It was nice in the morning but then the gray set in. Got dark early and now it’s pouring like mad at midnight as I write this. Took tons of photos today. I know someone said there’s not that much roadside in Arkansas and I hope I proved them wrong! I’ll spare you doggie pix today since I have so many others to choose from. Let’s get to it!

It seems inevitable that whenever I’m in a fairly big city on a weekend, there’s some sort of running event. Little Rock today was no exception. A total drag when I’m trying to hit a downtown area quickly. I don’t have time for strolling around. I’ve got to get from Points A-L and with a well-plotted map, the van’s the fastest way — until all the roads are blocked. I didn’t see hardly any running but sure a LOT of standing around. So I had to be a pushy New Yorker, “scuse me, scuse me!” and get to my stops.

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I took tons of sign photos today. I put a bunch at Flickr and have lots more for the website. Here are my “rejects” — still pretty nice!

A cone from the Yellow Jacket Drive-in in Sheridan:

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A golfer from Magic Hills Golf in Hot Springs:

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a neat liquor store sign in Hot Springs:

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Damn! I’m usually so good with my notes. I’ll have to check on this one for tomorrow. I pretty sure this former theatre is in Hot Springs.

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Hot Springs is naturally very water-oriented. Lots of great and interesting architecture including this stunner:

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Also in Hot Springs: a nice painted wall sign that hasn’t been “restored” to death:

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A fun one from Hot Springs:

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The Surgeon General probably prohibits making signs like this nowadays. Although this one looks fairly modern.

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Spring has almost sprung here in Arkansas — I’ve been seeing daffodils and some cherry trees. I’ve been resisting photo-ing flowers thus far — but couldn’t resist this one. This is at the Central Park restaurant in Hot Springs: look carefully, those aren’t tulips but rocks!

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Heading out of Hot Springs, here’s one of those funky uses for geodesic domes: this time, incorporated into a church:

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Of course, I’m crazy about Sinclair stations because I’m always hoping they’ll have a dinosaur. And they are still a novelty to me since they didn’t have them in CA where I grew up and they aren’t in the Northeast where I live now. I got all excited at the prospect of gas-ing up with these silvery old pumps in Crows — but then noticed the plastic bags on the handles. Hope it’s just temporary.

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A wonderful corner drug store in Clarksville (yes, still open):

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A wonderful old fire engine on display in Mountainburg:

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An Egyptian Revival / Art Deco Masonic Temple in Fort Smith:

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And, lastly, I envy the high school kids that live in Alma, the home of the Airedales. Actually, I went to Buena High and we had the Bulldog as our mascot but that is far too common. Airedales seem so much wussier. Not that I’m not crazy about all Terriers mind you! How I wish I could gas up at the Rat Terrier Express and could shop at the MinPin Mart.

A pretty productive day with some boring interstate treks between destinations. The sun was out for the most part which gave my photos a boost. The weather has definitely changed — down to my t-shirt for the first time in what feels like six months. Looks like some more sunny days ahead. I discovered yesterday that a headlight was out and took care of that today.

The dogs got two major outings today in addition to their numerous pitstops. In the morning, a church with a huge soccer field / picnic area. And then in Memphis, we went to check out Shelby Farms which has a huge offleash area for dogs with several lakes for them to swim in. The girls waded for tossed cookies while Nik was thrilled to thrash & splash with his Jolly Ball despite the water being pretty icy still.
http://www.shelbyfarmsoffleash.org/

On with the pictures!

The World Overcomers Church appears to be mid-century — but it’s too ugly by my standards to include at my website so I’ll put a photo of it here. What really makes this place special is the gigantic Statue of Liberty they have erected on the corner.

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One of the things I finally got around to seeing on this trip was the guitar-shaped pool at the Days Inn in Memphis. This place is just down the block from Graceland after all.

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And I had been meaning to shoot the little astronaut sign at Atomic Pest in Memphis. I was too distracted by the giant mouse on the roof the last time and forgot about the sign:
http://www.agilitynut.com/critters/mice.html

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I went to Marion, AR to check out a pet cemetery that was part of the Crittenden Memorial Park Cemetery. But the plaques were pretty dull and not worth shooting. No photos, no carved vertical gravemarkers. But right next to “Pet Land” was a special “Baby Land” section which was incredibly sad.

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In Brinkley, AR there was this auto parts place that I suspect is a former theatre. Awfully elaborate for car parts and the curved structure and blade sign look awfully much like a marquee. Does anyone know the story of this building?

