Nice sunny weather with highs in the upper 80s. It looks like they’re getting a lot of rain back home in NYC and a huge winter storm in Minneapolis. So I’m happy to be here! I doused the dogs with water now & then instead of using the A/C. I prefer to be in touch with the reality of the place I’m in rather than turning on the A/C — but I’m sure there will come a time for it on this trip as I head further south.

The dogs got to explore and run in church fields and a fairgrounds today. I think I have some Georgia dog parks on my list coming up soon. I’m pleased to see that Grem has developed the same endearing habit as Grip. They both wait in my lap for a big oncoming truck to pass on two-lane roads and then thrash their bodies against the window and snap at the truck just as it passes. It’s always one big bite. Here’s a photo of Grem waiting for the next victim (yes, taken while driving, of course!).

A couple well-worn oldies for you today. This former gas station is in Ehrhardt, SC. It was obviously a Phillips 66 at one time as evidenced by the shield sign framework on the right.

And this old sign from Orangeburg, SC.  I love signs with car parts and machinery — very  rare. It doesn’t look like this business is still there. I have seen SO many buildings on this trip that are filled with junk and don’t look like they’ve been used for anything in years.

This new sign is from Hartsville, SC.  This is actually the last location left of a 1960s/1970s Southeastern chain that was licensed to use Yogi Bear’s image.

I made an out-of-the-way trek out to Bowman, SC to see this place:  the UFO Welcome Center.  It’s looking pretty rickety and I have a feeling it won’t be around too much longer.  Here’s some info about the place.

I got a number of great things today from Columbia, SC for the website.  Also some fun stuff that wouldn’t fit in there including these trompe l’oeil murals downtown.  This one entitled “Tunnelvision” was created by Blue Sky in 1975.

And this one, “Out in the Hay Field”, was appropriately enough on the side of an AgFirst building (farm credit bank). I’m not sure who the artist was or when it was created.
(Note: a bad time of day as the sun was going down and casting that rectangular shadow from a building on this one.)

This beautifully detailed building is in downtown Columbia.  It is identified as the Palmetto Building (now the Sheraton Hotel).  In case you didn’t know it already, SC is known as the Palmetto State.  A bit about this building here.

Certainly, one of my favorite stops today had to be the Zesto in Columbia.  This is the only location in the chain with the giant ice cream cone.  I don’t know which I liked better:  my cone or the sign.

Another glorious day: perfect weather & tons of photos. I was really careful in my planning & research for this trip so that I shouldn’t have too many surprises (stuff demolished) or disappointments (stuff not quite photo-worthy). The dogs got their exercise in abandoned lots and scuzzy state parks today — which was quite good enough. They have really settled in for the long haul and there’s peace in the valley most of the time.

I was skirting Route 95 most of the day so I was taking the adjacent Route 301 whenever possible. One of my Flickr contacts was commenting that there’s nothing but “squalor” and advised that 301 wasn’t worth the time. I dunno. Even though there’s not a lot of well-preserved stuff, I’d much rather look at abandoned buildings than boring interstate – or worse: modern box stores and fast food chains. Now THAT’s depressing! Even in funky or fallen apart condition, these old buildings have much more character and if you squint hard enough, you can sort of picture what used-ta-be.

I didn’t shoot any old motels but here’s another abandoned gas station on 301 in Wilson, NC:

And a sign on 301 in Kenly, NC:

In Smithfield, NC, I stumbled upon this building which was apparently a gas station at one time (still remains of the islands).  But the size of the building makes me wonder if it wasn’t a big tire place as well.  The layout of the windows reminds me a bit of the boomerang Phillips 66 bays.  But the most interesting part of the building is the concrete block screening which was most likely added later.  The place seems to be abandoned now.  The sparrows and finches think the concrete design is awesome for nesting.

Also in Smithfield, was this fun plastic sign for the Glam-O-Rama Coin Laundry:

Horne’s in Fayetteville, NC was originally a drug store, now a deli/cafe.  The facade’s vitrolite (structural glass) and sign are original.

