Just another hot yet productive day out here.  No tickets, mechanical, or health issues.  Lots and lots of miles.   The heat & monotony led me to consume  my first daytime coffee of the trip.  Definitely in the 90s today.  One bank clock said 99 but I don’t think it was that bad.  So much for the forecast of “cooler”.  The trend is for clouds in the morning that burn off around noon — then blue skies pretty much the rest of the day.  Got to remember to plan if I can with the bulk of the shots (biggest cities) from noon onwards.

First day of the trip that the dogs didn’t get to go swimming & wading at least once.  The only water I saw was a lake in Elk City with big signs about dogs on leash, no wading, all that.  So I chickened out.  And the dogs were majorly pissed that I didn’t stop.  They were staring right at the water.  Otherwise, the heat pretty much zaps them.  Nik runs for about 10 minutes and then, panting like mad, happily flops on the ground on his back so I can pour water over him.

The day started in Enid — lots of cities in Oklahoma that are new to me and this was one.  Here are a couple neat mid-century buildings with metal letters (stainless steel?  aluminum?):

A neat petrified wood & stone building, also in Enid.  I assume this was originally a house — now seems to be used by a refrigeration business:

This abandoned building in Pond Creek sure has a prefab Valentine diner look.  Valentine did build other structures – not just diners.  But I really don’t know about this one.  The only thing inside really at this point is a big industrial scale.  No signs that this was ever used for food.

OK — so I went to check out this building in Geary that the guys at the El Tipi in Shattuck (see last night’s post) mentioned.  Technically, exit 108 on I-40, so this is Calumet.  And they’re still building it.  Right now, a Shell station.  So we’ll see if this teepee really turns out to be class — or cheapie vinyl covering like the one in Shattuck.

On the other side of the highway is this place — the Indian Trading Post.  I went there to shoot the Indian Muffler Man that was moved there since I was here last.  I think I saw another one of these Indian Trading Post signs near Clinton — so maybe there’s a second location:

Lucille’s — a former gas station and cafe in Hydro — is a Route 66 landmark:

But this building, also on Route 66, east of Hydro gets no mention anywhere that I’ve found.  Although it’s a house now, surely it must have been used as a gas station, and maybe a cafe as well.  Might even have been built by the same person since the design is so similar:

Another mid-century bank with those letters — from Clinton:

A neat clock & temperature sign at City Hall in Canute.  The clock doesn’t work and the sign no longer revolves — although it does blow around a bit in the wind:

From Erick — the Cabana Motel is long gone but this sign remains.  The letters have pretty much all peeled off the corrugated plastic.  But the crown is still spiffy:

From Mangum — about eight well-worn stools in there — and I guess some tables in the back:
http://hamburgerinnmangum.com/history.html

Running out of light but I still got a couple more photos for you.  From Roosevelt — this tire guy is right next to the high school:

And lastly, the former Franroy Theatre in Snyder:

Tomorrow’s plans:  more smallish towns west and south of OKC.  The forecast, for what it’s worth, is for lots of rain this weekend.  So I’m going to try to schedule OKC before that — and then Tulsa after that.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.  Sparkle’s starter died this morning.  I guess it didn’t heal itself naturally after all (symptoms about two weeks ago but nothing since).  I turned the key repeatedly but nothing happened.   So that repair delayed me a few hours in Dalhart, TX.  I can’t thank the guys at Pro Care enough for getting right to it.  A huge lucky break that I had turned off the engine just a few feet from their driveway.  $341 later, it was off to the races finishing up TX, hitting a dozen or so cities in the OK panhandle, starting on western OK stuff and landing in Enid for the evening.  Whew!

And it was HOT.  Back in the 90s.  Lots of panting dogs and resorting to the water jug method for keeping them cool.  Every couple of hours, I take the dogs out one and a time and douse them with water from my two half-gallon jugs.  Refill them at McDonald’s or gas station bathrooms.  It seems that streams and lakes not nearly as plentiful as they were in TX.  When we’d come to a bridge, Grem would get all excited and then let down when she’d see there was no water underneath.  I know she was thinking — “what’s up with THAT!?”.  Very late in the day, I did find a nice big lake at a park in Alva.  The forecast is for cooler weather the next couple days.

