A gloriously sunny day which made picture-taking fun again!

Highlights: tons of signs in/around Nashville & other fun stuff. The giant chicken in Ardmore which I expected to be falling apart has been freshly painted. I stumbled upon a modern bank with a glowing gold geodesic dome roof. The Belle Mead Theatre which I also expected to be in ruins is being restored. I managed to find a back way (crossing railroad tracks on foot) to get photos to the controversial Nathan Bedford Forrest which is situated & hard to see/photo from I-65.

Disappointments: nothing to complain about. I don’t remember any dead-ends (looking for something & finding it gone).

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Art deco fans, here’s a nice little building in Nashville that’s an “almost” (not quite up to my standards for the website but you might enjoy seeing anyway):

James Robertson Hotel (now apartments)

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Nashville has a couple of Egyptian Revival churches as well:

Downtown Presbyterian Church

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McKendree Methodist Church

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I bumped into a touching little tribute to a local dog:

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I have often thought about creating a website section just for roadside lighting (as if I don’t have enough to do!). This would make a good contribution. It’s from a former gas station turned used car lot, now vacant property. These lights are above what used to be the gas pump island.

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Some of you have asked where I get the energy to drive and shoot all day and then put in another six hours or so working on the photos, flickr and this blog. My secret is Diet Coke in massive amounts. But I also believe in ingesting lots of sugar. I don’t seem to experience the “drop” afterwards. I have never been to a Cracker Barrel restaurant before as I’ve heard the stories about it being a racist and homophobic company. But in a moment of desperate hunger coupled with its proximity to my Red Roof Inn, I went there for a grilled cheese sandwich. I discovered that they have a wonderful old-fashioned candy section and bought a few road snacks as well. I hadn’t seen this beauty before and I do love Key Lime pie and coconut. The packaging and color of the treat were better than the actual product though. The photos don’t quite match the brightness of the reality.

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I leave you with one more bit of roadside architecture, not quite up to snuff for my website but still fun. I’ve seen quite a few of these former Red Barns on this trip. For more about them, see this website.

Finished up with Kentucky today — boy, this schedule is exhausting! I don’t know when I’ve ever worked so hard at having fun. Today’s weather was a little better — some sun now & then. The forecast looks great for tomorrow.

Highlights: tons of great signs both planned & unplanned; Lexington’s giant bourbon bottle was superbly restored (and I managed to get photos by pretending to be deaf while the guard across the street kept shouting “NO PICTURES! NO PICTURES!”). Dinosaur World was great fun even if there was no blood & guts like their Plant City original park.

Disappointments: I can’t think of any today. I did forget to comb a little stretch of US31W that I wanted to see near Cave City. Another reason to go back someday.

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Spring IS coming! I’m far enough South now to see apple trees white with bloom, even saw one lone magnolia blooming, forsythia and clumps of daffodils are scattered around. Every winter seems longer and colder to me and flowers make me giddy.

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Another cheery sight today were (was?) the vast fields of alfalfa. I only know that’s what it was because I saw a big sign.

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In downtown Louisville, I stumbled upon a mini parabolic roof (one of my favorite forms). I don’t know what it was doing there. It was almost like a bus shelter but it wasn’t. It didn’t fit in with any of the surrounding buildings. Although I bet that wonderful light blue building in the background was built around the same time (something else I missed checking out, dammit). If anyone knows anything about this baby parabola, please let me know! So I thought I’d take some quick arty shots of the dogs on the roof of it which was quite accessible. Nik had no problem but the girls kept slipping around and I finally decided it was too dangerous. I had to settle for the standard next-to-it photo. It was a busy Friday afternoon and yet no one said anything about my dogs scampering on that roof. Nor did anyone seem to notice me laying on my belly to get the posed shots.

I’m getting used to the grey dreary weather. I guess it’s better than the rain they’re having in Texas or the Nor’easter I’m missing back home (6″ of snow in NYC?). The sun peeked out this afternoon so maybe things will be better tomorrow.

Covered hundreds of miles today combing eastern Kentucky with my list in one hand and stack of maps in the other (steering with my feet). Well, practically.

Highlights: Some great theatres of assorted eras, great signs, great gas stations. I was thrilled to find the Tin Teepee but troubled that no one around it seems to know of its history or care about it. Bondurant’s Pharmacy (the mortar & pestle bldg) is always a thrill to visit but this time I got to see the Drug-triever in action (a unique, motorized revolving drug storage unit) AND I got a free t-shirt with the building on it.

Disappointments: The Somerset Muffler Man is missing (the gas station closed in the fall and the statue was sold to someone). I couldn’t find the Lexington Dixie Cup Water Tower & assume it’s gone. The Lexington Ice Center biblical mini golf was still closed for the season & the figures in storage. The windmill at the Windmill Motel in Nicholsville that was pretty much destroyed in a fire in 2001 is now gone. All that remains is the sign. The rooster in Corbin seems to be gone as well.