In Goldsboro, NC, there was this tax-season reminder (Liberty Tax in the strip mall just behind her – actually him).  This guy had a rather lame performance (parade-like wave) in comparison to Mr. Pickles.

This fun neon car was at Sun Auto Sales in Sharpsburg, NC.  From the patchwork on the metal, it appears that the neon was repaired a number of times over the years.  Maybe there were even spinning neon tires at one point.

White’s Tires in Wilson, NC has a wonderfully literal sign (as well as a Muffler Man):

There must be a catchy name for these faded yet wonderful signs.  I could barely make out the vertical text of “Furniture” on this one but there was something underneath of that.   This sign was in Hamlet, NC.

One of my personal traditions, when passing through South of the Border on I-95, is to stop at the Shell station and pick up a six-pack of Blenheim’s Hot Ginger Ale.  I’ve gotten it at a gourmet shop in Charlotte, NC and I know you can order it on-line.  The “Hot” has a spicy kick but you can get regular or Diet if that’s your thing.  If it was mass-produced and available in at gas stations across America, I’d probably never drink it.  It hadn’t occurred to me before that I could to food styling from Sparkle’s roof.  In the background blur is S.O.B.’s fireworks sign on the left and the Sombrero Restaurant sign on the right.

Another productive and wonderful day. Highs in the low 80s from the bank clocks that I saw. The dogs spent a ton of time outside the confines of the van today. First thing in the morning, they got to run on the beach. The water is still too cold for Nik to do much ball-chase-surfing. Then we scoped out the Red Wing Park dog park also in VA Beach. It wasn’t huge but enough for us. Luckily, it wasn’t too packed with other dogs for a weekend.

Later, we went to the Bea Arthur Dog Park in Norfolk. A little bit cramped with fencing in the middle. One side has a huge drop with no fencing into a huge river. So Nik pretty much immediately lost his ball over the side and I had to help him by chucking him in the water and having him follow me to the far-away ramp. I’m sure dogs lose their balls all the time this way & I’d be worried about small children falling over. Then, Grem discovered that the fencing was quite wide enough for her to slip through. She disappeared for a bit til I found her over in the “Wildlife Area” (naturally). What she found over there & killed or ate, Lord knows. This dog park got on the 10 best dog parks list and although it is pleasant and the view is great, there are some design flaws.

As if that wasn’t enough, I spent a big chunk of time visiting an old agility pal that lives on a HUGE spread — completely fenced — something like 20 acres? And she has Chihuahuas so there’s chicken wire all along the bottom. It was great to not have to worry about my guys disappearing after rabbits or whatnot as we hiked around and chatted. Later, Nik and Grem were found to be noshing on bagels on the kitchen counter as fast as they could swallow. Not the best house guests. I never have food out at home because when there’s a will there’s a way.

Enough talk! A couple photos of these monsters & we’ll move on. First, the sedate (bored: “mom’s taking pictures again look) and then the barking-on-command for cookies contrast. I could not get all four barking at once in one photo but you get the idea:

The Bea Arthur Dog Park is adjacent to PETA. Now, I probably shouldn’t drag personal politics into my blog and I know that PETA is quite controversial.  But regardless of some of their views and methods, you gotta agree that many of their projects are noble.  For instance, glue traps should be outlawed and elephants should not be in circuses.
http://www.peta.org/index.asp

Here are a few neat buildings from today’s shooting.  I posted the incredible Sauer’s Vanilla rooftop sign at Flickr.  This is the building next to it which was used as the factory.  Located in Richmond, VA:

I have no idea what this cute little building was used for.  It is located on Route 301 north of Weldon, NC:

This sad station is located just south of Carson, VA on Route 301.   I have not heard of Firego before.  Perhaps it was a local company.

