As promised, here’s today’s brief installment.  First off – I want to thank several of you for contributing to the Put Sparkle Back Together Again Fund.  I really, whole-heartedly appreciate it.  I’m deeply touched by your enthusiasm, emotional support and generosity.  It confirms that what I’m doing is appreciated – and that, hopefully, more of these roadside places will be recognized, valued, and preserved.  If you still want to drop some coins in the bucket, you can do it through this page — or simply use the agilitynut account at PayPal.com.
http://agilitynut.com/donation.html

While Sparkle’s getting her front end repaired, we did a bit more exploring of our new neighborhood.  I found a nearly dry riverbed for the dogs to run around in.  We’ve been there three times already today.  It’s rough living with athletes.  I could leave the seniors back in the room – but they also enjoy the sniffin’ around.  Grip, even though she’s blind, still finds crunchy bits to munch on.  Bones from discarded KFC or bits of roadkill or – I don’t want to know.

If you’re feeling mid-century deprived since The Accident, the Drifter Motel does have a restaurant with roof diamonds.  Turquoise paint jobs are, uh, very big in New Mexico:

And there’s another building down the road with mid-century details:

Just another typical and random beautiful New Mexico style building.  There must be a name for it – “adobe style”, “casita”?  Shamefully, about the only thing I know is “vigas” which are the log-like projections below the roofline.  Note the killer clouds and sunny weather.  Sure wish I was driving and shooting today:

And some random beautiful plants & flowers.  I think the tall guy is a yucca – but not sure:

An interesting arty mural.  I don’t know the story.  It’s hard to do Google research here in the parking lot – but something about the hot springs and a bottling plant destroyed by fire:

The bottles and bottle caps are in relief.  Very cool, nicely done:

I checked out the local pet store and got Nik a new toy.  He loves Cuz toys and this was one I’ve never seen before:  a Mummy Cuz.  And some “floaties” – my name for small dog treats that float in water and get Grem & Fix to swim and cool off.  The brown bag contains my lunch:

Don Juan’s Burritos is my fave discovery in town.  This is the “order” side of the building.  You drive around to the other side for pickup.  Or if you’re a lowly pedestrian like myself, you ring the buzzer for service:

The bean & cheese burrito was pretty dull.  But the chile relleno burritos are great!  I’ve had two now.  Spicy and homemade – REAL burritos like I grew up with in SoCal.  In New York, they think spicy means with jalapeno peppers or, if they’re imaginative, hot sauce.  But it’s not the same as these which seem to have neither but are far superior:

And here are the kids and the deluxe accommodations of The Drifter Motel’s Room #218.  It’s really not that bad if you look past the obvious stains.  The shower was hot and I’ve been watching some local public access channel about all the doings and geologic history of Silver City:

My mechanic says Sparkle might be ready tonight.  It’s 3:30pm right now – so we’ll see.  He said something about “patching” of brake lines and other stuff which makes me nervous.  I might make a stop soon to get things looked over for safety concerns.

Hopefully, there will be more exciting subjects tomorrow.

5:30pm update:  The mechanics (yes, two now involved — this is gonna cost me!) were nearly done before discovering a cracked master cylinder reservoir (brakes).  They’re pretty confident that some fancy epoxy stuff will repair it — and I’ll be rolling sometime tomorrow morning.  The part can’t be found anywhere — not even El Paso.  So, let’s hope it works.

It started out to be a wonderful day.  On schedule, loads of sun, lots of great cities and “targets” on my list.  Off to Lordsburg and then over to Silver City.  Then it happened.  Somehow, I didn’t see a red light.  But according to witnesses, it was red.  I thought it was green and I was then looking left at a street sign.  Then all of a sudden, a little red pickup truck directly in front of me.  Bam!  The little red pickup had garbage in the back and the garbage shot up as I hit the rear end.  I pulled over.  Nobody hurt.  Pickup had big dent in the rear and poor Sparkle – really bad front driver side.  The two month old radiator obviously destroyed – fluid on the pavement.  The bumper completely removed, the hood crunched a bit, lights broken, and fender dented.  A third car got some minor scraping from hitting the garbage in the street.  The pickup driver had no insurance but it looks like it will be covered by my insurance.  I have never followed my insurance policy that closely but evidently I don’t have collision.  And since witnesses saw the light as red – I’m at fault so Sparkle’s bill is all mine.

