The GAS tour of Route 50 passes through 12 states. So, for 12 months, near the first of the month, I'm going to start a topic about each of the states the tour will visit, in east to west order. I will give a brief description of things along Route 50 in the state, and then solicit questions and suggestions. Together, we will work out most of the details of the trip right here on PFF - lodging, food, gas, road conditions, where to spend our time, etc.



Much of the information I have about Route 50 comes from Wulf Berg's book, US 50 Coast to Coast, as described here. But Wulf wasn't traveling with a group, and he didn't have a schedule to keep.



To gather more information, a long time ago I started the Route 50 Yahoo group, patterned after the very successful Route 66 group. Unsurprisingly, it hasn't exactly grown (yet) into a treasure chest of new data.

Considering how little information is on the Internet about Route 50, and yet how it is so much of what we desire for a tour of small-town America, I believe we can document our trip and create something of value not only to ourselves, but to others. Some day, people will be quoting what WE say about Route 50, and not just what Wulf Berg says about it.

Anyway, let's move on to this month's discussion. Our tour begins in Maryland. In the GAS website (click the logo in my sig), click on "Route 50 Info", and then select "Maryland & DC". Notice there is a link to a map. On the map, if you roll your mouse over one of the pushpins, a brief description will pop up. If the description says "More info…", that is a link to something about the particular location or attraction. I have not yet created these maps for every state on the tour, btw, but I expect to finish them before they come up for the monthly topics here.

One PFF member who lives near the starting point in Ocean City has already been in contact with me about possibilities for what to do there before getting underway. I will let him post with his information and suggestions. Another PFF member near there tells me the traffic in D.C. can be bad, and mentioned that some people might want to take a bypass. That's the kind of discussion I hope these topics will attract. I need to know if the side trips listed on my web page actually are interesting or not, and if there are other options that I'm not aware of. We don't want to be in too much of a hurry; we want to see America. But we also need the tour completed in about 3 weeks.

So, when you arrive in the area of Ocean City for the start of the tour, we may have a couple of interesting possibilities for lodging. One is to crash at the rather large home of a certain Fiero owner there. Another is that we might get a good deal at Best Western. We are working on a cookout of crabs and seafood. And there will be a big car show that weekend. Although the entry fee is high (in 2009 it's $45 for outdoor, $65 for indoor), parking is free, so we could have our own little Fiero show on the side.

Once we set the tour in motion, we go through Salisbury, then Cambridge, where we can detour for just a few miles to get a scenic view of Chesapeake Bay, and a big old windmill is on the way. Proceeding north to Easton, a nice side trip might be to the town of St. Michaels. We cross the Bay and find ourselves in Annapolis. Want to take a 1 hour tour of the Naval Academy? By mid-day we're in Washington D.C. Route 50 takes us right up to the White House. We cross the Potomac, entering Virginia.

So take a look at the GAS website, then come back here and talk about it.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention… you are very welcome to join us in something other than a Fiero.
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The Fiero Store is the
exclusive sponsor of GAS

[This message has been edited by Just Say Go (edited 08-02-2008).]

My parents just spent the weekend at St. Michaels and took a nice winery tour. They thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't been there in years, since I was about 12 years old, but it is a neat little town.

~ Jen

I guess I should chime in as the Ocean City liaison. I'm just gonna post what I sent through email, and add corrections/revisions below.

quote The first thing that comes to mind is that there is a car show that is always the first week in June. This year it is the 7th and 8th. If everything holds as it should, the show would be the Sat. and Sun. before we start the cruise. The car show website is http://www.occarshow.com/ . I will talk to my dad over the weekend, and will find out if it is the car show that is put on by a friend of ours. If it is his show, I might be able to call in a couple of favors, since he is a bit of a Fiero fan. My dad does maintenance work for a Best Western hotel, and he is able to work out reduced rates for people. The hotel is right near the main restaurant attractions in the city, with Seacrets and Fagers Island being the two biggest ones. The other option, since we are gonna be spending money along the way for rooms and food, is to have a good ol' eastern shore cookout. Nothing is more eastern shore than a bushel of crabs and some seafood with a group of friends. Plus, the cost of that would be substantially less compared to a restaurant The cost of crabs is about $60/dozen from a restaurant versus $40 for a bushel (about 8-12 dozen depending on size) to steam yourself. I know some people will want to stay at a hotel, but for those that don't mind, we will have our new house built by the end of this year/early next year, so we will have 6000 sq. ft. of space for people to crash for the night. After we leave Ocean City, there isn't much along the route. The only thing I can think of along the lines of a tourist attraction is the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, which from what I have been told is rather lacking in interesting attractions (they didn't see a single animal when they were there in August). I would suggest just heading towards D.C., as we would get there around midday (it's about a 3 hr drive from OC to DC) and there is enough to look at there. Route 50 goes right through downtown DC, ends at the White House, and picks up again at Arlington Cemetery where it continues on to the west. I will continue to do some research and see if there are any other attractions along the way, but I'm not really sure it will be necessary.

