It’s catch-up time.  I arrived safely home Sunday at 3 pm.  The dust hasn’t quite settled here but I’ll get Friday’s post up — and maybe Saturday’s later or tomorrow.  I had mostly good sun — some haziness.  I wrapped up some stuff in southern Wisconsin and moved on to northern Illinois.  I’ll keep the talking brief since I’m exhausted and I have a big yapper coming up in the final post.

This ice cream shaped sign is in Kenosha, WI:

Also Kenosha:

 

On to Beloit, WI:

 

On to Illinois — from Rockford.  It appears a building was recently reduced to rubble — a vacant lot where I’m standing & shooting.  Thus exposing this bit of painted advertising.  Amazing that these big three credit card companies still exist — just with different names:

 

A nice vitrolite facade in Harvard, IL:

 

On to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union.  I was there for a few neon signs.  The museum just got this Santa Fe sign from Chicago in July:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-24/news/ct-talk-santa-fe-sign-0724-20120724_1_santa-fe-sign-motorola-solutions

And of course there are loads of trains and streetcars and such — filling building after building:

And lots of trains outside, too:

 

This one was built in 1964 and operated in Chicago:

Semaphores & signals:

Also a diner which I posted to the Flickr agilitynut account — and, yes, some signs. I’m told they have all been restored and are lit at night for special events:

Love this one with the trains & chasing bulbs on top:

Another massive sign…

…. with that nifty marble textured background:

Also found this salvaged piece of terrazzo floor:

 

On to Elgin where the sun was running out.  This spectacular Art Deco building is too “golden hour” for the website — but good enough for the blog.

 

Then it was on to Chicago area for some night shooting (the reason I fell behind in my posts).  This was pretty much on the fly — no list.  I just put together about a dozen stops at places with signs that I knew should be lit.  Some of them weren’t but maybe they were closed for the day and turn their signs off when they lock up.

This business in Chicago was still in business but a depressing “for sale” sign posted.  Shoot ’em while you can folks:

 

The world-famous, original Superdawg Drive-in in Chicago.  The statues spin and their eyes flash on and off.    There is a new location in Wheeling, IL with these same statues of Maurie & Flaurie:
http://www.superdawg.com/history.cfm

 

More from Chicago.  I made a quickie video to show you the flickering bulb action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3_6Tf7_lRg&feature=youtu.be

 

 

These signs at the Melrose Restaurant were covered up by an awning for years.  The restaurant was going to replace the awning and discovered this underneath when they removed it.  This was over a year ago so it looks like the signs will remain on view.

 

To close out this post — a fun modern sign:

 

I’ll start working on the final post but I’m running out of steam.  And I have to go to work tonight.  So I probably won’t get it up until tomorrow morning.

Don’t stray too far. A whopper post yet to come with TONS of photos from Wisconsin and Illinois. Yep, and Flickr, too. Reporting to you from the interstate in Youngstown, OH. About 6 hours to go.

All is well.  Got lots of good stuff from Chicago area today — and some neon shots tonight.  I thought I’d get a couple of extra hours sleep but that’s not happening.  Tomorrow (Saturday) — I’ll be racing around all day for more Chicagoland.  Then hitting the interstate for NYC (home).  Stay tuned — I’ll catch you up photos & details from these final two days when I get home.

No surprise — all day was spent in Wisconsin today.  Illinois will have to wait til tomorrow.  Thick white clouds muted the sun in the morning — and then caused me to stop an hour early tonight.  The forecast for tomorrow is “mostly cloudy” — which could mean anything.  The heat returned today after a fairly mild week.  Back in the 90s.  I wasn’t bumping into my usual amount of lakes and rivers.  So I’d just let the dogs run in big grassy areas and then douse them with water and crank up the A/C.  YES!  Sparkle’s A/C is still working nicely.  She turned over a magical number today:  333,333 miles.  I’m going for 555,555!

