OK — I’m back — still cranking away here.  Starbucks rocks!  And I’ve got like 30 photos for you for this post which might be a record for me.  So let’s not waste too much time talking.  So I scooted into Colorado around 9 or 10 am and began shooting like a fiend.  I’m fired up trying to get as much done as possible and still arrive in Cincinnati on time.  Most people would probably just leisurely do this interstate thing with a few overnights, or arrive early enough and lounge by the pool, watch HBO in the hotel room, etc.  Not me.  Nuh uh.

Let’s start with some signs from Walsenburg:

On to Pueblo:

I spied a lake in Pueblo — and it was hot — and the dogs hadn’t been swimming in a while.  So off we traipsed down to the shore.  Everybody in — woo hoo!   Then I noticed — lots of white on the shore — must be a salt lake?  And then I noticed lots of — uh oh — dead fish.  So my goal was to keep everybody IN the water swimming and eating the floaties that I was throwing in.

Nik is easy — he just wants to retrieve his ball about 16 million times.

But while Grem was busy swimming for her treats, Fixie seemed to prefer chomping on the dead fish on shore.  Much as I would try to stop her.  Now, I don’t know how much of a health issue this is, but somebody’s been farting a lot tonight.  And it’s not me — even with all those burritos I’ve been eating.  I have my suspicions:

 

Lots more from Pueblo.  I suppose this is a clam shell edge on top?

Same place — with a Schlitz sign that I haven’t seen before:

 

The long sign is porcelain enamel & neon:

This little mascot guy is apparently wood.  I didn’t notice til I started cropping & tweaking tonight that the doorway canopy might be shaped like a flying carpet — with little fringey things hanging down.

 

Another sign mascot in town:

 

OK, more Pueblo signs:

 

BPOE = Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks:

Same building — I hope you can make out that there are colored lightbulbs on the building and in the elk’s antlers (remember, you can click for a larger photo):

 

Nick’s Dairy Creme was previously Nick’s Dairy Queen.  The sign must have been more cone-y originally:

But I forgive them for that.  After all, it was HOT.  90 something maybe?  And I refused to turn on the A/C since it was Memorial Day and the beginning of summer — and we SHOULD be hot to appreciate the holiday of it all.  Anyhow, so this is a sundae.  There was a better name — but anyway, it’s like a small banana split — but just the one flavor (vanilla soft serve) and vertical presentation.  Lots of syrup choice — I went with black raspberry.  It.  Was.  Unreal.

 

More Pueblo signs?  The USA Motel:

 

Probably messed with some — or a lot — but still better that a plastic box replacement:

 

A nicely repurposed gas station always makes me feel happy:

 

A fairly crude but still charming sign.  I saw another more modern location later in the day with the same design — but of course, cleaner looking:

 

Moving on to Cañon City for the remainder of this post.  I wasn’t sure if this was a real or a “fantasy” (fake) place with an arty sign.  But from poking at Google, evidently it really was a bar.  Or maybe the bar burned down and this place is a simulation with the painted windows and all?

 

Time to to a bit of housekeeping.  I thought you might like a peek at this blanket that someone ordered/bought for me years ago that I keep in the van.  It was based on a photo of my previous pack:
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/bench.jpg

That’s Fix & Grip on the left in the photo (and Fix & Grip in real life sniffing the blanket, for scale).   Beebs and Spud on the right in the photo both passed away a number of years ago:

 

Some signs:

 

Wrong time of day for this one.  What I really like about this one is the way the metal on the canopy is shaped to fit around the letters:

 

Last one for the night.  A neat little mid-century building:

A close-up of the screen part:

 

Alright then — hopefully, that should satisfy those of you that were disappointed last night.  And it will also hold you over I hope in case tomorrow’s pickings are slim or I pass out again from exhaustion.  Tomorrow’s plan is to finish up this little chunk of Southwest Colorado — and then pedal to the metal (still no speeding tickets yet!) through Kansas to the Missouri border.  Not looking forward to that part.  Just did the math — six and a half hours from Burlington, CO to Kansas City, MO.  Ugh.