Yellowstone Trail Association honors OCW alumni

On February 9, The Yellowstone Trail Association (www.YellowstoneTrail.org) held its annual Board of Directors Meeting at Sentry World in Stevens Point, Wis. As part of the meeting, former Old Cars Weekly editor John Gunnell and former Old Cars Weekly advertising representative Dave Sarna were presented with certificates recognizing them as “Honorary Trailmen.”

The Yellowstone Trail was the first coast-to-coast highway across the Northern United States. It was known as “A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound.” The trail was blazed by a man named Mike Dowling driving a 1913 Oakland 6-60 touring car.

During the first week of October 2017, the two Old Cars Weekly alumni took Gunnell’s 1917 Oakland Model 34 touring car across the Wisconsin section of The Yellowstone Trail in a promotion designed to raise money for the Lion’s International Summer Camp for Blind and Disabled Children in Rosholt, Wis. Gunnell and Sarna raised over $7,500 in direct donations and mileage pledges with their 7-day-long tour.

Mark Mowbray, the Executive Director of the Yellowstone Trail Assoc., made the presentations at the meeting. “Trailman was the term used for the important individual in each major town along The Yellowstone Trail who was assigned to answer questions and help direct travelers in his area,” Mowbray explained. “It was an important assignment in those days. We do not have many folks these days who actually do that, but we do honor individuals who have contributed efforts in their areas to promote the Yellowstone Trail and you two certainly did that on your YT WI Tour in October.”