The day began in Monroe.  This is part of a larger, not so interesting sign for the Red Apple Inn restaurant.  I like the fading myself:

 

 

Moving on to Madison.  I had read that there was a cute Blatz sign at the Old Fashioned restaurant/bar.  But there were actually a few of them and quite a number of other beer signs.  I know I hit you with beer signs last night — but beer IS what Wisconsin is all about!    And this place has more than 150 beers to choose from:
http://www.theoldfashioned.com/

 

 

From Richland Center:

 

 

From Portage.  This place was closed when I was here last summer.  It was nice to see the signs (and peachy vitrolite) were still there for now:

 

 

Also in Portage.  Apparently, this pilgrim hat A&W was updated at some point with the “All American” neon in front and that ghastly retro sign.  There would have been a canopy attached to the building originally.  But I guess that was scrapped in favor of more Starbucks-like feel with tables and chairs outside.  I’m sure it IS more profitable this way.  Note the storage shed on the far left.  The two faces of the original sign are installed on it.

 

 

A couple more funky signs from Portage:

 

Closed & for sale:

 

 

Last August I was here in crappy weather.  Today was a bit better but not great.  Who knew August could be so fickle!  The Kiltie Drive-in is in Oconomowoc — yes, add it to your list.

 

The cool lamps:

 

The menu:

 

The cute car hop girls in plaid skirts:

 

And finally,  I indulged since it was about 96 degrees, and tomorrow I’ll probably be too obsessed with shooting to think about food.  This is a “Jr. Sundae” — I went with the crushed cherry topping and nuts.  Awesome!  Posed on Sparkle’s back bumper.  Note the Kiltie character on the cup:

 

 

Milwaukee was not on my list for this trip.  But after being told last night about the Gambrinus statue being moved there last year, I impulsively decided to go see & shoot him at the end of the day.  He’s located at one of the Pabst Brewery buildings.  This stained glass entrance window is at a nearby building:

 

 

And this sign connects a couple of other buildings nearby.  It looked like the “P” was out or I would have stuck around to get a better photo.  The sign appears to be mounted on a bridge between the two buildings:

 

 

OK — so here’s the plan for the remaining three days of the trip.  Tomorrow is officially the last day of shooting.  If I’m up to it, I might do a little neon shooting in the Chicago area tomorrow night.  Which means I’ll be up late.  And with some hellish driving on Saturday, I should go to bed  after that instead of staying up and doing this Flickr & blog stuff.  For Saturday, I should really set a deadline to get on the interstate.  11 am?  1 pm?  It’s about 14 hours from Chicago to NYC, plus naps, throwing balls for dogs & getting gas.  I’d like to be home mid-day Sunday but that’s obviously not gonna happen.  With all that driving to look forward to, I’ll have to my usual double post from home for Friday’s and Saturday’s photos/adventures and wrap-up stats (mileage, how much spent on gas, etc.).  I’ll post a couple quick hellos so you’ll know all is well.  But the real post with a double-batch of photos will be Monday or worst case Tuesday.

 

I made a really good dent in the Wisconsin list today.  The day started out promising but by early afternoon, an annoying white cloud cover had moved in.  No time to wait it out for the sun.  The clock is ticking with picture-taking cut-off on Saturday.  I’ll have to reshoot a lot of stuff one day.  But for now, something is better than nothing.

The day started in La Crosse — so here are a few photos from there.  This shoe store is now a book store.  Thank God they left this tile floor entry alone:

 

 

I believe the Casino Bar vitrolite facade is from the 1930s.  Calling Tim Dun….

 

Obviously, a modern sign there now:

 

 

A fun modern sign south of town.  The yellow strings are neon.  Must be neat at night but I can’t find any photos of it:

 

 

It wasn’t on my list for this trip but I had to go check on my favorite sign in town.  I was horrified at first when I didn’t see it.  But then turning around, I spotted it next to the building in the parking lot.  So, I had to go inside and ask what was up.  I spoke with the owner who explained the building had been hit by a tornado (ah, yes, big blue tarp on one corner).  And that they were moving in March to a new building in an industrial park.  He will keep the sign and most likely display it inside the office.  He seemed very interested in restoring it.  I expressed my concern that if he did that he should just repair the neon and maybe touch up the paint but not repaint it.  The patina is really what makes the sign — makes it vintage, historic and visually appealing.  He seemed to agree.  Fingers crossed.  I emailed Tod (American Sign Museum) to see if he knew of any historically sensitive sign shops in the area.  The owner said the sign is from the late 1950s and was originally animated somehow.