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This is a neat little adapted sign in North Little Rock, AR. Unfortunately, the photos came out kinda blurry. I don’t know if it was from shooting at sunset or just shakey hands from worrying about the van getting sideswiped in the bad location I parked her in.

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And lastly, alls well that ends well… these two girls are veteran travelers and know just when to sneak in sleeptime on the road. Grip, the oldest dog on the left, has been to over 40 states now. It seems silly that with my big van to stretch out in, most of the time, all the dogs want to sleep in the front.

Quite miserable weather-wise. It rained most of the day but I kept shooting. The forecast for the next couple days looks much better. The dogs got tons of exercise today as I found a couple of huge and wonderful places for them to romp between downpours. In the morning, a rest area off I-40 that had a huge area with hills and trees. And, even better, in the afternoon in Nashville, we stumbled upon an abandoned golf course. The following doggie shots are from there. Nik in a “down” on a tarp or rolled up golf green of some sort. He’s the athlete and circus dog of the family at this point. I can send him anywhere, with “out” and “way out”, left and right directionals, “hup” to jumps things, and “table” to lay down on things. He’ll do ANYthing for his ballies and LOVES to run.

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Gremlin demonstrates her interpretation of the begging trick. This is one of the mandatory tricks of all my family members. Grem’s version is with her left paw tucked into her body and sort of waving her right paw around. All dogs do it slightly differently.

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Grem made a grand discovery at the golf course: some sort of animal skull. This is her exhibiting self control (“leave it!”) and fatigue. And note attached to her collar is a 50 foot long line. She has taken off on me too many times, full tilt to nowhere, so we are doing lots of recall training.

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Grem and Grip take turns in my lap for interstate driving. Here’s an overhead shot (yes, taken while driving). That’s my boob, which Grem is using to support her head, and my lap below. I love the fangs in this shot.

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OK — moving on to some of today’s sights…

The Oarsman — a neat bit of public art in Knoxville:

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A couple shots from a Gulf station in Harriman. I’ve never seen a truck with these embossed signs before. And a neat old truck.

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Also in Harriman – an example of why I travel as much as I can and squeeze as much shooting in per day as I can. This is all that’s left of a great Robo Car Wash. It broke my heart to see it gone. You would pull into the bay and a machine would circle around and clean your car on this track:

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See this page for a photo of what the place looked like in 2005:
http://agilitynut.com/modarch/carwash.html

Another nicely-preserved Robo Wash in Patchogue, NY at the bottom of this page:
http://agilitynut.com/modarch/ny.html

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On a slightly happier note, here are a couple of neglected survivors:

This “See Rock City” sign stands mostly obscured by trees and below road-level in Cookeville. It’s hard to tell from this photo but it’s billboard-sized but square:

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This Cookeville cowboy sign surely won’t be around much longer. The lot behind him is a huge pile of dirt now. I don’t know if he was originally a metal sign (replaced with plastic) or what he advertised. The construction leads me to believe that the top part of the sign revolved.

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A couple more shots in the rain from Cookeville. Trains and depots are not normally something I photo (I have enough topics at my website already!) but these were awfully nice. The depot is on the National Register of Historic Places and has a little museum inside now.

And we’re off! This will truly be an adventure: 43 grueling days of driving from sun up to sundown (and sometimes more than that), with four feisty dogs, tracking down roadside goodies. It’ll be fun… but it’ll be a physical challenge as well. I’m wiped out already as I only got a 1.5 hour nap last night between work and a full day of driving & picture-taking. So I’ll keep this brief and give you more photos than words…

If you are new to my blog — basically, I use this forum as a place to throw misc. photos that don’t fit in with my website categories (or aren’t nice enough for some reason). It’s a chance to recap my day and share the ups and downs of my longer roadtrips. I hope you enjoy traveling along with us and welcome your comments. Keep in mind that these postings are written at the end of very long days and I apologize for any grammatical errors or incoherencies.

On with the show! Let’s start with a few signs.

I love these “OK” used car signs which are pretty rare now. Although the neon’s gone on this one in Winchester, the owners still keep it nicely painted:

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From a great old hardware store in Front Royal. I’ve seen other plastic Stihl chainsaw signs but this one seems older than most.

