The dogs and I just crossed over into Illinois early this evening. We’re in Danville to be exact.  I’m eager to get cracking on a new state tomorrow.  I’m officially at the halfway point in this trip. Realizing that many of you are new passengers on the bus, let me just take a time-out to mention a few things that might be of interest to newcomers or whoever else is detail-oriented.

The photos that appear in this blog are actually the “throwaways” — the stuff that I would not have shot if not for this blog.  In addition to this blog, every night I also upload a handful of photos of the “important” stuff over at my agilitynut Flickr stream.  Those and the hundreds of other photos will find their way into my website over the next few months.

I maintain a grueling schedule but I think it’s an important undertaking and hopefully entertaining to spectators.  It wouldn’t be most people’s idea of “fun” but I’m not one to relax either at home or on vacation.  A rough approximation of the madness:

6-7:30am — get up and deal with emails, flickr & blog comments; get the dogs a good run
7:30am-8:30pm — non-stop driving & photo-ing except for peeing, getting gas & getting the dogs swims & runs
8:30pm-10:30pm — more emails, flickr & blog comments
10:30pm-11:30pm — pick out some photos, crop & tweak ’em
11:30pm-12:30am — upload photos to flickr, more emails & comments
12:30am-1:30 or 2am — upload photos & write blog
2-6am — sleep!

So, now you’ll know why my emails and comments are so brief during these trips.  And why the blog might seem a bit incoherent.  Staying up to do this stuff until 2am is a killer – but when I look back, I’m proud of the chronicle that I’ve created.  And I hope it’s the next best thing to being there for you.

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Okay — so on with today’s post. Weather was hot, low 90s but great clouds and sun. The dogs got lots of exercise — most of it water-related. I posted a quick little video at Flickr of our arrival at the Tippecanoe River in Monticello this afternoon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/3825351632/

Spent a good part of the morning in the Gary area.  Chicago will be later in the trip.  The following signs are from Gary — all closed businesses so who knows how much longer they will survive.  Although given our country’s present economic situation, maybe they’ll be spared for awhile.

At the Woodmar Mall in Hammond:

Bazz’s Roller Rink is in Rensselaer:

Today’s junk food discovery.  I give it an A-.  A Rocky Road sort of thing with marshmallow, caramel and nuts. Posed in front of a detour sign — which was a recurring phenomenon for the day.  Lots of road work and in addition to that, annoyingly speed limit-obedient drivers.  Had hoped to at least get SOME Illinois stuff in today but no such luck.

I can’t remember where I shot this.  But I have seen a number of these barber shop signs in different states now.  This one is in pretty good shape — and yes, still used in conjunction with a barber shop.

This one from West Lafayette.  Even though the neon is gone and Sparkletone may or may not be the original name, still a nice contribution to the urban landscape.

Okay — this is NOT my cone.  Having just had a snack, I could only regret it and lust after someone else’s good fortune.  This young girl was happy to have me shoot her cone.  I love her bracelets.  Maybe this will be a neck tack for me: to shoot other people’s food.  This portrait taken at the Original Frozen Custard in Lafayette (a photo of the building over at my Flickr agilitynut account tonight).

This sign was located north of Rockville.  The exact town wasn’t clear.

In addition to the nice Pizza King neon crown signs, there are a lot of these plastic king signs scattered around Indiana.  This one in Rensselaer I believe.

And despite my sampling the other day, I hadn’t realized the unique way this chain slices their pies into little squares.  This little faux stained glass window featuring the King at a Lafayette location:

At this same location, there are dining booths with video games.  I didn’t see anyone playing them so I’m very curious how it works.  Poking around on-line, it looks like another location in Franklin has these — and there may be others.

So then, that brings us to the conclusion of Indiana and Ohio.  Unless I have time for the little southern slices of of both states that I had planned for the return home.  Not looking likely at this point since I’m at least two days behind schedule.

Here’s what the “clumps” (lists and maps) for Illinois look like — topped with a little truffle assortment from McCord Candies in Lafayette.  I’m sure the truffles will be gone before I finish this batch of destinations.  I expect I’ll be in Illinois for at least four days.