 

I was glad to see that the sausage man is used on the company’s trucks and packaging:

 

 

Still in La Crosse — another cute character:

 

 

I didn’t get any food shots today — but I’ll share with you my favorite beverage experience of this trip.  I’ve become a diehard fan of Kwik Trip for all my caffeine and bathroom needs.  They are everywhere.  And they are some of the cleanest, most welcoming, organized gas station c-stores I’ve experienced over the years.  I head right for the dark roast, a little half & half and I’m back on the road.  It’s not as strong as Starbucks coffee (not seeing them in southern Wisconsin) but more powerful and better tasting than your typical gas station coffee.  Posed here on one of those underground gas tank covers:

 

 

On to Prairie du Chien.  I’ve gradually become a big fan of these corrugated (“corduroy”) plastic signs.  One day, the entire country is going to say “let’s get rid of this shit” and just like that, seemingly overnight, it’ll all be gone.  Maybe I’ll be the only one crying.  Unless I can convince you — and you can convince your local business owners that those signs are special, neat, historic…

 

 

From Fennimore.  There’s a railroad museum in town — too tired to do much Googling right now — but I guess this town is big on trains:

 

 

Also Fennimore:

 

On to one of today’s high points.  I went to Potosi to shoot the giant beer can and what was supposed to be “a couple of signs in the museum”.  Uh, seems there are a LOT of signs in the brewery museum and restaurant.  And far more than that — all kinds of advertising, bottles, collectibles, etc.  I was told all the stuff in the museum is on loan from various collectors so the displays change all the time.   Truly fantastic — add it to your list folks.  Potosi is close to Dubuque, IA if you have any plans of heading that way:
http://www.potosibrewery.com/

 

 

Moving back outside — and on to Platteville.  This is obviously a modern sign — but nicely done:

 

 

This one also appears to be modern.  Although it might be a replacement sign.  The “hanger pole” (all these years I’ve been studying signs and I don’t know the name for it, if there is one) is definitely old:

 

 

Last photo for the night — from Mineral Point.  Such a great name:

 

 

I’ll do my best to finish up the Wisconsin stuff tomorrow. I’d like to start on Illinois but don’t know if that’s possible.  I’ll have to prioritize the Illinois stuff on the fly on Friday.  I’d like to get the dogs to the doggie beach in Chicago as a final farewell to this trip’s adventures.  I might need an intervention to stop shooting on Saturday morning.

Finally, and just barely, I finished up Minnesota today.  Somehow my estimates were off — and I’m now a day behind schedule.  I guess I’m not going to get to the northern Illinois stuff.  Which makes me pout like a spoiled child.  Next year’s trips probably won’t take me up this way (Spring: Florida & Summer: SoCal).  It really hurts to have organized this chunk of stuff and not be able to get to it til 2014.  I’m not giving up just yet — but the Wisconsin stuff yet-to-do looks like two days worth.

More sunshine all day today.  But much of it spent sitting in the driver’s seat between one-stop towns.  The dogs made the usual demands — and I had to indulge them.  When a trip starts winding down, I start making more and more stops for them.  It just really makes me happy to see them happy.  Here’s a typical and frequent excerpt from my day of driving.  Sorry that the video is sideways — taken while driving and just sort of randomly shot.  I don’t see a function at YouTube to rotate the video.  Much of the day I had these sound effects since we were along the Upper Mississippi for a good bit of time.  Nik is whining, the high-pitched squealing is Grem, the deep barking is Fixie (at them), and Grip must be in there somewhere.