Now, on with today’s photos!!

from Maysville, KY:

Started the morning with a sighting of one of those Montgomery Wards buildings. (Sorry about the low lighting — the sun was up but it seemed to stay pretty dark til around noon.)

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from Winchester, KY:

The corner building with these lovely embellishments now houses a…. Subway.

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from London, KY:

This building’s gold full-facade signage must be blinding when it’s lit by the sun.

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1:30am and it’s time to join the (smarter) dogs for some sleep.

The weather has been, well, shitty the last two days. When it hasn’t been dreary and grey, it’s been raining. Nevertheless, I’m still getting a lot of nice photos for the website.

Highlights: The Muffler Man collection in Unger was spectacular and well worth climbing all those mountains for. The Blossom Dairy Co. (soda parlor, now restaurant) was stunning inside & out. An eskimo DQ sign in Grafton that sure looks to be original. A very nice Muffler Man in Richwood that was WAY out of the way but so worth it. I’ve posted a few photos of these things at flickr but the rest will have to wait til I get home & can work on the website.

Disappointments: a diner and an old Woolworth (both in PA) that were too dreary to photo. Camden Park was not open for the season and I really wanted to get photos of the kiddie rides.

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Now on to some blog photos! The things that I upload to this blog will not appear at flickr or the website. They might be “near-misses” (not quite good enough for the website or don’t fit into a category there) or just other things that catch my eye. Also, since the dogs are a big part of my daily activities on this trip, they will sometimes be making guest appearances here as well.

Buckhannon was one of the few places where it wasn’t pouring rain so I took a few additional shots. They have one of those great, huge civic pride murals. Also, a terrific blue & white mid-century building that I found stunning but probably most of the town hates.

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Buckhannon also has a wonderful old pharmacy — Miller’s has a vitrolite facade and an interior with original features, tile floor & dark wood cabinetry.

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The dogs have been getting plenty of exercise. Lots of open space to run in and explore in WV. There have also been lots of long stretches between things which gives them a chance to nap.

Time to get out now, Mom? (Fix & Grip)

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Mind if I drive for awhile?

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Now there’s a scary thought! Nik spends 99% of his waking hours being totally out of control. He gave me a nasty, accidental bite this morning while passing me his ball for another toss. I am doing the best I can typing with nine fingers. And you have been spared the photos since my camera insisted on focusing on the background rather than my finger.

Once I realized it was a 17 hour drive home from Iowa to NYC, the photo-taking came to an abrupt halt. It was a fantastic trip: about 8,000 miles in three weeks. I have begun the gigantic task of adding the nearly 1,000 photos to my website. You can follow along at this webpage.

I’m not sure when I will take the next big trip and give this blog another go. I will probably be going back to Wyoming in the Fall and I will definitely post here then. I’m also considering a Wisconsin trip this Summer. I may get restless and sick of the cold this Winter and head somewhere south. For now, it’s time to pay some bills and deal with the photos at hand.

A very cold day in Wyoming & Nebraska (high around 40 degrees). It started out sunny but very windy; then we had some snow, some hail, some rain but it was not as bad as yesterday. I’m running about a day behind schedule but sticking to my list. I’ll have to lop off some Illinois & Indiana stuff but I’ll be back there sooner since they’re closer to home. Two more days and then it’s back to work and the normal routine.

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Not Quite Worthy

Much of what I come across on these roadtrips doesn’t quite fit into the themes of my webpages. Other things are not nice enough (e.g., overly remodeled, too common) to merit inclusion. This blog might be a good way to sneak some of them in.

gas pump graveyard (Pine Bluffs, WY)

Fox Theatre (Sidney, NE)

Fort Theatre (Kearney, NE)

White Horse (North Platte, NE)

Pawnee Hotel (North Platte, NE)

former bank drive-thru window, now Daylight Donuts (Kearney, NE)

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Whaddya Call It?

Another attempt at audience participation…

Abandoned gas stations are one of my weaknesses. But I’ve always wondered — what do they call this style of lights?

OK — these are not called hay bales, right? I may be a city gal but I believe hay bales are rectangular. So what do they call these rolled up things? And exactly what are they composed of anyway — hay, straw, alfalfa…? Are they later turned into hay bales?

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Roadside Amusements

I got a “warning” ticket for doing 81 mph (speed limit was 75 mph) and weaving a little (ok, so I was looking at the map). Better than a fine and real ticket for sure! But I always wonder, why all the paperwork? I will hang this souvenir on the wall at home with my other “warning” from Arkansas.

A nice abandoned truck stop with lots of good smells. These well-traveled pooches get to “explore” about twenty times a day on trips like this. A well-trained recall is obviously a must in my family: “Here!” equals cookies for the two girls and ballies for the boy.

A former bridge and section of the Lincoln Highway near Overton, NE. The passing train gave a good yank on the horn as I took this second photo.

What a difference a day makes! Just yesterday in Salt Lake City, it was hot enough by noon for a pumpkin shake at the Iceberg Drive-in. The portions are HUGE (this was a small) and delicious. I shared a good part of this with the dogs and wasn’t hungry til mid-evening.