So, starting off with Dalhart then.  Sorry to see that this nice theatre is being gutted and turned into a church:

Moving on to Boise City, OK — where there are still loads of longhorn references.  This guy is at the Longhorn Motel:

Another sign from Boise City — different from the other GE sign I posted just a couple of days ago:

A neat ATM building with teepee top in Guymon:

I don’t know what to make of this one in Guymon.  One of the biggest canopies I’ve ever seen.  It must’ve been a gas station at one time and those sure look like the Phillips 66 trellis-y supports.  But P66 never did make such a big thing.  I think.

For comparison, here’s the typical “batwing” Phillips 66 station — shot a few today — this one in Perryton, TX:

From Shattuck, OK:

Also Shattuck — where they are not so concerned with political correctness evidently.  A vintage-ish sign:

And a brand new gas station being built in town:

The guys working on this one said there’s another El Tipi in Geary just off I-40 with a glass teepee.  I’ll be sure to check that out in the next couple days.

In Gage — I stumbled upon Jim’s Metal Art Museum.  Here are a couple of the statues in front:

I think this is a Jim Beam crow:

From Woodward — yes, another cowboy sign.  I can’t help myself:

More from Woodward — this place has been closed for at least a few years.   I don’t know the original name:

a close-up of the classic snoozing Mexican:

A tall one in Woodward:

Lots of  mid-century stuff in town as well — here are some details (two different buildings):

This one has circular openings in the canopy above the door:

On to Alva where the light was fading:

A tradition with these blog posts is to include a few over-the-top uglies.  Both of these are on the main square in Alva:

So, I’ve got 11 more days (I think) to play in Oklahoma and then one nasty interstate day to get home in time for my real job.  I’ve got 3 stacks of lists/maps for OK — but thinner than the Texas ones.  I think I might be able to bang through these if I keep today’s pace and there are no other mishaps.  Lots of small towns tomorrow and probably starting on OKC on Wednesday.

Today was all about wrapping up the tippy top of Texas.  Got a lot done — had to skip some.  A couple stops tomorrow morning and then straight into Oklahoma we go.   Some cloudy parts to the day but mostly sun.  It got pretty hot again — maybe low 90s —  but I think we’re getting used to it.  A wonderful big pond at the edge of the cemetery in Amarillo that we were probably not supposed to be using, but we did.  There were even ducks but Nik ignored them.  I think he’s beginning to realize catching them is futile.

Got started late tonight since I made a big push for Dalhart where we’re staying tonight.  After 1 am already so let’s dive right in.

I’ve seen a lot of homeless dogs on this trip.  When I can, I usually put out a big pile of dog food for them.  It really pisses off my dogs since they see me use one of their dishes and scoop out a portion from the bag and give it to the other dogs!  Very often, the stray dogs sniff the kibble in a “what the hell is that?” kind of way.  I think they’ve lived off human food scraps for so long that dry food, even the super-duper premium kind that I feed, seems gross.

These guys were hanging out in downtown Wellington.  Seemed to be good pals.  As soon as I approached, the little guy started the fearful alarm barking thing.  The big guy let me pet him.  As soon as I got back in the van, the little guy started gobbling up his pile.  The bigger guy didn’t know what to make of it.  After a couple minutes, he started eating his in a lying down position:

Just a few stops earlier in Estelline, I encountered another dog.  Maybe a Cattle Dog mix.  Pretty shy and wanted nothing to do with my food.  But I left a pile which he might come back for later.  I let Nik out since he’d only had a short run that morning and was still very wound up.  The stray dog didn’t know what to make of the ball-throwing — probably had never seen such a thing — and after about five throws, scampered down the street.  Very sad to think that any dog doesn’t know what retrieving or playing is.

