From The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, July 11, 1916: More than a score of pilgrim motorists arrived in Indianapolis last evening over the recently planned Dixie Highway. The motorcade of seven car loads traveling from Leesburg, Florida to Chicago arrived from French Lick, Indiana with many local escort cars which had met the tourists at points along the route. The pilot car on last year’s inaugural trip from Chicago to Miami over the first highway into the South was a Cole Eight and another of the local cars will act as pilot through Indiana on this year’s northward journey. The Southern tourists had nothing but praise not only for Hoosier hospitality but for Indiana roads. Though some bad stretches were traversed, for the most part the highways were in excellent condition – many of them being well oiled.