From what I've been told recently, the company my dad works for is in the process of becoming bank property, so it looks like after the new year he will be in need of a new job. I do not know how that affects the hotel connections, though. He does work for the restaurant in the hotel (his boss' son's place) and that will not be going anywhere after the foreclosure, but my dad may not be available to do work for them anymore.

Hopefully someone from the other side of the bridge can chime in with more details, as what I've found about D.C. is merely from looking at maps and a couple web searches. My route may not be perfectly accurate, but it looks like we could easily spend half or even a whole day there sightseeing. After you leave O.C. you basically get to look at flat cornfields and the occasional body of water, but nothing exciting. There are a couple of modernized historic towns, as well as a couple small colonial style historic towns, but they would require a 1hr+ drive in the wrong direction to get to them.

[This message has been edited by wikid_one (edited 08-02-2008).]

hey wikid, could u do me a favor? stop at melvins steakhouse and like bring me some food? im starving :P

god i miss living summers in OC
great grandmother used to own a place between first and 2nd street..
sorry for going offtopic, lol, stomach got the best of me :P

This drive will be so cool, cant wait till you cross the river in to Va.

quote Originally posted by wikid_one: ... D.C. ... it looks like we could easily spend half or even a whole day there sightseeing.

I wonder how much DC sightseeing our people will want to do. Sources tell me the traffic there is not just bad, it's horrible. And I hate crowds. Plus, we really need to get the tour moving along. I've never been to the nation's capitol, and yeah I'd love to see all kinds of stuff. But my personal preference would be just to get some photo opportunities for the cars.

Anyway, that's what this topic is for - to see what y'all want to do in these places. One thing I found out is the free White House tours are only Tuesday thru Saturday, so that won't be an option unless we change our start date.

Having grown up just outside of DC I would advise avoiding the area. Unless you know the area its very easy to get off on the wrong street and is very difficult to find your way back and as for following someone.....due to traffic and such it is near impossible.

My Grandpa's front lawn is right on Route 50 in Mount Storm, West Virginia. Say Hi as you drive by.

Jim

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I live in northern Va., when we go in to the city we park and take the metro. Altho it would realy be cool to see a 1,000 Feros Cruze the Tideal Basin befor they leave town .
.

quote Originally posted by Miker: Having grown up just outside of DC I would advise avoiding the area. Unless you know the area its very easy to get off on the wrong street and is very difficult to find your way back and as for following someone.....due to traffic and such it is near impossible.

I agree. I sent an email to the the feedback link expressing this concern. My suggestion would be time the cruise through DC on a Sat/Sun morning very early AND give caravaners the option of circling the beltway and meeting up on the Virginia side. Route 50 from outside DC in MD through downtown to VA can be a nightmare traffic-wise for a group of cars almost any other time. It would be very cool to cruise down Constitution AV past the Washington Monument, tho!

quote Originally posted by jazz4cash: My suggestion would be time the cruise through DC on a Sat/Sun morning very early AND give caravaners the option of circling the beltway and meeting up on the Virginia side. Route 50 from outside DC in MD through downtown to VA can be a nightmare traffic-wise for a group of cars almost any other time. It would be very cool to cruise down Constitution AV past the Washington Monument, tho!

I agree. Personally, I would really want to at least drive through DC and see it, even if I don't stop. And this tour should stay on 50 as much as possible, but definitely give the option of a bypass (after all, I did ask what places to avoid - it's just sad we're talking about our nation's capitol, with its major historic landmarks).