I weighed my options as I waited for the cops and the tow.  Get a new van?  Rent a van for the duration of the trip?  How much to repair?  Especially considering I just put about $1000 into her in the past three days.  I’m glad I got that lifetime alignment with the tire two days ago at Firestone because I’m gonna need one immediately.  The tow truck driver does body work and collision stuff so my life and money is in his hands at the moment.  He estimates $4000 or $5000 – no cosmetics just functional.  I can’t buy a van in the shape mine is in for that.  Since my engine, transmission and all that are in superb shape, I have to go the repair route rather than the replace route.  I attempted to rent a vehicle – but there’s not one to be found in town or even in Las Cruces.

I hurt my left wrist a little – nothing broken – feels no worse than a fall on pavement.  The airbag didn’t deploy so I don’t think it was that high speed of a crash.  I had just gotten gas maybe a quarter of a mile away and was not speeding – honest! (yet)  The dogs were all fine and enjoying all the police presence (barking).  This has all been just another fun adventure for them.  But mom’s dreading the increased insurance rates – which are already astronomical in NYC.

So here I sit in Silver City – all the motels were booked.  Just this one smoking (ick!) room at The Drifter.  Which is pretty much what you would expect from the name.  The kind of chairs and bed you don’t even want to sit on.  No A/C.  No internet so I have hang out in front of the building and mooch on the other mom & pop motel across the street.  And twice the price of a really nice Red Roof Inn.  Plus a $30 non-refundable charge for dogs – ridiculous!  But the only game in town.  At least there’s a TV – and even a remote!

Depressed and determined and shaken – I took a good long walk with the dogs in the 86 degree heat to downtown Silver City to hit the places on my list.  So at least I got a handful of photos.  I’m not sure when I’ll be shooting again.  Possibly tomorrow – but unlikely – more likely Monday or later.  Right now the mechanic is in El Paso looking for parts – and having trouble.  He couldn’t find a hood so we’ll have to do some rope and bungie sort of thing.  And he can’t get a headlight til tomorrow morning.  So he has to stay in El Paso tonight – just add that to my bill…

Just goes to show, life can change in the blink of an eye.  But the main thing is nobody and no canines were hurt.  Guess I’ll be working lots of overtime this fall and winter to whack back the bills from this trip!

Alright then on with some photos to cheer us up a bit.  Life was good back in Separ.  This fake teepee at Bowlin’s Continental Divide Historical Trading Post:

From Lordsburg.  I don’t remember seeing this Oscar’s sign previous trips:

And then, Silver City.  There it is.  Poor, poor Sparkle.  I’m so, so sorry:

From our downtown walk – the Gila Theatre:

And from my across the street neighbor, the Copper Manor, providing our internet for the night – god bless ‘em!  I wonder if the rooms are nicer there?  Ah, but I shouldn’t begrudge The Drifter.  They still have their awesome sign (over at Flickr tonight) and they gave some nutjob from NY with four dogs their remaining room.

Looking for the silver lining here in Silver City.  I’ll get back to you tomorrow with the latest.  Maybe I’ll take nature photos or something mundane for you tomorrow.  I’m committed to this blog – highs and lows doncha know.

Let’s just say it was a very challenging day.  Pouring rain for most of it.  I killed some time in the morning’s downpour by addressing the issue of my left front tire.  Before I left NYC, I noticed some wear on the edge of the tire.  I pointed it out to my mechanic who said it was nothing.  Now 6,000 miles into the trip, it was obvious that it WAS something.  Supposedly, an alignment and a new tire should take care of things.   I hope so — for about $300.

That killed about two hours.   I was about to leave — but then couldn’t.  The mechanic had locked the van with the remote thing without me knowing it.  The side door was open at the time he handed me the key.  I let the dogs hop in, put my key on the floor of the van temporarily while I got the water jug to fill up and returned to find the dogs locked inside.  So that was another half hour and another $30 to get Mr. Pop-A-Lock to come & let me back in.  So I got rolling finally after noon — but it was such miserable weather that I really wasn’t all that irritated by the way the day was going.

Off to Ballinger, then south to dinkier towns — spaced far apart.  And scary driving it was.  POURING and keeping it under 40 mph a lot of the way which barely felt safe.  Gripping the wheel because even though it was a major highway, it was not draining well and the channels of water were kind of pulling you around a bit.   Glad to be settled in one piece!

Here in Alpine for the night — about 4 hours from El Paso.  So, an extremely low volume day.  I think I took about 40 photos total.  Tomorrow, the forecast is not much better.  I’d like to do El Paso right.  I’m just not going to be down that way again for a long time and I have a fairly long list of things to shoot.  So if it means sticking around another day, so be it.  I’m pretty much on schedule so I can afford to be patient.

