We had a swell time in Nebraska these past couple of days.  Today, we left with a whimper though.  All grey pretty much all day.  And then late afternoon, Colorado gave us a wet welcome.  Turned into torrents so I had to call off shooting around 6pm.  But it’ll be good to get a couple more hours of sleep tonight.  I’m nearly two days ahead of schedule — so I’ll be taking my time.  If it rains, we stop and wait.  And I’m not going through the massive amounts of Denver area stuff unless we’ve got sun.  We should be in Colorado for at least a week.

The dreary day began in North Platte.  I even waited out holes in the clouds for nearly two hours.  Playing in the river with the dogs.  But the sun just never happened.    You can see the dilemma in the background in this shot.  The Hub sign appears to be reworked or refurbished.  The sign company signature lower right is modern.

 

 

Still in North Platte.  The “Scout” panel appears to be backlit plastic.  Looks like it always was:

 

 

From Paxton.  It’s hard to tell if this has always been the Ole’s Big Game Bar.  That lightning bulb makes me suspicious that this was originally an electric company or some such sign originally.

 

 

From Ogallala.  This one has a lot going on!  The letters must have been neon originally.  The background has a very cool 3-D ribbon-like design:

 

 

I had never been to Alliance before — so I felt compelled to go check out Carhenge while there.  I dunno.  Didn’t do it for me — but I know a lot of people adore it:
http://www.carhenge.com/about_us.htm

 

 

 

This work of art in a front yard in Alliance appealed to me more:

 

 

In Angora.  I don’t know what this building was — cafe, part of a motel? — but it was both pretty and sad there all alone.

 

 

In Minatare — apparently, long closed:

 

 

Let’s pause to give thanks to Sparkle.  More than 4,000 miles so far on this trip — and nearly four weeks to go.  More than 322,000 miles on her and I don’t give it a second thought.

This is at Lake Minatare.  I just beaches where you can drive on the sand.  Yes, the kids got to run and swim.  You can just barely make them out waiting in the van in this photo:

 

 

A bunch of stuff from Scottsbluff.  I’d never been before so that’s always super fun for me:

 

 

I had to patronize Scotty’s (see Flickr photos tonight).  Went with the grilled cheese and onion rings.  The small portions suited me just fine.  I think this was about $3.  The white bread was super crunchy and buttery at the same time (how’d they do that?).  And the onion rings were crunchy tasty.  Onions are supposedly toxic to dogs — but I always give them a bite of everything I eat.  They say dogs have less taste discrimination than we do (made up for with their better hearing and sense of smell).  But I don’t believe it.  You should see their faces light up when they get fried anything.

 

 

A couple more signs from Scottsbluff:

 

 

From Bridgeport.  A supermarket chain — but I’ve never seen their adorable signs in person before:

 

 

From Sidney — not much left here — but still beautiful.  Looks like it said “Bowl for Health” on top:

 

 

Also Sidney.  I had read that the Wilson & Tobin drug store would be taking their signs with them to their new location at installing them there.  I’m not real pleased with the results.  Here’s the old location:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytravelphotos/6911161047/

 

 

 

And one more — to prove we made it to Colorado — and  just before the major downpour.  From Julesburg.  This sign has me scratching my head.  I stared at it quite awhile.  Surely, it must be repurposed.  But the letters appear to have been cutout & possibly backlit.  I don’t know — too tired to agonize over it right now.

 

 

Alright — pull out all the stops for us with your travel and weather gods.  Enough grey & rain.  I’m eager to get serious tomorrow.