So I wouldn't be against changing the start date, as long as it still works for the majority of those who plan to come. But how do we get to DC "very early", when it takes several hours to get there from Ocean City? Wouldn't we have to start the tour at about 4:00 a.m.? And if so, where does that put us when we need to stop that first night?

Why do you have to arrive in D.C. early am ? why not after dinner and stay in a hotel / motel that night see the sights the next day an leave for Va on the following day? I am sure there will be areas where there will not be much of interest to see or do. For many this trip to the Nations Capital will only happen once. Besides morning and evening rush hours realy are terrible. There is so much to do and see that one day is not enough , a couple of hours could be eaten up just finding parking> my sugestion is stay in the suburbs and take the meto in for the sights.

just say go and silver

good dialogue....we need to hash thru this a bit more. As a native DC resident, I sometimes forget how impressive it is for others to see where all thier money gets spent and many may not make it back this way again. We need to figure a way to drive through town and stop for the night in the burbs near metro, then break for a day for those that wish to take metro into town to see some sights up close. Metro is the ONLY way to go to see some sights.

Is there an overall map or schedule posted to some webpage somewhere?

The link to the route is here -> http://www.justsaygo.us/GAS_landmarks.html

I see that I've crossed Rt 50 many time during my travels north and south and have been on Rt 50 a few times too. It is a couple of weeks of travel time...hhmmm will the Fiero be ready to roll for that long a trip?

Not only the district, there are plenty of interesting places in Southern MD, VA and all 50 states. With this being a loose cruse there will be a time for every one to do that very spiecel activety. Wouldnt it be ausome to have a Fiero car show on the mall? think about it . The National Mall has been called the Nations Front Yard To get the park service to alow an all fiero show on the MALL would be allsome. No judging no prizes just the cars and owners telling about our pride and joy
Mabey then we could get just a little respect.

quote Originally posted by jazz4cash: Is there an overall map or schedule posted to some webpage somewhere?

The beginnings of a very rough draft of the schedule is here... http://www.justsaygo.us/GAS_Tour_Details.html

Great discussion! I am warming up to the thought of spending some time in DC. And a show-n-shine on the mall... wow. I wonder who we need to contact about that.

quote Originally posted by Just Say Go: ... a show-n-shine on the mall... wow. I wonder who we need to contact about that.

n/m, I found out how to get a permit. I just don't have any idea how many cars to expect.

How much notice does the Park Service require? Do they require event insureance? You could preregister and then add 25% to get a workable number. Let me know if i can help in any way.

quote Originally posted by silverbullet910: How much notice does the Park Service require? Do they require event insureance? You could preregister and then add 25% to get a workable number. Let me know if i can help in any way.

I forgot to take their phone # to work with me today. They only answer it from 8 to 4. We are 2 years (almost) away from the event, and already have 15 people saying they will be at the start of the tour. I guess I'll tell them we could have 30 to 50 cars on display.

I really hope that being able to set up a couple of events such as this would be enough to get the borderline people to join us for whatever they can handle. Even if it is just the local people coming out for the day it is still better than only having 3 cars out there.

A couple other things I've been thinking about...
-How are we planning on determining monetary requirements? I know that each person will pay their way as far as gas and things like that, but how about something like the Mall, or other events we may encounter. I'm gonna assume that they would just have a lump sum fee for the permit. I would hate to see arguments and the associated downfall because of unexpected monetary issues.
-Also, it may be too far down the road, but have you given any thought to how we will get updates back to the community? The simple way would be to just find a wifi signal wherever we stop, and just upload to the forum that way. But what about getting something on TV, like area newscasts as we cruise through that town.
-Lastly, any thought on getting some sponsors? I know nothing about that area, but maybe someone who has experience with sponsorship can chime in with their thoughts.

Costs would be like that of the Hot Rod Power Tour. You register for the tour all other expenses are yours to bear motel, food etc. Venues along the way (sponsers) may put out food etc, but they are usually advertisers in the magazine, so it gets written off as a business expense. You can see that the individuals costs can get pretty pricey if there are no sponsors or venues that have something to offer. I can easily see that your costs may be in the range of $100/day motel, food, gas and "entertainment"...

