Tonight, I had the good fortune to get together with fellow Flickr-ite (Roadsidepictures) that I hadn’t met before. What was supposed to be a half hour break, turned into a fun all-nighter — so this blog posting is a day late.

I got a lot done in Idaho. The predetermined stops mostly hugged the interstate, with a couple of time-consuming exceptions. The weather, once again, was hot but otherwise perfect. At night a cool breeze came in and it was really a lovely relief.

For years, I had wanted to see dinosaur in Bliss, ID (a photo of it over at the agilitynut Flickr account). He stands next to this rock & gift shop which looks like it’s been closed for years.

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Across the street, the Oxbow Cafe is also now closed. According to Roadsidepictures, there was a food poisoning incident and that did them in.

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Still standing next to the former restaurant, there is a smaller dinosaur. After taking my photos of him, I noticed that he seemed to be smiling at Sparkle & the kids. The rock shop is visible in the background with the bigger dinosaur at the far right.

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Next to the boarded up Oxbow, there’s a gas station still hanging on. These storage tanks are located behind it:

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In Boise, I noticed this Jack in the Box. I’ve never seen one like it before. I don’t know if it’s a new style or just something uniquely created for this location.

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One of Fixie’s endearing habits is letting me know when she needs petting by waving at me. She only ever does this in the van. It’s a very slow motion wave coupled with a desperate expression.

I covered a lot of ground today — so much so that I’m now ahead of schedule. I even made decent inroads into the Idaho list. There was incredibly varied terrain from Montana to Idaho: mountains, pine trees, jagged rock formations, rivers — everything from lush forest to dry desert-looking sections. Idaho looked dry but was just as humid as back home in NYC. It was around 90 degrees everywhere we went.

The dogs got to run and swim in a bunch of spots. Nik scratched and bruised his underside and legs pretty bad hopping around in the rocky streams chasing his ball. I’ll have to be more careful about where we play in the water. The dogs have developed a new fascination for gopher holes which seem to be everywhere. Luckily, they haven’t found any actual gophers yet.

Livingston, MT is a cute little town with a lot to look at. There were lots of old painted wall signs as well as great neon signs.

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Interesting architecture of all eras in Livingston as well. Here’s a possible gas station in the foreground with more painted wall signs above:

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Also in town, one of these nifty plastic Coca-Cola signs with the “floating” shapes (I don’t know how else to describe it). There must have been some sort of restaurant here previously or else the current tenant installed the sign here and changed the name on it.

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This one also from Livingston. I’ve seen these car washes around lately — they must have been a regional chain:

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I stocked up on road snacks for diversions on the long stretches of driving. I was surprised to find the Elvis version of Reese’s peanut butter cups this far north. The Spud was positively gross. Maybe it only sells to tourists like me. The marshmallow consistency was bland and icky. It went straight to the dogs after two bites. They thought it was great.

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Here’s one of the things Nik does to entertain himself on the long, boring stretches of highway. He hunts for stuff in the van and then presents it to me on my shoulder. It’s amazing what he can balance there. It’s his way of asking me to THROW IT! and start a manic retrieving game. I use the headrests in the back seat as my goal post (yes, at 75 mph). If I score, it means he sometimes has to dig around for awhile as the thrown object might have gone under something or gotten stuck. This is what remains of a Diet Coke cap.

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This handyman sign appeared at a hardware store in Ashton, ID. I guess the psychedelic background is a wood pattern?

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Idaho has great neon signs everywhere — some beautifully preserved and others nicely weathered. This one is from Rigby, where I assume there is no subway.

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I’d heard of Blue Bell gas stations, but this was the first one (and so far the only one) I’ve seen myself:

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And lastly from today’s grab bag — a shot from Pocatello’s Union Pacific train station. Though train stations are not something I usually shoot, this one had a lot of nice details including these nice shields:

Today was a killer behind the wheel — an insane amount of miles and stops. BUT I got back on schedule! One unforeseen complication: I ran smack into Bike Week. The big annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis had motorcycles spilling out all over southeast South Dakota. Extra traffic, extra noise, extra barking.

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I hope now that I’m into Montana — and it’s officially the weekend — that the bikers are all settled in Sturgis now.

Since most of the driving was interstate, I don’t have a lot to offer here. Usually this blog gets the mediocre and strange — not much of either today. However, here are a few not good enough for primetime (the website):

I really love these guys – at a tire store in Rapid City, SD:

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These non-functional, stylized teepees were at at least two rest areas in South Dakota:

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The design of this sign in Sheridan, WY is not all that special but the animation was terrific. The chasing bulbs worked and “MOTEL” flashed/sparkled on and off with a red outline.

