also keeps the bikes out of the way of harm and/or theft, and also keeps them centrally located and not chained to everything in sight due to a dearth of bike racks.

3. 3 Richard on Jul 20th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

   huphtur,

   In some states it is not against the law to ride on the sidewalk, and due to the lack of information goven to motorists it is sometimes the only sane place to ride. Texas is one such state, and there are some roads in Collin county that, unfortunately, you would be insane to ride on without hopping on the sidewalk.

4. 4 Ed W on Jul 20th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

   Thanks for the plug, Fritz! Actually, I got it from http://100ideasok.blogspot.com/ where the state is soliciting idea to improve Oklahoma. There’s a name for these idea-spawning exercises but it escapes me just now. Regardless, there are no bad ideas or stupid ideas when you’re doing something like this, because even an idiotic one can provide the spark for someone’s better idea. And if you’ve read CycleDog, you’ll know that I’m hardly afraid of idiotic ideas!

Of course, I have a few more ideas to add, and I'll likely return to this theme as more ideas pop out of my bottomless coffee cup.

I'd like to see employers entice their personnel to use bicycles for daily transportation by offering small cash incentives. If healthier employees make use of health insurance less frequently, companies save money, some of which should go back to those employees.

Some cities are looking at tax incentives for businesses that have a portion of their employees commute by bike.

Promote Route 66 as a cross-state cycling route, along with the old alignment of US40, the Joad Road as written about by Jim Foreman. The idea of using the old highways that often run parallel to modern interstates has some appeal since they're usually lightly traveled.

What about the Lincoln Highway - US30? Michael Wallis' new book may promote the Lincoln Highway just as he's promoted tourism along Route 66. And this holds a special interest for me since my old home town, Irwin, Pennsylvania, is along US30.