So today — sunny blue skies!  The dogs had lots of rivers to swim in.  All was right with the world.  Lots of miles between stops at times which felt like a waste of good shooting time.  But I did enjoy the scenery.  Pine trees, dark blue rivers, clouds, and cool air.  Fall is here and too soon will come:  much dreaded winter.  Dreaded by me anyway.

An email deluge while I was out and about today.  Replied to most of them and it’s late already.  Picked out a selection of photos from today and then noticed from the very first one that I cropped:  a smudgey area at bottom center.  All day — every single photo.  I know I looked at the lens many times today and it looked fine even with my glasses on.  Now I know that method can’t be trusted. Dog drool?  Maybe it’s been that way for two days but I never noticed because of the grey.  It’s absolutely heartbreaking.  And means even more reshooting in my future.  Shall I just repeat this entire trip next year?  Ugh, I’m so depressed about it.  Tomorrow, I’ll be cleaning the lens like a fiend.  And when I get home, I’ll order 6 lens caps.  I lost the cap on the last big trip and never replaced it.

Okay then — bring on the smudgies (actually it looks like the first few are okay — but you’ll start noticing later):

A couple from Schenectady.  Always relieved to see this place still there:

This sign is quite the mish-mash:

From Howes Cave.  Spot be damned!  Right there a soupy area right below the “o”.  Anyway — the original owner’s son now runs the place.  He said the main reason that he can’t bear to sell the motel is that he knows the buyers would get rid of the sign.  A sign shop quoted him $5,000 to repaint the sign which he can’t afford.  He plans on doing it himself.  I asked about what might have been on the pointy thing on top.  There was some kind of a flashing mechanism.  Not sure what.  I didn’t ask if they ever heard from Holiday Inn about this sign:

Barking, drooling, spot-producing monsters!  Can I blame them for my agony?  Nah.  I’m sure it was me being sloppy with coffee or some such thing.  I’m really surprised that Fixie tolerated this.  Not like her to put up with physical nonsense.  I think they were both too tired to notice.  (As required by my own law, photo taken while driving.  The other two girls knocked out in the back.)

In Duanesburg — it was Moving Day at the Merli Ranch.  Merli Manufacturing that is.  Although not that big a move really.  A few hundred yards or so onto a proper foundation.  This is the former 9&20 Diner:
http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/former-9-20-diner-moves-to-museum/

foundation at left:

I didn’t stick around to watch the whole process.  The event was purely accidental on my part.  I was just driving by and there it was all loaded up.  I did meet Joe Merli.  And I watched the truck move back and forth for awhile.  Someone said there was going to be a crane involved.  A diner in the air would have made an exciting photo – sorry I had to miss it.  I did grab a shot of the train (engine car? what do I know of trains) that the diner will be named after.  They’re now within winking distance of each other on Merli’s property which will be used as a mini tourist village one day.

Moving on to Mayfield.  This neat geodesic dome could be yours!

From Syracuse.  Sign as canopy — or canopy as sign?  I just think the whole thing is very clever and colorful.  Although the guys working there just thought I was nuts and/or up to no good:

And last subject for the day — from Liverpool.  Not sure what gives better sense of scale so I’ll include them both.  Full sign:

and with Flamingo’s feathered friends:

OK — let’s hope for more sun tomorrow and a clean lens!  That’ll be Day 4 and final day of the trip.  Not sure if I’ll be blogging tomorrow night or making you wait.  Traditionally, I drive home and head off to work and publish the final trip post the day after.  But this is a much shorter drive home than usual.  I’ll probably just chime in a quick hi tomorrow night unless I’ve had coffee and feel ambitious.