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So that bring us to tonight’s “trail’s end” but fear not — there will be plenty more blog postings laden with photos when I get into Idaho and Oregon and get off the interstate. If you’re still hungry for more photos, don’t forget my agilitynut flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

Once I get through Billings, MT tomorrow, it will be entirely new territory for me until San Francisco. Very exciting — and there should be lots of quirky stuff for the blog.

Doggie report: they mostly got sandy, sagebrushy stops today. I did find a grassy area at Storybook Island and Nik got kids to throw his ball for about 20 minutes. He loves to involve strangers. Fixie got lots of lovin’ in with the kids as well (she loves people more than anything). The other two dogs aren’t interested in people at all and would rather hunt for food (Grip) and critters (Grem).

I think I’m nearly back on schedule after today’s marathon. Managed to get pretty much across the entire state while indulging my inner child with a loop way up to the north (Aberdeen, etc.). I had always wanted to see Storybook Land and, there, now I have. There was supposed to be a Twistee Treat there as well but, according to the locals, it’s been demolished.

I saw a heck of a lot of rolling fields, hay bales, cattle, lakes… a real test of stamina with lots of miles between destinations. Thank god for Sirius satellite radio and gas station coffee. And no speeding tickets (yet). I’ve been trying to keep it between 75 and 80 (posted speed limit is 70mph on I-90 and the highways). Gas lately has been going for $3.43 to $3.89. I know I’ve driven close to 4,000 miles so far since I had the oil changed back in Duluth. I’m a fanatic about changing the oil every 3,000 miles. The cost of gas is all going on the credit card so that should be a shocker bill to come home to.

The weather has been perfect for most of the trip (blue skies & puffy white clouds). But it’s gotten hotter. After a few days with highs in the 80s, it’s back around 90 now.

The poor deprived dogs got only a couple big runs today. They snooze really well when I’m on the Interstate — waking up only to bark manic-ly when they hear motorcycles. The proximity to Sturgis, SD and the warm weather has brought out the bikers in far too great a quantity for my sanity’s sake. But it helps keep me awake.

I got a lot of good stuff for the website and the agilitynut flickr photos but not much for here. I had so many last night that I’ll try not to feel too guilty about it. And maybe I can get to bed before 2am tonight.

These figures in Elkton were created by Lyle Telcamp. There were lots more scattered around this field and more down the road. Fun stuff!

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Here’s something I’ve never seen or heard of before: McDonald’s signs with sequins. This one was in town in Brookings. And there was another one on I=29 at the Watertown exit.

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And lastly, this one’s a bit blurry which downgrades it from the website to this blog. This sign was in Mitchell — I love the shape of the boot and the way it’s position on top of the sign.

I’m now running about a day behind schedule. I underestimated the number of things on my list for Southeast MN and didn’t make it into SD until around 5pm. So, tomorrow I really have to make up some time. Though I’ll be watching out for troopers since they got me for speeding the last time I was here in SD.

There were lots of non-roadside diversions today. I took lots of photos that will never make it to my website — and many that won’t make it here either. Here’s one odd little place — Gnome Park in Dawson, MN. There are about 20 or so gnome statues — some alone, some in little scenes. I particularly like the photographer.

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It’s been awhile since I talked about food at this blog. Mostly because it’s been unremarkable thus far because I’ve been getting by exclusively on stuff I brought from home. But I ventured into a supermarket to stock up on a few things yesterday. Not really worth reporting or photo-ing: cheese, oranges, bananas, cookies… I thought I might get some Wheat Thins or Triscuits and headed for the cracker aisle. I’m really out of touch with suburbia because I was overwhelmed by the options. There must have been 10 kinds of both brands. I finally opted for this combo: Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil. It’s proven a good choice. By themselves, they are a bit too salty but they have a nice kick. Really good with cheese.

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How about a little behind the scenes van tour. Here’s the “fridge” which resides in the passenger wheel well where I can keep an eye on it. I used to keep the coolers in the back but Nik figured out how to bang his paw on the button to open them. When I first got Grem, she spent several determined days scratching and gnawing on them but has finally given up. The little blue cooler usually holds the stuff that needs to be on ice (cheese, yogurt, chocolate, meaty dog treats, etc.). The bigger red cooler holds the Diet Coke — my life blood. That’s “Larry the Laptop” charging next to the coolers.

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And here’s the “pantry”. It may look like a dog crate to you — but this is where I keep the less perishable stuff and the open bag of dog food. Only on very rare occasions does it get used as dog crate.