On with today’s tiny batch — from San Angelo in the morning.  I wanted to get this oldie up closer — but as you can see — major flooding and I wasn’t going to risk it in the van or on foot:

Another sign in San Angelo — boarded up building:

Still San Angelo — on a sunnier day in 2008:

and today — note that they’ve painted over the mural and how dead it makes the building seem now.  At least they left those fins and spiky balls alone:

From Marathon — a fun handmade sign:

So, that’s it for the night.  Better luck tomorrow — with either quantity or weather — hopefully both!

I saw a whole lot of grain silos and depressing feedlots.  Shot a lot of gas stations and theatres.  Not quite as hot as yesterday.  But it felt very dry and my eyes and throat are killing me.  This is how I felt last year in this area when there were brush fires.  But no brush fires around here that I know of.  The grass is noticeably crunchy and I’ve seen a few cactus.  So I’m keeping the dogs to manicured green grass which I seem to have great luck at finding.  Those sand spurs are nasty and I really don’t want to encounter any rattlesnakes.

Sparkle gave me some anxiety this morning — well, technically, all day.  She started up just fine this morning — but then after filling up at the gas station.  It took three cranks to start her.  That’s never happened before.  Always fires right up.  So, since it’s Sunday, I decided not to turn her off til the end of the day — no point in getting stuck somewhere and wasting a day’s shooting. Might as well be stuck near a mechanic on a Monday.  But tonight — I turned her on and off a few times.  No trouble starting at all.  After running solidly for about 12 hours.  Guess we’ll see tomorrow after sitting for the night.  Maybe it was just a fluke?  If all seems fine in the morning, I’ll still be cautious where I turn the engine off — and probably not often til I regain my confidence.  I also noticed that Sparkle seemed quieter than usual all day.  Usually when she’s in park or waiting at lights, in all the years I’ve had her, she idles with a pretty aggressive rev.  But today, not so much.  In fact, at lights, it almost seemed like I had stalled out she was so quiet.  So, I can only guess that there’s a connection between the quiet idle and the starting up.  But maybe not.  What’s a roadtrip without some stress, right?

On with the pictures.  It seemed like I was driving huge distances without taking many photos.  Mostly tiny towns with just a couple of photos.  But I guess I did just fine.  Same quantity as a normal day.  I think that blessed speed limit of 70 — which means 80 — really helps cover ground.  And no city traffic and stop lights holding me back.

The day started in Amarillo — so let’s start with this former Burger Chef — a rare example of the long canopy and the “kite” rooftop sign:
http://agilitynut.com/eateries/bchef.html

I don’t know what these A-frame buildings were used for originally — but I saw two of them in Amarillo and I think another one in Plainview:

Some bad news — sometime between last April —

and today — they painted over this sign.  Dammit!

Moving on to Plainview — there’s something fun and sad at the same time what’s happened to this store.  All that tacky turquoise…

One of my favorites from today — a radiator shaped sign:

Obviously, the Nu-Griddle part is new.  A cheap way to create a sign while unintentionally preserving the old one.  We need more of these less ambitious owners:

These cow statues in town are part of one of those community art project things with different businesses adding their unique paint jobs.  I love this blue Domino’s cow:

On to Muleshoe — a really sad, closed theatre:

From Lubbock:

I have a tradition of including at least one neon parking sign per trip.  Finally found one!  This one is from Lubbock:

A bowling alley turned antiques center:

And lastly for the night.  A house in Ransom Canyon — basically across the street from the Steel House (see tonight’s Flickr photos).  I find some other photos of it on-line tonight — with some people referring to it as the Mosaic House — but I don’t know if that’s the real name.  I can’t find any info about the place with my last trickle of energy right now:

OK — truly trashed now — gotta sleep.  Sorry if I’m less coherent than usual.  Tomorrow, moving southward in TX.  Would love to move on to NM by Thursday and be on schedule.

It was a glorious day to be shooting — and having air conditioning.  It was at least the upper 90s at one point.  I banged through an extensive Oklahoma City list which took longer than I thought.  But it could have taken way longer had it been a weekday.  I just love weekends in major downtowns when you can make as many crazy U-turns as you want, roll the stop signs, drive down (short) one-way streets the wrong way, etc.  Hey, I don’t want to jinx myself but I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket yet.  I do have a little $25 parking ticket from Tulsa — when I had to go inside the zoo and walk what seemed like forever to get to the damned carousel.  I had parked the dogs in the shade at a meter (with the engine & AC running) for about 20 minutes.  Ah well — a small price to pay — and it was crowded with really no option.