But let’s start the photos back where the day began — in Austin.  I’m guessing there was a nicer facade here which has since been removed:

On to Lanesboro — for the Spud Boy Diner.  I’m too wiped out to give you the whole history of this place.  And it’s already been done  better than I could do at Larry’s blog:
http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/gordon-tindalls-spud-boy-diner-gets-nice-write-up-and-it-is-almost-a-year-away-from-opening/

and Spencer’s blog:
http://dinerhunter.com/2012/04/15/gordon-tindalls-spud-boy-lunch/

Let’s just say, it’s one of those happy ending stories thanks to people who stepped in to save this place.  Like Mike and Gordon.

Timing is everything and it just so happened that Mike Engle from Upstate New York was in town and stuck around to meet me.  He’s the guy in the middle of this photo.  And he’s the one to thank for saving the diner.  He’s also written a couple of books about diners and been obsessed with them for decades.

So, it was Mike that hooked up Gordon Tindall with this diner.   Gordon had previously restored and operated the Red Rose Diner in Towanda, PA:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/1474485764/

I didn’t get a chance to talk to him since the place was jammed with people.  A tiny town on a Tuesday morning.  Good to see it’s doing well!  Here’s Gordon making REAL home fries with a grater over the grill:

Another long view of the very small diner.  Gordon’s the only one cooking.  While his wife, Val, just visible over his shoulder, takes the orders.  It’s a wonderful little place and I wish I’d gotten a chance to actually eat there.  Beautiful little town, too.  Add to your list.

Back on the road.   Here’s one from Rochester —  the Recreation Lanes:

A nice mid-century design from Winona:

Also Winona — I’ve included Louis Sullivan buildings in posts before.  I figured you might be tired of them — but this one’s a knock-out.  This one was designed by Purcell & Elmslie.  Elmslie was Sullivan’s chief draftsman.  I only wish I’d been there a half hour earlier when the place was open.  The murals and other details inside partially visible through the windows looked incredible.

And this is how most of my day’s end here on the road.  Too late to shoot — light enough for one last run & sniff for the dogs.  This big grassy area was between a school and a cemetery.  There’s still a lot of vaguely owned, golf-course-green areas out there in America up for 20 minute grabs.  I don’t know if that will be the case 10 years from now.

One I shot in the dark just to see if it was worth going back sometime to shoot this statue in the light.  I thought you might like it since it’s rather eerie from the flash.  This was at the Ashley Furniture factory in Whitehall, WI:

OK — on to La Crosse and Sparta first thing in the morning.  I know I should get you some food shots — and I still haven’t come up with a self-portrait yet.  Working on it.

Despite my best efforts and all-day sun, I still have a few hours worth of stuff left to shoot in Minnesota tomorrow morning.  Then, it’ll be off to Wisconsin.  Tuesday and Wednesday there.  Thursday and Friday in Illinois.  Interstate hell on Saturday and putting my life in order on Sunday.  Back to work on Monday.  That’s the plan.  If I’m a good girl, I’ll stop shooting on Friday.  But if I’m bad, which I usually am, I’ll shoot until Saturday afternoon — making the drive home even more gruesome.

So many lakes today for the dogs that I lost count.  Grippie always seems to find the dead fish first — making up for her blindness with her sense of smell.  Luckily, no dead-fish rolling incidents on this trip which makes the van reek for weeks despite dousing with Febreze.  Don’t believe those TV commercials.

Let’s start with a sign from Mankato.  I assume these must have been mass-produced but this is the only one that I know of like this:

 

I’ve shot this sign in Waseca before — but never really investigated the place other than that:

There’s also a giant chainsaw carved hamburger:

There’s also this “land yacht” that you can dine in (note picnic table installed instead of seats):

And these two Amphicars which you can, according to the sign: “ride for free on the lake”.  WHAT?   I see from other people’s blogs that it’s true.   Okay, I MUST take the dogs for a ride in an Amphicar.  I will definitely find out about this for the next time I’m in the area.