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A great atomic detail from a laundry sign from Winchester. I assume those little dots flashed (hey, maybe they still do!):

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This nice mix of painted and neon signage in Harrisonburg might not be around too much longer: the building is vacant:

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It’s important to have good road snacks on these grips and this place was one of the highlights of the day. Route 11 Chips in Middletown focuses on potato chips and manufactures them on the premises (you can watch through the glass windows). Tough to chooses between all the flavors — I went with “Mama Zuma’s Chile Enchilada” (great, not too spicy, thick and crunchy; the dogs give it a paws up as well) and “Sour Cream & Chives” (haven’t tried yet).
Here’s their website: http://www.rt11.com/

You can see snow in the photo – luckily, that didn’t last long. I can take photos fine in the rain (with my cardboard shield) but nothing you can do about snowflakes.

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Here are a couple roadside relics —

a former theatre in Mount Jackson:

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and from Waynesboro – a train bridge to nowhere now:

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I have to sneak in one photo of one of my “kids”. This is ‘Nik alerting me to the fact that I’m not drinking my Diet Coke fast enough. Boink-boink-boink because he’s not allowed to grab it himself. I usually give him my empty bottle to play with for awhile when I’m done. He immediately strips off the cap, then the red ring and chomps on the plastic top til it’s a blob. Then he insists I throw it for awhile. Yes, while I’m driving, I hurl it to the back of the van and he scampers to retrieve it. Back and forth til my eardrums hurt from the other three dogs barking at him. Not to worry — my eyes never leave the road and I drive well with one hand….

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And lastly, a little sequence –> a nice little courtyard motel (the Shenandoah Motel in Front Royal) featuring what I believe is called “giraffe stone”. My understanding is that it’s flagstone that’s arranged in this color pattern which resembles giraffe markings. I have mostly seen it in Missouri and never noticed til today how much of it is in Virginia. The Shenandoah also has little Streamline Moderne features.

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Here’s another example of this stonework — even prettier — at the Smyrna Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro:

This post covers the final two days of this big Southern roadtrip. I logged over 6,000 miles and got close to 2,000 photos for the website. There were only a few interences: backing Sparkle into a ditch, some rainy weather, and picking up a stray dog. Little “you-you” is now being fostered by a woman in Savannah. I’m sure she’ll find a great home soon. This will be the last big roadtrip until the six-week jaunt to California in March. Until then, there will be additions to the website and Flickr from some smaller blog-less trips in the Northeast. Now, on with the final misc. photos.

I got to explore lots of small towns on this trip. Here are some interesting buildings from downtown Georgetown, SC:

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This arch is in Wilmington, NC. The former playground is now tennis courts.

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I went to Airlie Gardens in Wilmington to see the bottle house and wish I’d had more time to check out the rest of the place. There are beautiful gardens with artwork scattered throughout. More about the place here:
http://www.airliegardens.org/

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Kitty Dunes Realty inhabits a mid-century-looking building in Kitty Hawk, NC:

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One of my favorite places in Myrtle Beach, SC is Bark Park (aka Barc Park). It’s a 12-acre fenced area for dogs to romp around off-leash. There’s a giant pond, shade trees, picnic tables and benches for the humans, and some playground equipment for the dogs. It’s very clean and I have never witnessed any aggressive dogs. The park is owned and operated by the City. Although I can pretty much turn my dogs loose anywhere as they come when I call them, I wish more cities had places like this.

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Most “dog parks” that I have been to are really no more than “dog runs” (with questionable sanitation and too small for dogs to spread out and have their own space). I have my favorites around the country. One of them that comes to mind is the 42-acre Dogwood Park in Jacksonville, FL:
http://www.jaxdogs.com/

For a listing of dog parks, this website is a great reference:
http://www.ecoanimal.com/dogfun/

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There was lots of time for sleeping on the long drive home for some of us. Here’s Fixie in an unusual position:

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A new snack discovery (for me anyway). Grippie gives her endorsement of Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos:

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Lastly, here are a couple signs from North Myrtle Beach that caught my eye. This Preston’s sign appears to be a new one but it is still nicely done:

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This sign is from an abandoned course. Myrtle Beach has long been populated with dozens of mini golfs but most of them these days are the new elaborate type with mountains spewing molten lava, giant waterfalls, and such. I prefer the older more understated courses. There are still some old carpets and hints of what this course looked like behind an overgrown broken chain link fence. That and this sign will probably not be around for much longer.