So, yes, more sunshine — which was a real treat since last time I was in OKC, I had some crummy weather & had lots of stuff to reshoot.  Done.  Otherwise, Sparkle’s running great; the dogs are getting plenty of exercise and pond time.

Got a very late start here tonight at the computer — already 1:20am.  But it was worth the interstate hustle to Amarillo to set myself up for tomorrow morning.  Here’s the schedule for the rest of the trip.  We will be in Texas for about 4 or 5 days.  Then, I have planned about 9 days in New Mexico and 9 days in Arizona.  Then a hustle back to Cincinnati for the American Sign Museum opening (and some Cincy shooting).  Then it’s scurry back to work in NYC.

On with today’s photos.  Some good news in Chandler, OK.  Here’s how this Phillips 66 gas station looked in April of last year:
http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/chanp3.jpg

They are not only hard at work on this building — but there are signs that they might start doing something with the Valentine diner behind it.  There are green light poles or sign poles or something installed now next to it.  This gas station was already restored several years ago — but I guess it was time for more attention:
http://www.oklahomaroute66.com/preservation/chandler_sta.html

Speaking of Phillips 66 stations, here’s a little complex in Edmond built recently in the same style:

And just across the street is this bank built in 1997 — inspired by Mies van der Rohe and Bruce Goff:
http://www.e-a-a.com/#portfolio/project&category_id=-1&project_id=13

Here’s a close-up of the bank’s Goff-like glass cullet window:
http://mid-century-modern.net/the-architecture-of-bruce-goff-in-bartlesville-oklahoma/

Moving on to Oklahoma City.  This place on I-35, the northern edge of OKC, was built in 1963 as Truckers Village (gas, food, no lodging).  Advertising claimed it was the largest truck stop in the world.  Later, it housed a few other restaurants.  More history and a photo of what the building looked like recently:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25726169@N03/3046698484/

Today, the place houses the Stone & Stucco Co. — which has “updated” the buildings a bit:

Some more good gas station news — just last April, this circa 1960 gas station canopy seemed doomed:
http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/okcchamplin.jpg

Oh, and here’s a photo of what the station looked like originally:
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/1448/june1960mv0.png

Later last year, there was talk that they were updating the convenience store and probably removing the canopy.  But driving by today, obviously they have painted the canopy (well, all but the tippy top which I guess they couldn’t reach!).  I asked the clerk and he said the canopy was staying.  They are adding new below-ground gas tanks — that’s what all the police tape & plastic mesh fencing is about:

Here’s some nice modern artwork on the side of the Bradford Ink store building:

Let’s do some shopping, shall we?

This one, technically, in Warr Acres:

Back in OKC — this must be an adapted sign (and building).  Does anyone know what it was originally?  It’s lovely at night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25726169@N03/4486928460/

From what I understand, Pipkin Cameras & Imaging moved to a smaller location after this one, and has since closed for good.  It makes this building even sadder.  Love those plastic letters under the canopy and the curved brick.  Stuff like this will disappear too soon.

I’m thinking a name change is responsible for that inconsistent and drab plastic box sign on top:

Finally, moving on from OKC.  This top heavy former gas station is in El Reno, OK:

A fun one from El Reno:

Some of my loyal blog followers may remember my post from April showing this place under construction:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/5636401759/

And this is the final result — a Shell station as part of the Cherokee Trading Post & Restaurant complex:

And after having seen the countless billboards for the place’s souvenirs, etc. for miles — I decided to give that advertised homemade pie a try.  For you all.  A choice of about six flavors — I went with the most outlandish:  peanut butter chocolate cream.  This is the first sugar I’ve had since the March WV trip’s slice o’ pie at the King Tut which was far superior.  I give this pie a B-.  It was just not rich or remarkable.  And I think cream pie should have a cream topping — not this meringue stuff.  I will give pie another shot later in the trip.  And ice cream.

As luck would have it, en route to Amarillo, I was able to catch the neon coming on at the former Conoco station in Shamrock.  This is the modern ATM machine across the street built in the same style. Note the ATM arrow sign even mimics the “U Drop Inn” sign across the street:
http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/shamgas3.jpg

That’s a wrap — 2:30am.  Lots of Texas tomorrow — stay tuned.