Anyhow, back on topic…  This sign from Shamrock — appears to be one of those mass-produced advertising signs with the business name at the bottom.  I’ve never seen one like this before:

More from Shamrock.  I think this might be new since I don’t remember noticing it the last time I was in town.  The bank has modeled their ATM machine…

… after the amazing, restored Art Deco Conoco station across the street:

I think I have the names & histories of these buildings in my notes someplace — but I’m too beat to look them up.  Perhaps a Route 66 fanatic will chime in.  I believe both were originally gas stations — or gas station / cafe combos:

On to Amarillo.  The longhorn limos at the Big Texan (steakhouse) — which is THE tourist trap in town.  Although I suppose locals go there, too:

Some signs from Amarillo:

This one features a C-152 Lectra  (the star part).  For more about them, see about three-fourths the way down this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/mo4.html#152

And how these functioned at night (not my video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-m4xcocevI

Dale’s Grand Burger — a tiny burger stand — the roof is Fotomat-ish (but too big to be that):

On to Adrian — which is the halfway point of Route 66 (midway between Santa Monica & Chicago):

And lastly, running way late for this one, but I wanted to finally check this off my list.  Not that it’s anything that will be covered at my website but still an important tourist attraction:  Cadillac Ranch.  I was running out of daylight & driving 90 mph hour — but we made it.  The sun was setting so I guess that’s why all the photos came out blurry.  But you get the idea:

Oh, and for those of you keeping score — I got just one speeding ticket in Texas — and two warning citations.  Not bad considering how many hours I was driving, mostly above the speed limit, illegal U-turns, rolling stops, etc.  I bet I got an extra 100 stops in because of it.  Well worth the $170!

Still pretty orange when the sun came up.  I patiently waited it out for an extra hour before shooting since I didn’t want bizarre-o looking photos.  Even near Graham where I had to turn around yesterday, things seemed nearly resolved.  But here in Childress where I’ve stopped for the night, it’s suddenly smoky again.  Must be a different fire since we’re nowhere near where we were last night.  Back to the itching eyes and sore throat feeling.

So, here’s the scene that gets repeated about a half dozen times per day.  Water break.  This was a quiet little spot in Jacksboro — visible from the highway but not anywhere near traffic.  Here the waders are hunting for kibble which I’ve tossed in the water.  It makes them get wet at least up to their bellies:

For Grem, I’ll throw a few further out so she’ll do some swimming and get more exercise.  Fixie will swim, too, if the water’s warm enough.  Grip will not swim unless it’s really, really hot and the floating treats are extra good.  She got caught in the tiniest of currents once and has not forgotten!

Nik, needs ACTION.  One of our favorite new toys of this trip are these Chuck-It designs.  I bought all 3 sizes and both designs.  Yes, six toys.  I probably have 100 toys of various styles for various uses in bins in the back of the van.  These shark fin shaped toys bob with the fin up in the water make them easy to spot.  Good especially for a one-eyed dog (Nik is blind in his right eye).  They also have a gator-head shaped version which is easier to grab for small-mouthed dogs.  For those of you that have those Chuck-It plastic throwing devices, these toys work with them as well.  Nik is a powerful swimmer and leaves a wake:

Freezing to death but he still wants more:

Ok, dogs done.  I’ve got one food photo and then we’ll get on to more serious subjects (ha!).  This strawberry sundae was from Denton — the Mr. Frosty (a photo of the place over at Flickr tonight) which has been around since 1954.  Had to show my support!

OK then — let’s start with Decatur.   Probably the “Eighter from Decatur Motel” originally:

I saw a few signs that mentioned to “Eighter from Decatur” — here’s a bit about that:
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/eighter_from_decatur_county_seat_of_wise_ada_from_decatur/

From Denton — neat neon scaffold sign on top of this grain elevator.  The cars at the bottom give you scale:

I saw a few rest areas today with these pumpjack (right word, right?) style picnic table canopies.  Neat!