I had a very productivfe and satisfying day. The weather was perfect and I was in some big cities which gave me some very dense photographic material. Only another day and a half left of the trip but I’m ready to settle down and put my life back in order. I’m sure the dogs look forward to their usual routine as well. Lots of photos for ya today!

As if the one-way streets didn’t slow me down enough in Savannah, there was also a homecoming parade for Savannah State College which blocked off several roads. I was glad to have a good map to steer around all the various back ways to get what I needed but still it took more time than I would’ve liked. There are worse places to get jammed up though – it’s a beautiful and interesting town. In addition to the marching bands, hand-shaking politicians, cars with waving beauty pageant winners, there were also lots of fun-loving Shriners.

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The old Globe Shoe store is a beauty:

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Just a couple doors down is another old shoe store with yet more great terrazzo. Some day I’m going to go down all the Main Streets in the U.S. and shoot just this. Maybe start a new flickr ID “terrazzonut”?

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So I’ve gotta mention/show the Spanish Moss — okay, so it’s an epiphyte and all that but it’s so beautiful:

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I can’t decide if this is cute or disgusting. Tybee Island has one of those art project things around town with differently decorated sea turtles. Here’s this guy indulging in a banana split at the Sugar Shack:

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and another sea turtle pirate at the Crab Shack with a sleeping friend. It was a really busy place with mobs of people walking by and making noise. But this guy was just so used to it I guess.

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Speaking of snoozing, here’s one of my roadside pals asleep at the wheel. It’s usually Grip in my lap on these trips, alternating between watching scenery, sleeping, and nipping at big trucks that go by. Nik usually only takes this spot when he’s freezing (after swimming in cold water). But today I guess he found a sunny patch & couldn’t resist. He falls asleep in the most uncomfortable looking positions and held this one for quite awhile.

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This old Texaco is on the road between Savannah and Charleston. It looks like a fake set-up to me but it could be real I guess since it’s at a major fork in the road.

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This is how they do Halloween in South Carolina I guess, the Palmetto State:

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I had never been to Charleston before and it’s drop dead gorgeous. I’m coming back someday just to start a new Flickr ID and/or website called “really-old-buildings”. Here are some examples:

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I told myself I’d stop shooting these Montgomery-Ward buildings but this is perhaps the most nicely preserved one I’ve seen:

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There are lots of brick-walled courtyards which sometimes give you a glimpse of what’s on the other side:

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The buses are done up like street cars:

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And lastly, let me leave you with this delightful discovery in Charleston. You’ve all seen those giant inflated eagles and Uncle Sams on the roofs of car dealership but here’s a unique touch. I’m told there really is a Mama and that she’s in her 80s. I only missed meeting her by a few minutes and would’ve loved to get a posed shot with her underneath her likeness. Damn!

The sun finally came out which made things a lot more pleasant and productive. I had a long haul through back roads across the whole state of Georgia so am feeling pretty wiped out. Let me get these photos up this morning so I can get a little nap in before hitting the road again.

Let’s start with a mid-century building from Abbeville: the Henry County Courthouse:

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Abbeville’s little downtown theatre, the “Archie”, is unfortunately closed as are many other theatres that I’ve seen on this trip:

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The facade is all that’s left of the Walker Theatre in Fort Gaines. The box office looks out onto a vacant lot. The owners are working towards making it an “open air” theatre with only one third of the building having a roof.

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The Blakely Theatre (in Blakely) is closed but undergoing renovation:
http://www.early.k12.ga.us/earlycounty/community_life.htm

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Here are a couple signs that caught my eye. This giant boot sign in Albany is abandoned (the shoe repair is long gone):

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Ashburn mixes humor and civic pride. In addition to its giant peanut on I-75, the town hosts this annual festival:

It rained again for most of the day but I finally got a break in the afternoon. I managed to squeeze in the northern Alabama stuff I had to skip earlier in the trip and still stay on schedule. No hitches or glitches to report. I’ve got more photos for the blog today than for Flickr, so let’s get started!

I stumbled across this little mid-century “roundie” in Irondale and while it’s no architectural masterpiece, some folks might enjoy it. I don’t know what it was originally but for now, it’s a dentist office.

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Now if more modern businesses took this approach to signage, the world would be a better place. This giant calla lily and sculptural fence are from Birmingham:

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Miss Electra looks down on Birmingham from atop the Alabama Power Company Building:

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Here’s the first group shot of the four world travelers together (well, IF I’m keeping her). This was natural posing — not the greatest composition. But what’s noteworthy is that at least little “you-you” has learned that when the van doors open, you have to wait for the “okay” to jump out. That’s a step in the right direction even if she hasn’t learned her name or how to pee/poop on-leash yet.

