We didn’t officially arrive in TN until around 4pm.  Grey, gloomy, a bit of rain — barely saw the sun at all today.  Tomorrow, lots of stops planned in and around Nashville and I’m hoping for some improvement.  Torrential rain coming down right now at midnight as I write this.  And thunder which has Fixie terrified & trembling.

The dogs got lots of brief random runs.  Conveniently, there was a big grassy field right behind the oil change place that I stopped at today (marking the 9,000 mile mark on this trip so far).  Some big ponds — glad we are out of the gator-worry zone.  It seems like there aren’t as many motorcycles in AR as there are in other states so it’s been noticeably quieter inside the van.  Except there are still plenty of cows to set the family off.  We even saw a camel today!

This faded, partial tobacco ad was in Jonesboro, AR:

This sign was in Paragould, AR – the place still in business:

This place in Holcomb, MO though is long gone – not even a building on the lot:

I can’t resist old soda signs.  This one in Kennett, MO is embossed:

This place was in Blytheville, AR — had to include it (since I live in NYC):

I had heard that this sign in Jackson, TN was gone:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/428838720/

So I went to check it out to be sure.  I found this replacement sign:

I spoke to a guy working there & he said the old one was “falling apart” and it sounds like it was taken to the dump.  He said that it was going to cost more to repair the old sign than to buy a new one.  So that’s what they did.  Bummer.

Another from Jackson — This appears to be one of those old Art Deco era billboards.  Somewhere along the line, someone added knobs and a speaker to make it more radio set looking:

According to a local, this place was originally a funeral home.  It started out as just a house (see part of that way in the back left peeking out at the top) and then was expanded and remodeled to this look:

This restaurant is in Parsons, TN.  I love this sign for the neon arrow at the bottom:

Which brings us to where the dogs and I have settled for the night — Hurricane Mills, TN — home of Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen.  This neon guitar is above the restaurant’s plastic sign.  I’m not sure if the supporting pieces were inadvertently lit by the glow of the guitar’s neon or if they need to be painted out (with black paint):