And let’s wrap up with a couple non-neon signs from Petersburg, VA.  The one is from Jet Furniture:

And this one is at Fashion Care Cleaners:

Today was about as close to perfect as a roadtrip day can get. Sunny weather, loads of good stuff (planned & unplanned), and the dogs got lots of running in. It was in the upper 70s today – quite a change from the 20s that I’ve almost gotten used to at home.

I only got about an hour’s sleep last night if that so this post will be long on photos and short on text. My post-work nap (I work til 2am) at a NJ Turnpike Service Plaza was not all that restful. Little did I know that the Woodrow Wilson was a haven for feral cats and squirrels. Two of my dogs are nutso about wildlife and they spotted the cats instantly even in the dark. As the sun was coming up, the squirrels were jumping around from tree to tree. My “SHUT UP!”s did silence the barking but there were relentless soft “eeeeee”s and “uff-uff-uff”s. The dogs had a blast on the beach at Fenwick Island and barked their heads off at motorcycles so things should be easier on me tomorrow. The first day of a trip is always the hardest with the shrieking and bouncing around.

On with the photos then. This neat rooster sculpture is installed in front of Goodeals (as in Good Deals, an antiques sort of place) in Newark, DE.

I put a photo of this sign over at Flickr tonight but thought I should include this context shot here since I think the building is pretty neat itself. Surely, there must have been buildings on either side of it originally. And, yes, this place is still in business! It’s in downtown Dover, DE.

I went to the Johnson Victrola Museum in Dover to see their giant Nipper statue (RCA’s doggie icon). The museum’s statue is about 6′ tall. I have other examples of giant Nippers & info about them at my website.

I didn’t know that the museum had a huge Nipper collection. Here’s just one corner:

The Victrola stuff was also very interesting:

I went to Millsboro, DE to check out some neat statues that I’d heard about. I was not disappointed! These are just a few examples of the creations at 2nd Time Designs.

NarrowLarry and World’sLargestThings uploaded a photo for me yesterday. So I thought I’d send them an appropriate thanks-for-thinking-of-me. I got a stranger to take a photo of me with the biker chick. Photography was obviously not his strength as he had trouble getting both of us in the frame.

Also in Millsboro on the way to the sculpture place, I pulled over for this building downtown. It’s much older than what I usually shoot but I thought it was classy and interesting.

Now THIS is much more my thing — from Ocean City, MD. It has to be mid-century but is so tarted up with shingles that it’s hard for even me to say I love it.

A couple more miscellaneous photos before I hit the hay. I’ve been noticing some even fun-er (funner?) U-Haul truck advertisements lately. In addition to this giant squid, I saw one with a group of snakes but couldn’t get to the camera fast enough.

I was in Delaware a good chunk of the day today — enough to notice that they have the smallest license plates I’ve ever seen. I talked to the owner of this one and he explained the whole deal to me. I was too road weary then to really absorb it. But evidently the smaller the number, the older the plate. And there’s a big market for the four number ones — going for something like $15,000. This guy’s plate is a replica — so you can have two plates if you want… Huh? Perhaps some Delaware-an can chime in and straighten this out! Perhaps it’s all explained here but I don’t have the strength to read it right now.

The dogs and I only stopped for gas stations and pee breaks this last day of the trip. I always say I will schedule the ends of these trips so that I won’t do this to myself but it never works out that way. We arrived home around 9pm Sunday night — too hot and exhausted to do much. It’ll take a few more days to repair my life before I start adding photos to my website. Despite the fatigue and chaos, it feels great to be home and turn the engine off for awhile. The dogs are thrilled to get back to our routine and are still catching up on their sleep.

During this six-week adventure, we covered more than 18,000 miles. I put more than $4,000 in gasoline alone on the credit card. There were five pit stops at Jiffy Lube for oil changes & maintenance ($542), the overpriced fuel pump replacement ($1339)… plus hotels, food…

… but the thousands of photos and the adventures for my dogs and me = priceless!

Here are some Nebraska photos taken before I glued myself to the steering wheel.