A doggie stop in Nocona did not go so well today.  Sand spurs everywhere and everyone got zapped.  Here’s one on the temporarily paralyzed Nik.  He knows to just stop moving and wait for me.  From now on, I’m only stopping for grass (motels, schools, man-made lawns like that).

This guy is at Coyote Creek in Henrietta.  Pretty crudely done — but he’s BIG:

Another hand-painted cowboy in Wichita Falls at the Browse Shop:

There are lots of abandoned (and nearly abandoned) motels on the east side of Wichita Falls.  Luckily, their signs still in place:

This place actually has THREE signs — this nice one, a why-bother plastic sign, and then further down, backwards, you can see a little scaffold sign:

What the heck, a couple more:

A rusty-crusty from downtown.  I don’t know if that purple paint ever covered the entire sign before:

Still in Wichita Falls, from the Bar L Drive Inn.  I’ve never seen an arrow shaped like this before:

A couple scaffold signs:

There must’ve been another word before “hotel” which makes this one look rather odd now:

Got here just a little late for this one — the Chief Drive-in in Quanah.  Here’s what this screen tower & box office used to look like just a few years ago:
http://www.pinballrebel.com/drive/ghost/quanah/chief.htm

And lastly, from Childress, a rant-sign to ponder or be amused by:

I decided today to give one more day to Texas.   I’ll sneak in Amarillo & some other much smaller cities on a somewhat straight path towards Oklahoma.  Then officially start cranking through the Oklahoma stuff on Monday.

Quite literally.  Everything was pretty and blue and sunny in Fort Worth.  But then a little west of there, I noticed it was dry and dusty.  I got some schmutz in my eye that tormented me for about an hour.  Luckily, it wasn’t my camera eye.  Also, the dogs experienced their first stickers in their feet and were not pleased.  Even when given the okay to hop out of the van, Fix usually stays in now.  Just in case.  Even Grip sniffs a bit and goes back in on her own.  Nik will run and hobble after balls until he stops dead in pain for me to come over to pull stuff out of his feet.  Grem just takes careful baby steps and focuses on eating weeds or dead things rather than running off.  Welcome to West Texas guys!

And then it got really windy.  So much so that I had trouble opening and closing the van door.  And holding still enough to actually take pictures.  And having maps blowing about inside the van if the windows were down at all.  And then I noticed the smoke.  And that continued for the rest of the day and we’re all still breathing and living with it tonight.  How do people here live with this?  Grass fires, wild fires, blowing sandy dirt.  And you can’t get away from the smoke.  Burning your lungs, stinging your eyes.  The dogs were sneezing a lot.  And I just feel dried up, dirty, and cranky.  So it’s maybe a good thing that there won’t be time for more of West Texas after all.  And I’m just hoping for no fires up in Oklahoma.  Or tornados or hail or whatever.

Yes, a beautiful morning in Fort Worth.  Cool & blue.  This place is vacant but the sign remains:

This place IS open.  For scale, I believe that car is life-sized or close to it:

I think this sign is only from the 1980s — but cool:

Funky roof & colors — of course, I had to pull over:

Still open:

Moving on to River Oaks.  I’ll go pretty far out of my way to shoot a donut sign:

And this place had a pretty funky (in a good way) building as well:

Got two basics – my first donuts since the food poisoning or whatever it was – glazed & chocolate iced.  I don’t know why they look so big here.  If anything, they were on the small side.  Light and good and no problems digesting:

I can’t resist shooting just about any porcelain & neon car signs. In Weatherford:

and under the sign,  a number of Studebaker vehicles.  Just as nice rusty as they are restored:

Also in Weatherford — this one survives from the Coronado Motel:

Lots of longhorn skull sculptures in the past few days.  This one was the biggest so far.  In Albany:

On to Abilene — where I’ve been before but missed a bunch of stuff.  These two signs advertised for the El Toro Drive-in restaurant originally:

A fun sculpture — is this a rat?  A scrawny pig?

fun letters:

great modern sign (I think) — or maybe adapted oldie:

just amazing:

From some Googling, it seems this place (now vacant) was a draperies & curtains store.  Although maybe it was something else before that.  What could that cylindrical tower have been used for?