I finished up St. Louis around noon, some stops along I-44 / Route 66, and then managed to get into Arkansas for the night.  Two people with collections of stuff along the route that I couldn’t coordinate schedules with — maybe on the way home.  The weather was just gorgeous again – quite a streak now!  And it was hot — felt like 90 by 11am.  So I headed for an award-winning dog park in Wentzville that I hadn’t been to before — with a LAKE.  The dogs all got cooled off and nicely worn out.  Here’s the scoop on the park if you’re interested:
http://www.doggoes.com/parks/missouri/st-louis/broemmelsiek-dog-park

Doggoes.com is my new fave site for finding dog park.  I even have the application for my iPhone.  But I rarely use it since usually I do pretty well just stumbling upon places for the kids to swim and run.

Got set-up very late here — internet trouble — already 12:45am.  So let’s roll with the photos.

Starting with St. Louis.  Once upon a time this sign was unobstructed.  Neon glowing on both sides by day:

There used to be a lot of Congress Inn signs nationwide — now very few and most of them messed with quite a bit (plastic box replacements).  Here’s what the original sign looked like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/illtakeyourphoto/3564073792/

Other than the nicer one in Nashville:
http://www.agilitynut.com/07/3/congress.jpg

and this one in St. Louis, I don’t think there are any relatively intact examples:

I don’t know what’s sadder:  a closed mini golf or a closed bowling alley.  This is the former AMF Strike ‘N Spare Lanes.  I hope it can be saved but it seems so unlikely.  More about the place and its closing:
http://www.beltstl.com/2011/12/goodbye-to-strike-n-spare-bowling-lanes/

More mid-century doom and gloom.  The former Macy’s at the demo-ready Northwest Plaza:
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/07/northwest_plaza_to_be_auctioned_off.php

On a more positive note.  Pete’s Drive-in in Wentzville is a former A&W Drive-in.  And, how about that, our new friend (see yesterday’s post) Greg Rhomberg even has a page about the place:
http://www.antiquewhs.com/2007/Inside_STL/petes.htm

Yup, there’s the original fireplace:

And since it was HOT and I was saving the A/C for the Southwest… I broke down and got a root beer float.  Here’s to you Sparkle — and the American interstate system!

This stop at the Indian Harvest Trading Post was not as pleasant.  I do love faux teepees and have a section over there at the website for them.  I don’t think I’ve shot these guys before.  So I pulled in to the bottom of the driveway and walked up to shoot.  Just as I did, a woman popped out and greeted me with one of those pushy “can I help you”s.  I said that I just liked teepees and stuff.  And she lashed into me with “We don’t appreciate people coming here and taking photos”.  And I innocently said “why not”?  She ranted that they spend thousands of dollars every year fixing the rock driveway every year because of people like me coming and taking photos and not buying anything.  I said that I was at the bottom of the driveway and barely on her rocks.  She kept ranting at me and I just calmly and quietly left.  So folks, you might not want to stop here — or make it super quick.  Or go into her little gift shop and pretend that you’re actually shopping.

I just googled the place and it seems she’s been screaming an lecturing and scaring people off for years!  Now I’m highly amused and feel that I’ve experienced a unique part of Route 66!
http://legends.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2777241

Back to cheerier — far less strange things.  From Lebanon.  I don’t know if this sign ever had neon.  It’s huge — and hugely fun.  That’s Sparkle’s ass — for scale:

Here’s a new and fun little Route 66 welcome center west of Conway.  In case you’re not familiar with the Munger Moss sign, I posted it at Flickr tonight.  These welcome signs (both east and westbound on I-44) were obviously modeled after the motel sign.  I assume they’re lit at night:

Both east and westbound centers have cute little false-front picnic shelters modeled after buildings.  My fave is on the westbound side — a Phillips 66 gas station:

On to Springfield:

The Best Western in Springfield kept their original sign with the bulb crown and have it on display:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrskpax/5002946470/

There’s also this oddball little sign tucked away there which looks old to me:

When I was in Springfield a couple years ago, the coffee cup still looked pretty much like an ice cream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/4909698465/
This new paintjob helps.  Kinda.  Anyone know what ice cream stand was here originally?

Last photo for the night — also Springfield.  I assume this was an adapted sign, god bless ’em for keeping the wild arrow:

Many interruptions — 2am here.   Tomorrow — a short list for this corner of Arkansas and then on to Oklahoma.  I’m about two days behind schedule.  Not good.  But the plan is — if I don’t finish Arizona stuff, I can attach that chunk onto the Colorado trip this summer.

Oh, in case some of you just joined us, I post simultaneously every night to Flickr — different photos — so you might want to bounce over there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/