Craig Harmon's great American odyssey started with a 1964 open-cab fire
truck, a giant American flag and a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair.
Harmon, 46, has spent the better part of two years traveling through the
country's heartland, sharing his unabashed love of the United States even
before the Sept. 11 attacks sparked a new wave of patriotism.
Something of a modern-day Don Quixote, Harmon tells a story about what
happens when someone trusts in fate, humanity and the spirit of Lincoln.
And America's firefighters.
"The firemen," he said with great reverence during a recent interview in
San Francisco, "are really like modern-day guardian angels. They just drop
what they're doing and risk their lives to help you. And they've welcomed me
with open arms."
Harmon is the founder of the Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives
in Galion, Ohio. The Lincoln Highway was the nation's first transcontinental
highway. When it was completed in 1913, it linked New York City to San
Francisco, making it possible for the first time to drive across the country
on one continuous, hard-surface road.
Harmon, a photojournalist who has never been a firefighter himself, wanted
to drum up support for the highway and the "greatest president" for whom it
was named. So he decided to drive the length of the Lincoln Highway -- in
style.
In July 2000, he set off with $1,000 cash and the framed brown lock of
Lincoln's hair that was lent to him by Miami University in Ohio. He was
driving the classic vehicle he calls "America's Fire truck," the eye-catcher
he bought from a friend for $6,000. It gets 4 miles to the gallon.
"To carry the flag across the country that way," he said, "now that would
be compelling."
Harmon stopped in each of the 450 towns along the highway, which winds
through Philadelphia, Chicago, Omaha, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Oakland.
After showing up unannounced at each town's fire station, he raised the
American flag on his truck's 100-foot ladder and took a picture.
And in town after town, hearts swelled with pride.
It is a splendid sight, said Doug Churchill, a 46-year-old San Francisco
resident who said he was watching the sun set over Ocean Beach when he saw the
stars and stripes fill the sky.
"That flag up against the sky is actually quite spectacular," Churchill
said. "I ran out to hug him, I was so overwhelmed."
Firefighters and other kind strangers have fed and sheltered Harmon along
the way, including Churchill, who cooked him a dinner of pork chops and
ravioli.
Mayors and other fans have splurged and filled his gas tank. Small-town
newspapers have written stories and splashed his photograph across their front
pages.
And Harmon himself has fallen in love all over again with the route he says
binds the nation together.
"The beauty of America is in its changing landscape," said the man with a
salt-and-pepper beard, a faraway look in his eye. The bumpity-bump road, where
he was confined to driving just 45 mph, was "built for the eye," revealing an
intimate look at American life that is missed by modern interstate highways.
"Sometimes, I'd like to be able to do it in one continuous day. Rolling
plains to sand dunes to mountains," he said. "And when you come out of the
Sierra and into California, the land of milk and honey . . . it's something
everybody dreams they can do, to let life take care of itself."
The trip, which Harmon timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of a
similar trek in 1915 by members of the Lincoln Highway Association, had
several interruptions.
In January 2001, Harmon and his truck were part of the inaugural parade for
President Bush. Engine troubles have also slowed him down, and he spent five
months stranded in Utah while he rebuilt the engine.
Harmon finally completed his journey this Fourth of July. He raised the
flag in front of the highway's end in San Francisco's Lincoln Park at the
Palace of the Legion of Honor.
Then to celebrate, Harmon went to Ocean Beach, and pulled Lincoln's lock
from the inner coat of his yellow firefighter's jacket. There, he dipped his
big toe in the frigid water for the president who never lived to visit
California.
"Abe Lincoln always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean," he said.
Harmon's journey put him at a unique vantage point to gauge how America has
changed since the 9/11 attacks. He had just left his hometown of Galion for
the final leg of his journey on Sept. 5, 2001.
On the morning of Sept. 11, Harmon was sleeping in a fire station in Goshen,
Ind., when a firefighter woke him up by saying, "You won't believe this."
Harmon watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on television and for
several days that followed, he wondered whether he would finish his journey at
all.
"I was the only person who was carrying a flag across the country and
visiting fire departments." But, he said, "I wasn't going to ride the
coattails of 300 brave men."
He decided to continue after all, and was surprised to find he was received
even more enthusiastically at stations along the way. The volunteer fire
department of Valley, Neb., gave Harmon a fire hat signed by its chief.
That started Harmon onto another quest -- to collect fire hats from towns
along the Lincoln Highway as a memorial to the fallen firefighters of New York.
He has more than 80 hats sitting on his truck now.
"I carried the energy of all the firemen across the country," he said.
Harmon plans to bring those hats to New York City and raise the flag near
ground zero on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he will then
ask firefighters from around the world to send signed helmets to make a
memorial to the slain firefighters.
"Fire service is a brotherhood," Harmon said. "If you ever get in trouble,
go to a fire station."
For more information
Craig Harmon invites anyone who wants to learn more about the Lincoln
Highway, or who has archival materials about the highway that they may be able
to share, to contact him at (419) 566-0790. Information is available online at
lincoln-highway-museum.org.
E-mail Kelly St. John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com.