The little attached strip mall:

And after breathing smoke all day, into the flames we go.  This was in Gordon.  I posted a photo of the trolley car building at Flickr — but this gives you a better idea of the clouds & smoke factor.  The Trolly (sic) 373 (mile marker 373 on I-20 as you can see) was a restaurant attached to a former Sinclair gas station.  This Texaco next door  is obviously abandoned now as well:

And driving towards Graham for the night — but never made it.  Roads were blocked because of the fires so I had to return to Mineral Wells.  This appears like sunset but it was about an hour early tonight with the smoke.

I still hear fire trucks outside so I don’t know if we really will make it to Graham tomorrow.  Or if it will even be worth it if the photos will be all orangey.  I still haven’t figured out just how much is accomplishable tomorrow.  I’ll try to prioritize in the morning.  More than likely, some of the northwesternish TX stuff may get dragged into Sunday morning.  Or maybe I’ll just get fed up with the smoke and head for OK early.

Lordie — twenty days at this — no wonder I’m so tired!  I might take my first “night off” on Saturday night just to drive to get me properly set up to start on Oklahoma on Sunday.  We’ll have to see where I end up by then.  I made some good progress today and should be able to wrap up Fort Worth in the morning and move westward.  Today, I started on Pack #5 (of a total of 6 for TX) so I might be able to get that one done in the next two days.  I think #6 is mostly Western TX which will have to wait until next year.

The first four hours or so were grey skies.  I can’t complain I guess after about 4 gloriously sunny days.  But still, lots of notes-to-self on my lists today “reshoot in sun”.  I usually don’t include the duddy ones here or at Flickr so you don’t really get to see the painfully colorless stuff.

I found streams & puddles here and there for the dogs.  At one point, the noses were frantically in the air and I had no idea where the water was.  But I know that look and so I followed the directions the noses were pointing and sure enough they led me to a great river behind all the touristy crap of the Fort Worth stockyards.  So the dogs got cooled off and some good running in at the end of the day.  I always feel good about that after they’ve toughed it out with me in the 85+ temps in the van all day.

Tons of photos to post — feeling pretty wasted — so… let’s start with a Dallas discovery this morning.  This little place caught my eye and I wondered — could it be a Valentine diner?  Seemed about the right size and the pylon about right.

Went inside — and sure enough — no stools or counter — but the original cabinetry:

and the give-away — the money box by the door (painted over a number of times here).  The KSHS website describes it better than I can:  “a small wall safe located just inside the door…. Operators would put a percentage of each day’s profits in the wall safe, and a Valentine representative would make regular rounds, removing the payment from each diner on the route. Wall safes were phased out on new models by around 1960. ”
http://www.kshs.org/p/identifying-valentine-diners/10397

This one is not on the KSHS list — but this might help you scout some out in your neck of the woods (or travels):
http://www.kshs.org/p/find-valentine-diners-in-other-states/10508

In Irving — this building was vacant so I doubt this sign will be around much longer.  Too busy of an area with fast food joints, etc. all over for it to linger like some signs do:

There are loads of signs & a great theatre to shoot in Grand Prairie.  You don’t want to miss Theo’s Drive-in or the Uptown Theatre or the Party Times/Ritz signs.  The Tradewinds, the BC Furniture signs, etc.  I’ve posted a number of them at my site & Flickr — so I’ll include some that I haven’t shot before:

Maybe just a couple from the Ritz/Party Times place:

A couple more from Grand Prairie.  Very nice hand-painted sign for a tire shop:

And just a reminder — if you haven’t filed your taxes yet…  I have a tradition of shooting one of those dancing Liberty Tax costumed people every spring during these trips.  So here’s a little something different.  The Statue of Liberty is one of those inflatables:

Moving on to Arlington.  This sign was saved from a car dealership at is now installed in Vandergriff Park:

Here’s a vintage photo of the place & sign from the nearby plaque.  It’s too bad they didn’t save the ring around the sign — really needs that.  The building is gone:

