Fantastic sun all day long.  Only one glitch around 10am.  The check engine light came on and the blood drained from my body.  Sparkle running perfectly fine — but off to the nearest Chevy dealer I could find.  They hooked up the computer & it came back as a transmission problem.  Not the transmission itself at all but something more technical.  They were booked up til Thursday the earliest.  So off to another Chevy dealer I went about a half hour away.  Van running fine all the way there but the light still on.  Their computer came up as transmission problem also.  Something like torque converter or solenoid or something.  They said it would only be guessing what it could be without any physical problems.  They reset the computer and said to take it to another dealer if the light comes back on.  Which could be 10 minutes later… or never.  So I tried not to freak out about it — though I’m checking the light panel every three seconds all day.  Drove for about eight hours (after wasting two hours of beautiful sun at those dealerships) — and ran without hitches or lights.  What can you do but keep on driving.

Enough babbling — on with the photos.  From Battle Creek — a nicely maintained mid-century porte-cochère (I hate it when people use that word, so I will for a laugh).  I don’t know what it was originally but Econolodge is there now.  The style looks familiar but I can’t place it.  Anybody?

One more from Battle Creek.  Love this modified laundry sign.  Those are real clothes hanging there!

From Jackson — glowing even in the daytime.  Yet, no night shots at Flickr.

Both Todoroff’s that I saw in Jackson were closed.  This one is a “retro” building from 2001 — the correct use of the word — built new to imitate old.  Here’s the history of the chain here:
http://www.todoroffs.com/toci/Our_History/our_history_index.htm

The sign reminds me a bit of this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4865974812/

Finally!  Dashboard time.  Time to put some sugar in my system.  This from the Corner Bakery in Jackson — what they call a raisin biscuit.  The guy working there recommended a 60-second microwave procedure.  So I went for it.  Mmmy melt in yer mouth.  Could have eaten 3 more easily but only bought the one (wisely).

Gave the dogs a treat, too.  Roadside stand sweet corn.  The “seniors”, Grip and Fix, were not at all interested so they didn’t get any photos.  Will have to showcase them tomorrow.  Nik is expert and pulling back the “skins” (no foodie here, must be a better name, husks?).

Grem is all business:

Chelsea — love it all — the structures, the advertising, and those cooperative blue skies:

From Ann Arbor — hard to tell since there’s so much reflecto going on — but that’s all gleaming black vitrolite.  The jeweler still open — just tables & chairs from the restaurant next door.

This gruesome scene from Ypsilanti — what used to be the incredible Ypsi-Arbor Lanes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfobrien/3352792996/
It was there til just a few months ago.   At least it went to a private sign collector in North Dakota — but it SO should have stayed right here — or at least nearby:

Also Ypsilanti.  I like these colors better than the original A&W orange and brown:

Afternoon heat wave relief.  From Armstrong’s Funland in Belleville — a sweet little mini golf place.  This “Tin Roof” was fantastic.  But how do you go wrong with these basic ingredients (soft serve vanilla, choc. syrup, whipped cream and Spanish peanuts).

This mailbox holder guy is from “Fitness Things” in Plymouth:

From Wayne:

Also Wayne:

From Inkster:

And last place for the night — from Taylor — the Rossoni Animal Hospital from 1958:

Very pretty decorative glass block on the side.  A bunch of this stuff in Chicago.  I don’t think I’ve seen any of it in Detroit area but I guess there must be some.  repowers has a bunch of interesting examples in his Flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=27602148%40N00&q=glass+block&m=text

So that’s a wrap.  I’ll be shooting fast and furious tomorrow since the forecast is guaranteed (ha!) to be sunny from start to finish — and then rain all day Thursday.  Detroit area all day.