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The other dog food bags are in the very back of the van barricaded by plastic boxes. I keep an ear out if I hear any digging back there. Nik manages to bust into the plastic boxes quite frequently to get to his toys. He proudly brings them to me immediately hoping I’ll throw-it! throw-it!. But usually he only gets a “thank you buddy!” and the toy goes away and the box gets shut. He pouts like a little kid.

This guy on his tractor was driving down the main street in the little town of Kerkhoven, MN while I was there. It reminded me of that country song about the wife hiding the husband’s keys to keep him home at night but he just drives into town in his John Deere. Or those stories about people driving their tractors around when they’re drunk because they didn’t think it counted the same as a car. Anyway, I’m sure this guy was just running an errand. It seemed like such a cool thing to do but the thing was louder than a motorcycle.

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A glorious bit of juxtaposition here. A hearing aid store – that explains the giant ear. But, oh, that tile, the flowers and that odd bank-like window.

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As much as I plan these trips, sometimes I have a bad address — or no address — and I have to rely on the kindness and knowledge of the locals. This usually works out fine in the smaller towns. Especially in this case where I had cleverly printed a photo of a place in Willmar, MN that I was looking for before the trip. I showed the print-out to a few passersby and they didn’t recognize it. But then one guy did and he drew me this little map — ain’t it sweet? I should really save all these trip artifacts and create shadow boxes with them or something.

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I was distracted by a lot of statues/sculptures today. I’m mostly attracted to the animals, of course.

A metal mule in Pipestone, MN:

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There are a bunch of sculptures in downtown Sioux Falls, SD. These are just a few:

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And lastly, I went to see the Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, SD. Here are some other photos & info about the place:
http://flickr.com/photos/detourart/sets/72157606547783074/
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4427

It was nearly sunset and I think I was the last tourist for the day. The “greeter” said it was fine if I let the dogs loose to run and go see the statues. Fix and Grip are no problem but I had to worry about the other wildlife-crazed beasts. Nik stayed busy with his Chuck-it ball throwing it for himself pretty much the whole time. I kept Grem on-leash while I was taking pictures and nervously unhooked her when I could pay close attention. Lately, she’s been staying pretty close as it seems Cheddar cheese is her weakness. But God forbid anything should move out there in those vast fields and I knew I’d be in trouble. Luckily, nothing bad happened. On the way out, I realized the greeter was the artist himself and we chatted for awhile about various topics. An incredily nice and interesting guy and the artwork is really fantastic. The place is right off I-90 so you really must stop if you’re ever headed that way. Wayne keeps a little guest book for everyone to sign with “The Most Important Thing You Know.” People signed things like “Never give up.” What say you all?

I didn’t get as far as I’d hoped today but I got lots of great photos so it’s all good. I should be able to get back on schedule in the next day or two. Most of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana in the next few days is going to be straight highway miles. Maybe some driving at night to get through the distance as well. So don’t panic if I skip a day of blogging to get through it.

No doggie parks, no beaches. The poor things had to make do with plain old grassy fields and retrieving games. They are pretty fried but will catch up on their sleep on the interstates coming up. Nik and Grem are still going ballistic (screaming and bouncing) at every motorcycle or dog that they see. The two senior dogs are really over it.

I stopped at the Franconia Sculpture Park (in Franconia):
http://www.franconia.org/

I went there to see the giant silver men — which are pretty faded now but still impressive. Here are a couple other pieces that were on display:

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“The Drive-in” in Taylors Falls has a Frostop Mug sign and is located right next to a modern but nice-looking miniature golf place. I can’t vouch for the food since it wasn’t open but it really looks like a place worth supporting:

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You know you’re in the North Country when you see billboards like this:

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I’d never been to Duluth before so that was fun. One thing that puzzled me in the Canal Park section was this water fountain. It’s built in a busy location and really part of the sidewalk. I don’t think it was purely decorative but meant to be used. Although I didn’t see anyone walking through it. Maybe it’s for kids to play in? Very strange.

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Here’s a fun sculpture also from the Canal Park section:

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I had in my notes that there was a Red Goose Shoe sign at Grandma’s Restaurant in Duluth so I was eager to see and shoot it. They have three locations around town:
http://www.grandmasrestaurants.com/

So, obsessive-compulsive that I am, I went to all three of them. No Red Goose Shoe signs at any of them. But there were lots of other neat signs (vintage and repros) at all three restaurants. Here are some examples:

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The third location that I went to did have this Red Goose statue which would have been displayed in the window. This is the closest that I could come up with on this bona fide wild goose chase:

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Canal Park is big on signs — lots of old painted wall signs like this one:

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and there are lots of modern neon signs as well. I have never seen a neon Subway sign before:

Most of the day was spent in the Twin Cities. The day started grey but got sunny and hot quickly enough. Got tons of photos. I finally got to see two statues that have been on my list for years: the Beach Dude and the Snowman (photos over at the Flickr account). There were some really nice and interesting gas stations and midcentury churches. I shoot an awful lot of churches for an atheist. Here are a couple that won’t make the cut for the website.