Haltom City — lots of great stuff:

The jaggedy glass around the pylon must have been neon arrows:

A two-fer — neat arrow, neat canopy.  Never seen any others like these:

I’ve never seen a cruller-style donut sign before either:

And finally from Fort Worth.  This sign was probably always for a used car dealership — but the text and color surely not original:

This one from downtown — the store is vacant which means this sign will probably disappear soon.  It looks like a 1950s sign that tried to imitate 1930s sort of Art Deco flourishes:

A couple from the Fort Worth Stockyards — old ghost signs…

… right next to a nicely done modern mural — which could be an enhanced version of an older ad — don’t know & no energy to do the research right now.  I do know that the Maverick store is still there:

This one’s gotta be new, right?  I’m losing all ability to tell anymore with so many fakes & re-dos on this trip.  But it’s a charmer either way — and an interesting method of attachment to the building:

Last one — a Fort Worth mystery.  I asked the girl at the Smith Tree Service & Garden Center — but she’d only been working there a few days & didn’t know the story of the plane.  Fort Worthians, can you explain this?  I’ve read that there was a gas station here at some point — but don’t know if that was the original site occupant or if it had anything at all to do with the plane:

Just a couple quickie reminders for those of you that are newbies to this blog.  All the photos are “clickable” (when you click on them, you get a bigger version).  And if you’re ever trying to find something again, just about all of these photos are posted to the roadsidenut Flickr account.  So you can search for things with key words there and then click on the link in the caption to find the associated blog post:

I usually post the photos to that Flickr account in the morning or sometimes the next day — so it’s slightly behind the actual blog post.

OK — got my second wind while I was uploading tonight’s batch to Flickr & dozing off during the “processing” phase.

Finally, a few doggie pix.  I know, I need to get some actions shots but this will have to do for now.  Fixie’s  “Are we there yet?” look.  I usually put the arm rest down for her since I know she likes to rest her head on it between napping and staring at me.

 

Grip in the back with her “Is it time to eat again yet?” look.  This is an afternoon shot when we’re all pretty zoned out.  I probably look even more drugged than she does most of the time:

 

And Grem using Nik as a pillow.  An odd angled photo — Grem is really about half his size:

We checked out a dog park today since it promised access to White Rock Lake.  I was hoping for more of a beach-like setting.  But it was a pretty small area.  Luckily, we were the only ones over there though.  Everybody else was in the non-water parts — go figure!  It was 90 degrees folks!  But it was good to get the dogs shivery and for me to clear my head from an intense day of solid driving and hopping in/out of the van.

 

I’ve noticed a lot of repurposed Denny’s buildings in Texas:

 

and what I call the Denny’s “crown type” (since the roof is shaped like a crown, sort of) now used as a vet’s office:

 

A couple signs to marvel at:

 

A neat mid-century building, now a little down on its luck.  But still great elements:

 

The same place had this fun advertisement.  I don’t know if Whirly Ball ever caught on but it sure looks like fun.  And what’s with the text on top that just begs for graffiti?

Speaking of ballies… There must be more theatres in Texas with ballies on top of their sign towers than anywhere else.  Or are there any anywhere else?  I can’t think of any but then my brain is pretty numb right now.  And so, even at least a couple non-theatres in Dallas today with these ballies:

 

This one’s pretty scroungey and impossible to shoot.  There was the other side with less light and no poles in front of it.  But the cowboy was completely peeled off on that side:

 

Once a marvelous theatre:

 

Had to shoot this one.  At first, I thought it was a reference to those illustrations of dogs playing pool & poker.  But the figure on the left might be an armadillo.  So maybe it’s two armadillos after all?  Whatever — I just love the perspective and everything about this:

 

Today was hotter than the past couple days — but not enough to make me consider getting the AC repaired.  No way.  If people did all that roadtripping in the 1950s without it, so can we!  Just another excuse for more ice cream.  Here’s a tribute & snack to the Dairy-Ette where I had a root beer float which was consumed in less than five minutes.  The place opened in 1956.