Then today, a cold front moved in from the north and west. Lots of driving and not much photo-taking. Tons of snow in the morning in Western Wyoming and improving only slightly into rain for the rest of the state.

My roadside photos came out pretty flat and dark looking but I got what I could. The girls don’t care much for cold and wet but ‘Nik doesn’t care as long as he’s got his ball.

The dogs and I have been really laying down the miles in the past few days. Rocks and cactus, neon signs, abandoned buildings, the old, the new…

Kinda makes me miss my old van with all the bumper stickers:

Grippie Spots Elvis on The Strip

Just Like Home… Well Kinda

Las Vegas also offers glitzy renditions of Ancient Egypt and Rome, Venice, Paris…

Gambling has no appeal to me — not even the ubiquitous penny slots

The Stratosphere is Everywhere

The terrifying ride on top was not a temptation for me either.

Now it’s time to get back on the road in Utah — more rugged landscapes en route to Salt Lake City.

The excuse for this 3-week roadtrip was the USDAA Nationals in Scottsdale, AZ. After driving thousands of miles without a hitch, I hit a pigeon at 5 mph in the parking lot at the competition site and destroyed the bug guard on my van. This will probably cost me a few hundred bucks when I get home.

My dog, Gripper, was entered in the agility competition but I had no fantasies of winning or even placing at this event. The competitors come from all over the country (the world, actually) and the dogs are simply amazing. We had fun but there was way too much downtime and too few runs per day. I’m not the spectator type. In addition to the agility, there were many other dog sports. Here’s a quick overview.

Agility

An average course is about 20 obstacles or so. At a Nationals competition like this, the top teams might perform a course in about 30 seconds. A course with just jumps and tunnels, they might do in under 20 seconds.

Handlers walking the course to figure out how to best direct their dogs (ideally with no faults and running the fastest time):

jumps (don’t want the dog to knock any bars):

the dogwalk (faults if dog misses touching yellow on way up or down):

the teeter (aka seesaw) — dogs needs to stay on when board hits the ground:

the weaves (aka weave poles) — dog must slalom all 12 poles, starting on right hand side:

Flyball

I don’t compete in this sport but many agility competitors do. Here’s the simplified explanation. There are four dogs on a team. Two teams compete against each other at a time, running down two lanes of four small jumps to a spring-loaded box to get a tennis ball. Once the dog banks off the box while grabbing the ball, he/she returns down the lane for a wild game of tug with his/her handler/owners. The four dogs on each team run relay fashion. The fastest total team time wins the heat. Several heats are run per day.

Frisbee

There are lots of different games in this sport. Some are distance tests, accuracy tests, some are combinations thereof. This is a Japanese competitor doing Freestyle (various tricks set to music) with his dog:

Dock Diving

I did participate in this sport with my dog, Sputnik, who seemed a natural for this. He loves chasing things, loves to swim, and is fearless. His longest jump over the 5 days was 16 feet (damned good for a small dog). A few of the experienced big dogs were jumping 24 feet or so. Proper form (shown below) is for dog to jump up in the air off the dock in pursuit of a toy which will carry them a longer distance over the water. Nik would pretty much just run straight ahead.

Lure Coursing

This is an exciting sport especially for Sighthounds and Terriers. A piece of fur is attached to a wire on the ground and dogs are released to chase it through an obstacle course. I don’t know how many yards the course was but the average dogs did it in about 20 seconds and the super fast dogs did it in about 10 seconds. Noisy, primal, fun!

Herding

I didn’t stay long to watch this as it always seems the least interesting to me and I always feel bad for the sheep being bossed around.

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Back on the Road

When the competition ended this afternoon, we moved on towards Las Vegas. It was great to see some dinosaurs and signs after seeing nothing but dogs for five days. While in Peach Springs, I encountered this strange sight. It appeared to be lemons growing on the ground but up close seemed to be some sort of vine-growing squash. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this might be?

And to wrap up the day, we were treated to a great Arizona vistas and a glorious sunset.

We arrived in Phoenix yesterday where we will be settling down for five days for doggie stuff (agility competition). Then we’ll be headed off back east, the long way, via Vegas, Utah, etc. Here are some sights from the past couple days.

I thought this cute sign was appropriate enough after my last posting about burritos:

Lots of interstate driving in NM & AZ — a couple more landscape shots:

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Gripper, Fix & Sputnik in Sedona, AZ

The current bane of my dogs’ existences: sand spurs (nasty little sticker balls that they pick up in their feet) and now cactus spines (is that what you call them?):

UPDATE: These nasty sand spurs are actually called goat-heads or puncturevine — here’s one on the face of a quarter:

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Some Phoenix Photos

Contrast of natural and manmade environments:

A well-concealed cell phone tower:

A Cotswald Cottage Revival house from 1931 (a rare sighting anywhere but esp. in AZ):

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Another Attempt at Audience Participation

Interesting or eyesore?

Interesting or eyesore?

Quick Quiz: So what was this building used for originally? Extra credit for the building behind it.