This is the Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis. The silvery side faces a major highway and then changes shape as you drive by it. I don’t know if there have been any accidents as a result but I know my attention to the road was not good.
http://www.bethelsynagogue.org/about/index.shtml

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And this is St. Peter’s Lutheran in Edina — smaller scale and more elegantly simple than the synagogue:
http://www.stpetersedina.org/

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Downtown Minneapolis has lots of skywalks which link buildings together – a convenient necessity during those long winters. It’s sure hard to imagine how cold it gets here at this time of year.

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Also in downtown Minneapolis: this one puzzles me. Were these water fountains originally or only for certain times of the year? Is this just for summer that they grow these prairie grasses to as an eco-friendly gesture? Or is this an art piece?

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The Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis has the nicest manhole covers I’ve ever seen:

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I parked the van in a parking garage downtown for about 20 minutes because there were no spots and I needed to shoot a few things indoors and on the pedestrian mall. It was one of those spiral type garages that I love and I risked getting rear-ended to get this shot. I love to drive just a teensy bit too fast on these to hear that echo-y tire squeal.

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When I returned, I discovered that the dogs had busted into the cooler to get the cheese curds. Gone — just a ripped up plastic bag as evidence. I don’t know if it was just one dog that reaped the profits or if it was a family affair. I should find out soon as there are also some roasted cashews missing.

And if that wasn’t the highpoint of their day, Cleary Lake was. An incredible dog park with 28 acres just for off-leash romping. A big pond, mowed trails & big unmowed fields if your dogs like to deer-hop like mine do. Fenced but a determined little dog could get out (luckily mine didn’t). Fun, fun, fun. There are lots of other big, fenced dog parks around Minneapolis & I wish we could have sampled them all.
http://www.ecoanimal.com/dogfun/minnesota.html

Here’s a really nice painted wall sign in downtown Minneapolis:

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I went to Como Town in St. Paul to shoot the old kiddie rides. While there, I noticed these bumper cars. I’ve never modern ones like this before:

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When you’re a kid, there’s just nothing as much fun as driving your own car. Although these kids were way too highly supervised by khaki-wearing employees:

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Speaking of driving — very late here– and I have a lot of it to do tomorrow. Time to call it a night.

I covered a lot of miles today although it was not as productive as yesterday. Road construction had me driving all over the place for various detours. Unfortunately, none of these extraneous unplanned routes provided anything photo-worthy. As my list dictated, I shot a lot of theatres and gas stations today.

We went to a really nice dog park in Mankato today. It’s just across the street from the sole-remaining Happy Chef restaurant with a giant statue. Although there wasn’t a pond for the dogs to cool off in, there was a hose & kiddie pool. There were two really big fenced areas so we sampled them both. However, one had some pretty wide spacing to the fencing and tempting woodsy areas just beyond it so I didn’t chance that one for long. Grem could easily have fit through it. I guess not a lot people take their small dogs to dog parks — or else the designers don’t own small dogs.

The weather was pretty grey today so my photos didn’t have the same punch. I’ve been blessed a lot of sun on this trip. Still very warm during the day (around 90) but I won’t complain since it’s been over 100 in Dallas/Phoenix/etc. for about five days. I chose this time of year for this trip since I wanted to avoid rain in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s hoping.

Now on to the photos —

This sweet guy is on the plastic sign at Barney’s Drive-in in Waseca:

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In downtown Waseca, a nice facade and sign at Barden’s Bar:
http://www.bardensbar.com/

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A purchase from Bongards Creameries with their giant cow in the background. I forgot that I’m not fond of cheese curds, a popular regional snack. These will probably wind up being dog treats. If you haven’t had them, they are a bit on the sour side, probably lower in fat than regular cheese. Kind of a strange rubbery texture. Here’s more about them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curds

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Another nice sign and storefront: Janousek’s Cafe in Hutchinson. Unfortunately, this place is now vacant. There’s a nice long counter inside with stools. I sure hope it can come back as another restaurant.

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How about one more old storefront in Hutchinson? Although the sign here is nicely maintained, there is only neon on one side.