 

A modern sign so it won’t make the website — but I can post it here for everyone’s enjoyment.  Unlike most cities and states around the country, it seems Texas is not so neon-phobic.  (Meaning that most cities forbid neon signs — but have no problem with LED crap):

I really, really wanted to get better  shots of the waterfall billboard than last time.  The best way is from the Stemmons Freeway but it’s so crazy that I’m a little chicken to pull over and shoot.   If only those dogs would do a little driving for me sometime!  So I tried from below and there were just too many trees — but you can kinda sorta see the waterfall:

 

So I hopped the chain link fence (what a girl won’t do) and hiked up the backside of Goat Hill.  No better luck.  No way to get in front of the sign — just a steep cliff.  But another semi-view of the waterfall.  I saw the sign at night for the first time from the Stemmons as I was driving to shoot Big Tex.  The sign and waterfall are lit really well — a dangerous distraction for sign lovers!

 

So here’s a shot of the sign from someone with more balls than me and either pulled over or has a quick trigger finger as a passenger:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattyk62/3751203366/

 

A fun sign & photos downtown at this old-school gym (still open):

 

I think I saw three Good Luck Burgers today — but this is the best sign of the bunch.  The buildings were all pretty skanky:

 

A neat rooftop sign.  The business gone, building surrounded by chain link:

 

Last one for the night — keep thinking sun!

 

Only three more days for Texas and I’m feeling sad about it already.  But when I look at all those circled cities on the map that we actually made it to, it’s quite an accomplishment even without West Texas.

A full day of Dallas.  I tried valiantly to get it all done.  Came pretty close!  Should be able to wrap things up in the morning and start working my way over to Fort Worth via some other cities between here and there.  I’m just too beat to get the photos up tonight.  They’re all ready but I just don’t have a drop of energy left to upload and write.  Will try to get them up here tomorrow morning before the sun comes up.

When I looked at the maps & lists this morning, I realized there was still a whole bunch of stuff north and northeast of Dallas that I couldn’t live without.  With that all done, finally, tomorrow will be a big Dallas marathon.  Glorious & spectacular sun and mild temperatures all day.  Quick romps on grass for the dogs.  Didn’t see any streams or water today.  Except for that big lake on I-30 Northeast of Dallas that we crossed over again which made Nik & Grem nuts.  Noses in the air, synchronized screaming, to no avail.  Sorry guys, nowhere to pull over.  Sparkle chugging along perfectly.

Posted an extra big batch over at Flickr just now & have another big blog batch.  So since it’s after midnight, let’s get to it.  The day started ever so briefly in Dallas where I encountered this mega McDonald’s.  I guess that’s a giant Happy Meal Box?  And the giant Ronald was kinda creepy:

 

A neat Hacienda-ized former Whataburger in Carrollton.  Vacant now:

 

As far as modern neon signs go, this one’s pretty neat.  In Frisco:

 

A couple signs from McKinney.  This Masonic sign was clearly lit from inside — maybe it still is:

I never get tired of these navy porcelain signs:

 

This one’s from Anna — the stand is still open:

 

From Sherman:

 

From Denison.  This Art Deco sign must’ve had some nice colors originally.  The name might be the same since the letters seem to match up with the former neon tubing holes:

 

Sky blue on a blue sky.  From Paris, TX:

The biz’s ad on the side of the building plus a rare Texaco ghost sign:

Paris Junior College has a dragon mascot.  This guy sure seemed goofy looking.  Don’t sports teams usually aim for threatening looking mascots?

 

Miller’s Drugs in Cooper.  Weird marbled patina.  I have no idea what the original paint job was like on this Art Deco gem.  Sometimes specks or marbling was used on painted signs – so it’s possible this might not be as bizarre as it seems:

 

Maybe a clothing store originally?  From Sulphur Springs:

 

From Greenville.  Now not so dreamy — the rooms are all boarded up:

 

The last couple hours of shooting, a moon (here on the right) was posing in the background in a lot of my shots (e.g., see Miller’s sign above as well).  This neat building and sign are in Greenville:

 

That’s a wrap for the night.  I hope this weather holds for the megashoot tomorrow in Dallas.

