I’m back from the summer trip and adding lots of photos to the website (roadarch.com). The focus this year was on Illinois and Indiana but there will be lots of other stuff posted here at this blog from states on the way there and back. I also managed to squeeze in Louisville, Cincinnati, and some other cities on those state borders.

If you are new to my blog, here’s how this works. During my travels, I post about a dozen photos to Instagram that were taken that day. Once home and as I add photos to my website, I post about a dozen photos to Flickr (agilitynut). I also add some different photos here at this blog (often these photos are not “worthy” and never make it to my website) and duplicate them at my other Flickr account (roadsidenut) with searchable tags and captions with links to these blog posts. The Flickr and IG photos are just a sampling. I came home with about 5700 photos from this trip to add to the website. That process takes about six months or so.

Since most of the trip started with interstate driving, I’m lumping together the first three days for one really big post. Let’s start with this welcome sign in Reseda, CA:

The original fiberglass horse from the Farm House Motel in Riverside, CA was restored with a new carriage attached when the property was recently repurposed as the Farm House Collective with food, shops, entertainment, etc.

This raven and apple are in Oklahoma City, OK:

These rubber ducks are in Muskogee, OK:

These ice cream cones are at the 50s Diner in Cordes Lakes, AZ:

This cone is in Oklahoma City, OK:

This giant flip flop is in San Jon, NM was built recently:

This Ankylosaurus (named Hank) is in Vega, TX is also a fairly new arrival:

For years, I thought this Paul Bunyan at the NAU Skydome in Flagstaff, AZ was inside and I could never get in. I finally did on this trip and asked about him. It turns out, he’s been outside for years now. Jeez. So, there are TWO of these guys on opposite sides of the building.

This wood-carved cowboy bench is at the Big Texan RV Ranch in Amarillo, TX:

The Meteor City Trading Post in Winslow, AZ has been restored and reopened:

The First National Bank Building in Oklahoma City, OK is incredible both inside and out. This is just one tiny detail inside:

This unrestored Valentine diner sat behind the restored Phillips 66 gas station in Chandler, OK for many years. It’s now in Guthrie, OK:

The Muskogee Castle, an event center, is in Muskogee, OK:

This former Marland Oil/Conoco gas station is in Muskogee, OK:

This building nameplate/sign is on a Bruce Goff-designed building from 1929 in Tulsa, OK:

Another Bruce Goff designed building, the Riverside Studio, in Tulsa, OK:

This sign in Pomona, CA could use a little repaint. I’m just glad it’s still there:

The Post Neon Garden in Mesa, AZ with several rescued/restored local signs has opened. Unfortunately, you can only get inside the courtyard during special events. I did my best to shoot the six signs through the gate. Here are three of them:

This sign in Phoenix, AZ originally advertised for Beall’s Plumbing:

Most of you are probably familiar with this sign in Albuquerque, NM:

But there are also the lesser signs — on the rooftop facing the parking lot:

… and this pole sign covered up with crap mostly but at least the neon remains below.

This postcard from the mid-1960s shows that there was once a motel (with an Indian head sign) and that the bull was originally on the roof without his current sign. Note that the pcard shows what that sign above looked like originally with a cow panel on top! I wish I could find a clearer image:

The Downtowner Motor Inn in Albuquerque, NM…:

… has been restored as the Arrive Albuquerque hotel, maintaining many of its midcentury features. This newly created sign pays tribute to the long-gone original sign:

This sign in Oklahoma City, OK originally advertised for Amundsen Commercial Kitchens:

This sign in Tulsa, OK originally advertised for Dunwell Cleaners. It has read “Sushi” since at least 2007 — and still does even though that restaurant is gone:

The Daylight Donuts sign in Tulsa, OK has been through a lot. The sign was originally built for Shaw’s Drive-in:

Many years later…. here’s a photo I took in 2011 – check out that rust!

It got a new color scheme in 2018:

… and then last year it got another makeover:

The long-missing Saratoga Motor Hotel sign in Tulsa, OK…:

… was recreated last year — a modified version for the Wings of Freedom Saratoga Sober Center. The motel rooms were adapted for sober-living apartments:

It’s always a relief to see this sign in Holbrook, AZ still standing and looking good:

The Del Camino Motel and its sign in Woodward, OK were demolished around 2012…:

… However, that top panel on the left and the green vacancy panel below were saved and restored as part of the Reynolds Neon sign in Oklahoma City, OK:

This sign is in Muskogee, OK. I’m a sucker for any sign with a lantern:

This sign in Fort Gibson, OK looked like this in 2019:

It disappeared from Google Street View for a few years and I assumed that was that (gone). Miraculously, it was restored and reinstalled in 2023:

I’ll get back to work now photoshopping and adding some more Oklahoma and lots of Missouri photos to my website. I’ll be back with another blog post after that.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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