Sorry to make you wait.  Lots of distractions and stuff needing attending to since I’ve gotten home.  The heat continues here in NYC — 90s and humid.  What a long summer it’s been!

Let’s move on to the trip stats.  I took about 5,000 photos on this five-week, 14,660 mile journey.  Spent about $1,500 on gas.  I don’t keep track of hotel/food expenses.  Only got one ticket ($140 in IN) and two warnings (IL & KS, free!).  I certainly deserved more speeding tickets but I’m not complaining!  Thanks especially to KS & MO where I was doing 80 mph on a regular basis.  That was a big time saver.

About three days of shooting were lost early on during this trip for mechanical repairs — a grand total of $979.72 (O2 sensor & wiper module, cam sensor & distributor, and A/C fix).  Plus three oil changes.  Not bad for a van with 263,000 miles on her.  I’m hoping for another 100,000.   These Astros are tough!

And now, for the final batch of photos.  Back in time to Day 26 in Indiana and Kentucky.  These neat foam statues were affixed to the side of Mr. Muffler & Brake Center in Owensboro, KY.  I’m told they hold brake tools & parts.

This guy was modeled after the guy in the photo below who was nice enough to give me that big smile:

Another photo from Owensboro.  This Mid-City Plaza sign sure looks like an adapted Frisch’s sign to me.  The shapes are right but the top part would have been red (not green) porcelain enamel.  Here’s an example from Ohio:

Very cool lights at the Holiday Drive-in in Rockport, IN:

Also in Rockport.  It appears that H&B Kustoms is now J&M Fireworks:

Oh dear, I’m not finding this one in my notes right now so I can’t tell you where it is.  I just liked the combination of this one:  the painted business name & roosters, the old plastic dairy products sign, and the building’s false front.  I think this was a Mexican restaurant now but I’m not sure:

I’ve posted at least a couple Dog N Suds signs over at Flickr earlier in this trip:

ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4844779861/

Here then is an example of an adapted DnS sign in Dale, IN:

I can’t think of any neon signs with representations of cigarettes.  Cigars, yes, but not cigarettes.  This is at Carefree Cheap Smokes at the Marengo, IN exit off I-64.

A pretty blue porcelain sign in New Albany, IN:

Another one from New Albany:

Pretty summer flowers in New Albany.  Out of my league here – zinnias?

Still in New Albany.  I can’t think of any signs still around with representations of moonshine stills:

I came upon this VW van in Jeffersonville.  My first van, more than 30 years ago back in California, looked just like this.  It was probably the same year, also white, but missing the artwork of course:

Sparkle poses, respectfully, in the background.  The bumper sticker made me laugh:  “Honk if Parts Fall Off”:

Apparently a combo house / business in Louisville.  I was going to take some photos of the other side of this place where there’s similar chaos but the owner was giving me death glares.  I’ve already gotten yelled at twice on this trip by crazies and just didn’t feel up for it today.

Moving on to Day 37, Sunday.  I gave myself a firm deadline of noon.  But I was a naughty pony and kept shooting til 3pm.  Which meant not arriving home around midnight.  But instead — snoozing for a few hours at a truck stop, running the dogs in NJ in the morning, facing some rush hour City traffic, and napping a bit later on.  But I’m none the worse for it and maybe 100 photos richer.

This octagonal building is from Lexington.  Now the “Standardbred Stable of Memories”.  After poking around on-line a bit, it turns out this was built in 1882 and used for floral displays on what was then a fairground.  There’s a trotting track right behind this building now.  The dogs had a great time barking at all the real and fake horses in Kentucky.

A couple more photos from Lexington.  A Chicago style sign hanger.  I don’t think I saw many (or any) of these in Kentucky:

This sign looks soooo familiar.  Perhaps it was mass-produced?  I’m tempted to say it was a car dealership but that might be way off.  I’m counting on you Lexington-ers to identify this one.

Last stop of the trip and last photo for this blog post marathon.  After a few stops in Winchester, KY I gas-ed up and picked up this soda for the long road home.  It was Ginger Ale-y and great.  Produced right there in Winchester.  Pronounced “A late one”.  More about it here:
http://ale8one.com/history

And so concludes what was an awesome trip.  I hope you enjoyed sharing the highs and lows.  The dogs and I will be hitting the road again in March for a similar-sized trip focusing on Oklahoma and Texas.  I will probably do some quickie trips & blog posts between now and then.  I’ll also be hard at work adding stuff to the website.  You can follow my progress at the “What’s New” page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/whatsnew.html

Thanks for posting comments and giving positive feedback during the trip.  I looked forward to that after a long day of driving & shooting.  I hope that these posts have inspired you to take more roadtrips and photos of stuff near and far.  Have a great summer – what’s left of it – and that appears to be a lot!