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Are you hungry? Here’s a new one on me. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the Southern delicacy: the moonpie. Personally, I think you have to be born here to enjoy these mushy and tasteless snacks. But I couldn’t resist sampling this orange version that I hadn’t seen before. It was better than the original flavor since it had a little more punch to it. A step above soft cardboard and I love the color. Hey, what do you want for 59 cents?

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But I did find some tastier items at Priester’s Pecans in Fort Deposit. Priester’s has this huge candy & gift shop and another location in Perry, GA. I’m a sucker for any kind of nuts. Suffice it to say, I scored enough goodies to last me the rest of the trip – and then some. They have a huge mail order / on-line business so you need not feel left out. I can whole-heartedly recommend the “pecan fiddlesticks”:
http://www.priesters.com/shop/dispProductDetail.cfm?Product_ID=106

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There is an overhead viewing area where you can watch the nuts being roasted and the candy being made.

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And I just love this display — who knew there were so many different kinds of pecans?

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Just a little further down the road is the Bama Nut Shop. How could I resist a place with signage like that? I got a huge bag of peanuts for the dogs. They love shelling the peanuts themselves and making a big ol’ mess.

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While we’re on the subject of nuts, I should mention the cute little figures scattered around Dothan. This town hosts the annual National Peanut Festival. Here’s a patriotic little group representing the various armed forces – and more characters if you’re interested here:
http://www.dcmi.com/peanuts/photo3.html

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The Byrd Drug Company in Troy is half pharmacy and half lunch room. It’s not the classic counter & stools ice cream parlor arrangement. But the counter and tables set-up still has an old-fashioned feel. The signage is great and includes a neon bird in the sign affixed to the corner as well as etched glass birds on the door.

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Burger Chef fans can add this one to the list of “survivors” (well, partially anyway). This sign/building are what’s left of the Ozark location.

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Getting gas down South is sure a lot more fun with these kangaroo and bunny stations. This “Hop-In” station features rabbits and bouncing colored balls on the pumps and inside the store. Sorry for the blur — I’m not sure what happened:

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And lastly, a couple signs to lead us out of today’s program. This cutesy billboard was in Luverne. I don’t think it’s advertising anything in particular (the other side was a painted American flag).

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This plastic sign from Birmingham is a knock-out. Apparently, this business is still in operation in some form as there was still an office inside the building. But I don’t know if they still answer the phone for you.

It was much more of a soggy day than a bloggy day. It has rained now for three days and I have forgotten what the sun looks and feels like. It was all I could do to shield my camera from the water for the “real” photos for the website so I only have one photo for the blog today. The weather report looks a little better for tomorrow. The other thing that sucks about this weather is that I lose an hour in the morning and another hour in the evening of shooting time because the light is so bad.

Here’s today’s mini contribution then from Pell City, AL. A modern sign but a very nice effort to be different and artistic:

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The big event today I guess was when Nik went after some funny-looking ducks in a stream. The duck he singled out eventually won the game by ducking (is that how they got the name?) underwater when Nik would get close and then reappearing someplace 15 feet away. This taunting only made Nik nuttier and he didn’t give up til he was near hypothermic. The water was cold and he was in there for what seemed like 20 minutes. There’s not much I can do at times like this as he get so frenzied he just tunes my screaming out. I do my best to investigate the “wildlife situation” before letting him off-leash to run but sometimes critters turn up unexpectedly. He’s never gone after ducks before — so now I know better.

Lots of miles between stuff and it rained all day. So not the most productive day for picture-taking. But the stuff I went out of my way for was very much worth it. I only have a couple pictures for the blog this time.

The Joy Theatre in Arcadia, LA looks like it hasn’t been open in years. All the businesses in this little downtown have steps leading up to them. Very old Wild West to me but maybe it has something to do with flooding. Note the water spots on my lens: it was truly a sucky day to be shooting.

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I often get asked how I have the energy for this rigorous road-tripping pace. Here’s my secret: about three bottles of Diet Coke and at least one sugary snack per day. Preferably ice cream in summer and donuts in winter. Here’s today’s indulgence: a bursting with goodness raspberry-filled donut from Haskell’s in Monroe, LA. You know a donut will be good if it’s assymetrical or deformed in some way.