Many people may only attend portions of the cruse within 200 miles of home unless there is a once in your life event . Once the total cost of an event that may be held along the way is known then you can acess
the individual cost .

I called about permits for the National Mall, and was told I could download a permit application. Applications are not accepted earlier than 1 year in advance, and the cost is $50.

I had hoped to afford such costs (few, I hope) by selling some merchandise items on Cafepress, but the designer of the logo ("F-I-E-R-O" on this forum) has skipped town without sending me the original file for the current logo. He had started to build a Cafepress store, but the logo did not work with the window stickers because portions of the top & bottom were cropped, similar to someone taking a bad photo of a friend or relative and cutting off part of their head from the picture. This problem was never resolved, and as I said, I don't have a high-resolution copy of the logo, and I cannot presently afford a professional to make another logo. Attempts to find someone here to make a new logo have not resulted in any drafts being submitted to me.

Otherwise, all costs are the responsibility of the participant. The good news is there are no registration costs, no forms to fill out, no deadlines, and no commitment requirements to be a participant.

I do intend to seek discounts on things like lodging, food, etc., but I'm not expecting much of that for an event with no more than a handful of cars at any particular place & time. No matter how much we promote it, the return on their investment would likely be minimal indeed. Regardless, from my experience, those people don't usually talk with you about such things until it gets within a year away.

Regarding "updates to the community", my expectation was that people would tag along for a few days, then return home and post their stories & pics. Additionally, some participants would plug in their laptop at the hotel room and fire off a few posts before turning in.

As for local news coverage, that's a great idea. I would love for Fiero enthusiasts along the route to call their own local broadcasters and fill them in on what's going to happen in their area. Again, however, they won't likely be interested until the event is less than a year away. For wider coverage, I DO intend to contact certain media groups about it. I have already tried to contact The Travel Channel, but never received a reply. National Geographic and others are going to hear from me as well. If anyone has contacts with such groups, I'd love to talk with you!

Other than possible discounts for specific things as mentioned above, The Fiero Store is the EXCLUSIVE sponsor of the Go And Show. They have to consider fairness issues with other Fiero organizations and events regarding their involvement (e.g. they won't pack event flyers in customers' orders), but if there is something you would like them to do especially for this event, feel free to contact them, or send it to me and I will pass it along. Meanwhile, I am working with them to find creative ways to support each other.

quote Originally posted by wikid_one: I really hope that being able to set up a couple of events such as this would be enough to get the borderline people to join us for whatever they can handle. Even if it is just the local people coming out for the day it is still better than only having 3 cars out there. A couple other things I've been thinking about... -How are we planning on determining monetary requirements? I know that each person will pay their way as far as gas and things like that, but how about something like the Mall, or other events we may encounter. I'm gonna assume that they would just have a lump sum fee for the permit. I would hate to see arguments and the associated downfall because of unexpected monetary issues. -Also, it may be too far down the road, but have you given any thought to how we will get updates back to the community? The simple way would be to just find a wifi signal wherever we stop, and just upload to the forum that way. But what about getting something on TV, like area newscasts as we cruise through that town. -Lastly, any thought on getting some sponsors? I know nothing about that area, but maybe someone who has experience with sponsorship can chime in with their thoughts.

quote Originally posted by jazz4cash: ...We need to figure a way to drive through town and stop for the night in the burbs near metro...

Anybody got hotel suggestions for this?

My suggestion would to have someone in the local area cordanate things like hotels,restrants, sights and routes to miss high traffic. These peaple would post to you and you would then post it to your sight.

Google Maps has a street view of the "Sacramento CA 3073" sign!

quote Originally posted by Just Say Go: Google Maps has a street view of the "Sacramento CA 3073" sign!

Hey that's the Rt. 50 Bridge heading out of Ocean City

I just realized someone must have taken that out their back window

[This message has been edited by shredd (edited 05-29-2009).]

yep.... that makes me sad to see that... ocean city used to be a fun place, but when my great grandparents passed and they turned their little hotel they had into a parking lot... everytime i go there its just like "ugh..."

Hey, Ocean City finally got street view. They are almost a real city now!