It was a low volume day in terms of picturing taking.  High volume in terms of coffee and snack consumption.  Boredom dictated it.  Lots of miles with few stops and plenty of one-photo towns in the southern tips of IL & MO.  Tomorrow, probably more of the same – in pretty much the same type area.  Plus a tiny bit of nearby TN.  Less populated, more rural areas have far fewer of the subjects that I like to shoot.  So this and the next post may be short.  Unless I start shooting landscapes — naaaah. 

Only four days left to shoot — then Sunday will be a hellish interstate day heading home.  I’ll probably focus on southern IL & IN.  No time to be thorough about them either.  The rest of those stops and OH/KY will have to wait until next spring’s trip.

The day pretty much started in Collinsville, IL.  Here are a couple shots from there.  A colorful Independent Order of Odd Fellows sign:

I have a weakness for all things relating to coal mining.  This building detail from the Miner’s Institute:

Although I got no feedback from anybody about the guy I shot with the motorized 4-wheeled bike thing, I will not be discouraged!  In Belleville, IL, I made a big illegal U-turn for this woman and raced to catch up.  She pulled into the McDonald’s and parked which made it easier than a motion shot.  And a far better result with her pose and smile.

A couple signs from Belleville.  Those are painted holes — how strange!  Too bad about the altered text.

This sign has probably seen nine lives.  Still a neat and weird doctor figure:

Snack time!  I have never tried this classic candy.  Although it was way overpriced, I went for it.  How bad could anything with chocolate and marshmallow be?  It turned out to be defective.  I could barely open the wrapper since the contents of one of the candies had leaked out.  The other one was fairly intact but the chocolate tasted stale.  I give this one a D (also for disgusting).  Or maybe I just had a bad batch.
http://www.valomilk.com/

Perhaps equally disgusting to you — though a normal part of my life.  My eager passengers create a lot of window schmear with their noses.  It’s really not as bad-looking as this — I just caught the glare right so you can see it.  My side is perfectly clean.  This is maybe two days worth — that’s what Fantastic and paper towels are for. 

Let’s close with a little bit of a detective story.  I have long wondered if there is anything left of the Greyhound station in Flat River, MO:

Turns out there’s nothing left of Flat River really since it’s become part of Park Hills now.  But I got the scoop on where the building was from the Chamber of Commerce.  So there you go:  now a laundromat — its curved corners are the only thing left (nothing worth mentioning inside).

Here’s the same building design in Waverly, TN that I shot in 2007.   Still there but repurposed as you can see.  More photos & info about the bldg at my site here:
http://agilitynut.com/bus/tn.html