I love this tank of a travel trailer. It was for sale in Gibbon, NE. I can’t find anything about Travelures on-line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cairo, NE was named after the Cairo in Egypt because of its desert-like landscape. Streets are named Nubia, Suez, Mecca, Nile, etc. and the sports teams are known as the Cairo Camels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The State Theatre in Central City, NE opened in 1916 and is still going strong:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lake Sunset Motel in Fremont has long been closed but the sign lives on. The bottom sign brags that this is a Ma & Pa Motel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice Art Deco F.O.E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) Building on Main St. in Fremont, NE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and just down the street, this fun decorated shoe repair shop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final photo stop on this trip was Omaha, NE where there were lots of buffalo statues downtown. I have never seen a buffalo run in person — but the term “buffalo stampede” must come from somewhere. These big bronze statues defy gravity — I suppose they have supportive piping that runs into the ground?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next blogged trip probably won’t be until next summer when we hit the Midwest for a few weeks. Thanks for all your comments and sharing the journey with us.

Just a quick hi from the road as we’re now barreling our way across the East. I underestimated the number of Nebraska stops but went after nearly all of them anyway. The weather was so nice today that I couldn’t resist. We didn’t cross over the border into IA until 4:30pm so now I will pay the price for that indulgence.

The dogs didn’t get much exercise as every field I selected seemed to be a haven for nasty stickers. I had to run Nik on pavement which always bloodies his feet a bit as he scampers for ballies. Grip, who never lets me touch her feet without trying to take my hand off, was very calm for sticker removal. I had to pick out about a hundred of them from my pants and from the doggie blanket in the van.

We’ll be taking the Flying J tour on the way home. Flying J truck stops have been very good to me on these cross country trips and there are a lot of ’em on this I-80 route home. Tons of them in IA, IL, IN, OH, PA — which is just what I need. Coffee and a bathroom and internet service ($4.95 for a 24-hour pass at all their locations) is all I need. I can sit right in my van in the parking lot and log on. There’s all that fun trucker stuff to look at in the store, a restaurant, and you can even take a shower if you want to. I love hearing the rumble of the idling trucks and the announcements over the intercom as I type this “Number 412, your shower is ready”. With a nearly non-stop 17 hour drive ahead, I feel like a trucker myself right now.

For some reason, I can’t get to their regular home page while I’m logged in. But here’s info about their internet service anyway:
http://www.fjcomm.com/internet-hotspots.asp

Flying J doesn’t give a crap if you sleep in your car or park your camper overnight. I’m sure you could go into the restaurant in your robe and slippers if you wanted to and no one would bat an eye. Can’t beat the price! I’ll probably only sleep three or four hours tonight as I’m as excited to get home as I was to begin this trip. I understand there might be nasty weather ahead as Chicago got eight inches of rain today as Tropical Storm Ike has spread to the Midwest. But, hey, it’s better than driving in snow like the last Midwest trip.

Today’s photos and more commentary to come Monday morning. Back on the road now — heave ho!

It rained all day as predicted — but not heavily so I was still able to shoot. Very quickly and with much wiping off of the camera. Hopefully, I won’t have too many blurred or streaky photos. I made it through all my CO stops and feel good about that. The weather looks like it will be much nicer tomorrow, alas, when I’m on the interstate.

The dogs were pretty rambunctious in the van — constant playing between Nik and Grem — which means constant barking of Grip and Fix. Well, it kept me from getting drowsy. Because of the rain, the only one who got any true exercise — though never enough — was Nik. He would chase his ball in a field of fire I think. There are no dog parks in the plans for the rest of the trip so I’ll just look for abandoned lots or deserted parks off the interstate.

Here’s the plan: I’ve barely entered NE and am a good 24 hours of straight driving from home with two days to do it in. So I’ll do the rest of my NE stops tomorrow (Saturday) — there aren’t many. Then I’ll blow off the IA, IL, and IN stops I had planned. Those will have to wait until next summer’s big Midwest trip. I’ll drive as far East as I humanly can tomorrow night and skip the Flickr uploads and this blog in favor of sleep. I’ll catch up on Monday morning when I’m home.