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These have to be the prettiest license plates I have ever seen:

A very fun and productive day. Most of the day was in southeastern Minnesota. As it turned out, just about everything on my list was statuary of some sort: fiberglass people, cement people, even carousel figures might qualify I suppose. Only a few signs and buildings here and there. Lots of miles. Lots of cornfields. And another late night here at the “office” getting stuff uploaded. On with the show —

Everywhere in Wisconsin and Minnesota there are these plastic beer signs. I sure don’t remember seeing so many in the Northeast.

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I went to LARK Toys in Kellogg, MN to see their modern but incredible carousel. They have a big display of vintage toys.

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LARK also has as other purchase-able toys including these modern and repro kiddie cars (is that what you call them?). Do people really spend over $300 on these things to watch their kids slam them into trees? Or are they just for display? I’m including the New York police car even if it’s blurry as a tribute to my “home town”. Yes, it really does say that silly stuff on the real cars (CPR: Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect):

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In Nelson, WI, I came across this fireworks stand. I’ve never seen one quite as elegant or open-air as this:

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A cute sign at the Gingerbread House Bakery in Rochester, MN:

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A nice fountain in Rochester — at 80+ degrees, it was tempting to jump in:

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Also in Rochester: Tangerine Gifts has a nice modern sign. Even though it’s LED tubing instead of neon, hey, it’s better than some plain lettered piece of plastic.

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One more in Rochester — Gone Fishing has this giant bug on the roof. They say he’s from the mid-1990s.

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This cheerful wood carving is south of Rochester on the lawn of a farmhouse. It reads “Because I Love These Things” around the top.

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The kids got their kicks in big grassy fields today. Just as well we lay off the water for a couple days as Nik is completely obsessed with it right now. Any time he sees or smells a lake or a river, he goes berzerk (screaming). He’s got Grem doing it now, too. This is not good in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

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In case you’re wondering what that thing is around Gremlin’s neck — it’s a “Spray Commander”. I’ve learned in the eight months since I adopted her that she’s “a runner”. When she takes off, she probably wouldn’t think of me until a week from next Tuesday. After too many scary incidents near roads and a terrifying chase across the desert, I gave in to purchasing this device about four months ago. “Come” really means come — it’s a matter of life and death with her. The thing emits a little spray (citronella or scentless) that startles the dog out of whatever he/she is doing. The remote control give me about a 100′ range – which isn’t a lot with a fast dog like her so I have to really pay attention. They say these are way more effective and humane than shock collars. All I know is, she has more fun and freedom with this than the long line. She’ll probably always have to wear this cinderblock around her neck when she’s off-leash since she is obsessed with wildlife and exploring the universe.

A very fruitful and exhausting day. The dogs got another romp at the beach in Chicago. Then later in the day, they got a good chunk of time to play at a river. Thank goodness the AC in the van is working great as it was again around 90 today. I try to use the AC sparingly since I hear you get better gas mileage by not using it. Gas prices have gone up since the Spring trip. The cheapest I’ve seen was as a Flying J in PA at $3.43; the most expensive in downtown Chicago $4.53. I’m sure I’ll see worse as California had the highest in the Spring.

I had far more on my list for Illinois than I realized so that ate up most of the day. I should be able to finish the Wisconsin stuff in the morning though and I’m pretty much right on schedule or slightly ahead. Took tons of photos today & am starting to get back in the groove though I’m still exhausted from no sleep the night before last. So let’s get to the photos —

This building in Chicago is so ugly, it’s cute:

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If wood shingles are your thing, how about this geodesic dome covered with the stuff in Freeport, IL. It’s used as an accounting office strangely enough:

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I kept seeing these things in Chicago and wondering what the heck they were. They are perched way up on top of poles and have ugly masses of wires attached. I figured they must be some pull the lever & call the police sort of thing (flashing blue lights at top) — but I never saw any lever type boxes or anything to go with them. I’d love to know what the deal is:

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A cool-looking candy store in McHenry, IL. I don’t know if that’s what it always was. The tip of the building’s pointy tower has some dripping chocolate sauce:

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A beautiful old silo, west of Marengo, IL (might be Garden Prairie, IL):

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Way out in Illinois farmland (I saw a LOT of corn today) — this odd sign. Blurry but I’ll include it anyway. I’m not even sure what it means. And the salesman seems to be posed in a Jesus-y sort of way.

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This motel in Baraboo is apparently endorsed by Gumby:

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A couple great (but not great enough for the website) cleaners signs in Baraboo, WI.

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And lastly, this bus was parked in Baraboo, WI: