Just another beautiful day out here.  I’m pretty sure it’s raining back home and down South.  This portion of Southern Indiana and Illinois has been a section of the country that always got ditched on previous roadtrips when I ran out of time.  So it’s good finally to get ‘er done. 

Lots of new stuff (old stuff that’s new to my eyes) and some unexpected stuff. Like Wilson’s General Store & Cafe which is way west of Evansville (but Google says still in that city).  The owner has a nice collection of old signs.  This guy had me making the big U-turn initially.  I’ve always been a big fan of bellhop signs.  A waving arm like the Dairy Queen Curly the Clown (see Flickr post tonight) signs and some others.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4844753289/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/781564569/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8171213@N03/517394231/

This one has the light behind the hand like the DQ Clown signs.  For DQ, that was a way of showing when they were open — so probably for bellhops, that was a way for motels to show they still had vacancies.  This bellhop sign has a little plaque on the side showing its origin: Wilson’s also had an old KFC weathervane sign — though that piece is missing now.  Here’s what it would have looked like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/2768197468/ 

 And the nicest of all — to me anyway — is this super oldie — a “marble sign” (my name).  The marble letters reflected at night when car headlights hit them. 

 On to Evansville where there was lots of great stuff.

I’ve seen the design of this one before — here’s an example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4498401999/
but the diamonds between the poles are new to me.  Maybe they all had them? The Fares Ave. stretch in Evansville used to have many motels.  Now most of them have been converted into used car lots — most now closed.  Very sad.  Here’s one survivor: At the Zesto on my list, I noticed this old ad in the window.  I didn’t know about the other two locations so I asked.  The one on Franklin still there — so I went. I was told the one on Boonville Highway was torn down.  It was near Midget Links where I was heading anyway.  While I was there, I noticed this building and I’m feeling pretty sure that this was the Zesto.  Now a car repair place, sort of.  Didn’t notice that old Coke machine til just now.  I’ll have to do an address match when I get home.  But the building style looks pretty typical Zesto — minus the glass block at front which has been messed with / removed at many locations:
http://agilitynut.com/eateries/zesto.html Moving on to Princeton.  I spotted this building from several blocks away and knew what I was dealing with.  An unexpected sighting of a Conoco gas station — now an Enterprise car rental.  The curved glassy backside is a giveaway.  I’m not sure if I’ve seen one of these Conocos this far north before.  Here’s a bunch in Louisiana:
http://www.agilitynut.com/gas/lacan2.html This station would have had two canopies originally:

 Although the tile on the front of this one has been stucco-ed or painted over, at least the tile inside the curved bay remains intact:

 From Vincennes — I’m sure the “White” was a reference to the cleanliness of the kitchen — not the clientele: Also Vincennes — the rink not so much a “paradise” any more:

 And to end this post on a sad & grim note — here’s what’s left of the Paoli Drive-in:

 Much more cheerful stuff to come — but I’m going to make you wait.  I’ll be shooting more Indiana & some Kentucky tomorrow.  Then, I’ll check in briefly here and hit the road towards home.  Sunday will be all coffee and interstate.  I’ll post the final day’s photos at Flickr & here on Monday or more likely Tuesday.

To hold you over, if you’re a blog follower but have not been following the simultaneous Flickr uploads, here’s what you’ve missed so far on this trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/sets/72157624506040652/