These photos are from Colorado Springs unless noted. I was surprised to see this sign still there with development going on all around it and a terrible location next to the highway. The cowboy is painted rather strangely — it’s not the blurriness of the rain in this case:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This motel, the Dun Rovin’ (love the name!) looks like it’s been closed awhile. Sadly, the doors are all boarded up and there’s a big dumpster under the porte cochere (I love using that name but really, it just means carport). Even though it’s closed, the neon for “office” and fittingly “sorry” are still lit, even during the day. From the remaining concrete posts, it looks like the rooms had long rows with these midcentury legs as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This plastic sign is not all that special but the cowboy detail is nice:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve driven by a lot of chainsaw art on this trip but I’ve never seen a gnome before. This guy was in Manitou Springs, CO:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the way the artist cleverly merged the “K” with a spatula. This sign is from Holyoke, CO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And lastely, this giant cheery flower was a nice break from the rain and gloom. This was south of (possibly in) Julesburg, CO. The photo was taken near dusk and came out so dark that I had to pump up the brightness considerably. It makes the photo look a little surreal but so be it.

A fairly grey and cool day with some light rain here and there. I won’t complain since I’ve had fantastic weather nearly every day on this trip. However, I understand that it’s supposed to rain non-stop all day tomorrow here in Colorado Springs. We’ll see if they got it right. If it’s ridiculous, I guess I’ll just start the trek home early. Well, not really early since I’m probably a day and half behind and have a LONG way to go.

I was glad I missed out on being back in NYC on 9/11. That’s always such a depressing day. I didn’t notice a minute of silence this morning in Denver if there was one. I avoided the news on the radio today, too. What more can be said really.

I found a fenced legit dog park in Denver today for the dogs to stretch out. Nik was delirious to be running again after being cooped up for a day and a half. Even Fixie, who’s been pretty bored and sulky lately, was happy to be doing tricks for cheese today. Grip is staying in shape retrieving — still very active and fit for an 11 year old. Grem saw some squirrels running around outside the fence and was busy trying to figure how to get at them. She finally got her body halfway under the fence and I quickly snagged her and hooked her up. I had a lot of other dog parks on my list today but skipped them when I read “natural barriers”. Yeah, right — like split rail fencing and brush would be enough to keep my hunters in. “Natural barriers” sounds more like “critter nesting areas” to me. I’ll be happy to be back home in Prospect Park where the squirrels know better than to come down from the trees before off-leash ends at 9am.

One disappointment — Lakeside Amusement Park was closed. Only open Fri-Sat-Sun and this was a Thursday. This is my second attempt (four years ago it was closed for the season). A lot of old neon, some funky rides and a carousel that I really wanted to see. Some day.

One surprise — I stopped at the Air Force Academy to hopefully see the interior of the Chapel. Last time, it was closed to the public on Sundays (I think that was the day). This time, there was majority security at the gate. They had to inspect the van while I took the dogs out. Asked lots of questions. In 2004, I just drove right in. Also, you had to park much further from the chapel. They almost didn’t let me in saying the visitor center closed 20 minutes ago and the chapel would therefore be closed. I begged to let me in to take exterior shots & they gave in to that. When I got there, the door was open! A couple people inside playing guitar and chatting. They didn’t question me so I grabbed my photos quickly. A breathtaking place — glad it worked out!