There were lots of towns on the outskirts of Dallas today — and will be more of them tomorrow.  But really, finally, tomorrow, we MUST be doing the Dallas stuff.  Only five days left for Texas then must start on Oklahoma.  The weather was spectacular, blue skies all day long AND in the 70s I think.  We didn’t mind not having AC for a minute.  Maybe we’ll tough it out for the rest of the trip.  It’s almost the half-way point.

No problems with ducks today.  The dogs mostly got fields instead of water.  A couple big lakes that we passed and Grem & Nik were VERY disappointed — screaming and then sulking when I didn’t pull over.  Sparkle’s running great.  I’ve been turning off the engine and having no trouble starting at all even when the engine’s warm.  Still, I wouldn’t try it in a skeevy neighborhood.  Gas has gone from $3.49 to $3.79 per gallon during this trip.  I hear it’s $4.15 back in San Francisco (the highest in the country right now).  Very boring food the past couple days.  Snacks mostly, like scones, muffins, veggie Subway sandwich, Panera cookies….

On with it.  The day started in Hillsboro.  This building must’ve originally been used for the gas company — a nice double-sided flame sign.  A different style but it reminds me of one in Fort Worth:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/112727764/

 

I was really looking forward to finally seeing the giant frogs on the gas station canopy at Carls Corner — which I’d heard was now really Willie’s Corner (Willie Nelson’s biofuel station):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanweinkrantz/196654214/
But, alas, no frogs and there was just a normal looking Exxon station there now.  And the only trace of Carls now is what’s left of this sign east of there:

 

I was hoping that the Wampus Cat statue (local sports team mascot) had returned to Itasca after being damaged and removed during a storm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meknits/376045868/
But no, the folks at the Exxon station said that the city had him now.  So, of course, off to City Hall I went.  I got a personal escort vehicle to the outskirts of town just so I could see him.  He’s not as damaged as I’d imagined.  Yes, missing his paws but still basically in one piece.  His foam is really showing through though and fixing him up would be a challenge.  I personally like him lumpy and hope they don’t either a) smooth him up too much or b) just replace him and destroy the original.  I was told that a bank had been interested in restoring him but that fell through:

 

A wonderful tiny place — the Burger Bar in Cleburne.  A bit of info here:
http://trtdg.com/2008/04/01/the-burger-bar-in-cleburne-texas/

 
So while I was sleeping, little did I know, there were tornados and windstorms going on just north of me.  I start noticing a lot of scrap metal on the sides of the road, street lights that were out, blown out signs, and damaged buildings.  I initially assumed maybe it was from a month or so ago.  But then I was told it was just last night!  This building in Lancaster gives you an idea:

It seems lots of towns east of Dallas got hit.  I saw damage in Mesquite but this beauty was untouched thank goodness!  It was mostly the cheapo plastic signs that got busted up — another reason to stick with steel & neon folks.  Any maybe those curved edges help deflect the wind as well?

 

Also Mesquite.  I posted the wonderful neon sign for this place over at Flickr tonight — but thought you might like to see the building as well:

 

One more from Mesquite.  I saw this guy from the highway and just HAD to have him.  A nightmare of service roads.  Despite help from my iPhone GPS, it took me about 20 minutes to get him — but SO worth it.  He’s on the roof of Town East Plumbing & Heating:

 

In Forney — I went to DeRidder Antiques to shoot a dinosaur which was hiding behind their building.  While there, I saw some other interesting items including these — a Fisk Tire Boy statue.  He would have held a tire in his right hand and a candle in his left:

a neon Van de Kamp’s sign — those blades would have turned originally:

and this bowling sign which I have not seen before:

 

So that’s it for the night.  A big day tomorrow with city traffic and a huge list of destinations.  Best to stock up on sleep.