Time for the photos. Just about everything here was from Denver or suburbs unless otherwise noted. The Lakewood Heritage Center had some fun stuff (the diner and the barber shop appear at the Flickr stream tonight). The also had this neat sidewalk with representations of signs (most of them gone):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been seeing a lot of old Sinclair stations in CO. I think these pumps are old and have been retrofitted with new pump handles, etc. They have a real 1970s robot look to me. But maybe they are newer than that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A contemporary sign but nicely done:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lakeside Amusement Park Tower, sigh — I’ll get into that place someday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The former Federal Theatre. I’m not sure what it’s being used for now. Behind the Art Deco era marquee is evidence of a much older building:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way this motel integrated the sign and building:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think I’ve been to a zoo in 15 years or more. I have a hard time supporting caged animals, etc. I know, I know, they’re deeply involved in conservation and all that now. But somehow, it’s still animals confined in small spaces with humans gawking. To the Denver Zoo’s credit, the place was very nice and I saw lots of personnel at the exhibits making copious observation notes about their animals. In my mad dash to the carousel that I just HAD to see and was the sole reason I reluctantly forked out the $12, I couldn’t help but take a quick glance around. All the animals seemed to be eating – which made me hungry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These hornbills were grooming each other. I don’t know if it was a parent/child, husband/wife or just buddy/buddy thing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These cheetahs seemed a bit unhappy to me. They were in a big, naturalistic enclosure but pacing back and forth all along the fencing. Maybe they pace in nature but I doubt it. Maybe they were just waiting for the delivery of dinner. I’ll reserve judgement since I really know nothing of cheetahs or zoos really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m glad that there are places like this when the need arises (from Colorado Springs):

 

 

 

 

 

And, in closing, another bit of signage from Colorado Springs. This place was really busy — covered with paper signs and the bulbs and neon working nicely:

I found out in the morning that I wasn’t through the Rockies at all. There was still a lot more mountainous driving to do. Then, I had a bunch of stops north of Denver before I got down to the busy city stuff. I’m only about halfway through the Denver area stops so I’ll keep banging away tomorrow. There’s a big chunk of Colorado Springs stuff next in my stack so I guess I’ll go south for a bit though any sane person wouldn’t. I’m at least a day behind schedule and it’s looking like the Iowa stuff will get nixed so I can get home in time for work. Yes, I DO work for a living and it’s got nothing to do with roadside stuff or taking pictures. In fact, I’ll be working as much OT as they will allow so I can whittle away at the credit card debt that’s piled up on this trip.

Nik and Grem didn’t get off leash at all today since I discovered that Colorado is abundant in prairie dogs. Grip & Fix are only slightly interested in those dirt mounds so they got privileges. But Nik and Grem were screaming frothing pulling nightmares. I was VERY careful each time I opened the van door as I didn’t trust those possessed dogs one bit. Grem is definitely small enough to fit in their tunnels. I think the prairie dogs enjoyed tormenting the dogs with their squeaking. I saw fields with hundreds of them today.

The weather was pretty warm for a few hours (low 90s) but there was a breeze and it was still much better than it was in Central CA. I did put the A/C on when the dogs started panting. But there’s something definitely wrong as it was cooler outside the van so I turned if off. So I hope we’re done with the worst of the weather. It got grey and dark for about a half hour but then cleared up. By 5pm, there were so many clouds at the sunset horizon that it was really too dark to be shooting but I kept at it. Most of the day was gorgeous though with loads of fluffy white clouds and blue skies.

Now, on with the photos. In Loveland, this looks like it was originally an icebox gas station. Although, it’s remotely possible that it might have always been a cleaners:

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The devilish creatures that made two of my dogs nuts:

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A business in Englewood — that appeared to still be selling violets. Unfortunately, the other side of this sign was pretty bashed up:

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A still-functioning gas station in Englewood. I haven’t seen old pumps like this in operation in a long time.

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A new business and sign in Englewood:

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An unusual Mission style building in Englewood:

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The Smart Car dealership in Denver. I think these cars are even cuter parked in groups. Especially when they only take up half a parking spot each.

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A huge, adapted sign in Denver. I’m glad this bible store kept the shape even though it’s pretty irrelevant to what they are selling. Although I guess they have painted the suggestion of a dove on this kettle.

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I’m sure this one in Denver must have revolved at one time:

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This guy is on the roof of Spin N Chicken in Denver. He was hard to shoot as there was apparently not enough air going into his body to get him fully upright. I’ve seen a lot of these generic flailing guys, but never a chef before.

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And lastly, a couple old painted wall signs in downtown Denver on Champa St.