 

Hoff’s Bar in Owatonna has several great neon signs — including this one:

 

Another one from Owatonna:  (the city name kept reminding me how I’m gonna owe-a-tonna money for this trip — about $100 a day for gas alone).  Looking at Costas’ website now, I’m regretting not stopping in for some sugar.  I haven’t had hardly any indulgences on this trip:
http://www.costas-candies.com/

 

Another from Owe-a-tonna:

 

Moving on to Faribault.  A pole in the way forced this angle — but I think it was a blessing.  I shoot way too much dead-on:

 

More Faribault — a movie theatre fallen on hard times.  A great asymmetrical marquee from the 1940s.  The building appears to be vacant now (“for sale” sign) but it was a church in recent years.  More about its history here:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8145

 

A black & cream vitrolite facade:

 

From Albert Lea:

 

Another eagle in town.  This sign appears to be a replica (rather than a restoration) to me.  Restoration is such a subjective term anyway.  To some, it might mean just repainting.  Or it might mean completely refabricating something in the style of the original.  Well, anything beats a plastic box sign:

 

Another from Albert Lea.  I had to shoot into the sun for this one — but I think you can make out that this part of the building is completely brick glass.  The rest is pretty boring auto repair shop bays.  I have no idea what this was originally:

 

One more from Albert Lea:

 

And from Austin — where the dogs and I have collapsed for the night.  Another head-scratcher — I can’t tell if this was ever old — or replaced — or what.  I can tell you that it wasn’t lit tonight:

 

 

Kind of sad that there are only four days of shooting left.  But I’m pretty exhausted from the driving and late nights.  It’ll be a miracle if I can get all of this year’s photos up — and my credit card back to zero — before next spring when we start this craziness again.

Some grey and rainy weather in the morning.  I let the dogs run and sniff and swim a couple of times just to wait for things to clear.  Grassy fields and Lake Hanska.  Lots of green grass everywhere which is sure different from all that Wyoming stickery stuff.  The dogs are much happier about that.  It really does feel like more than a month that we’ve been out here.  Five weeks at a time of this insane lifestyle is enough for me and the dogs.

Where did the time go today?  I thought I’d get a lot more Minnesota done.  But, first, there was the weather for a slow start.  And then, there was all kinds of traffic in and around Minneapolis.  Even though I didn’t have many stops there, they were widely spaced apart.  And there you go — a low volume day.  Tomorrow, should be more productive in the less city-fied areas and the forecast is for a big orange circle all day:  SUN!

I started shooting today in Spirit Lake.  Gotta love this monster — a florist and garden center:

 

 

Still Spirit Lake.  See those annoying grey skies….  Fareway is a regional supermarket chain based in Iowa.  I haven’t seen any old style signs like this one before.  It might have been updated from this design:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathervescent/3406778171/
I think there are still a couple of those left out there.

 

I think there are still a few stores left with these rooftop signs — including the sensational mid-century building in Marshalltown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4867349849/

 

 

On to Minnesota.  In New Ulm, I came across these now very rare Eliot Noyes’ round Mobil gas pumps.  Though they’re not in use as the place is now Terry’s Auto Service.

I assume this station had the mushroom canopies (also designed by Noyes) originally like this:
http://u1.ipernity.com/11/52/03/5375203.3e40314f.560.jpg

There are still four pumps in use in Denton, NC — towards the bottom of this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/gas/ncice2.html
Those are the only ones I know of still in use (or at least they were in 2010).  But this place in New Ulm wins for quantity — six pumps.  Although they are bit rusty & banged up:

 

 

Ahhhhh.  Finally, the sun — and what a difference it makes.  Even this brown sign (can’t be the original color — or name) looks great!  From Minneapolis:

 

 

Another from Minneapolis.  The former Boulevard Theatre.  At least the marquee was saved.  Sorta.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8152

 

 

A couple from St. Paul.  A nice flatiron building (triangular lot) with lots of neon.  It looks like it should be lit at night but I don’t see any photos at Flickr:

 

 

A Google search tells me that this is the Czech and Slovak Sokol Hall.  But I still don’t get where the “P” comes from:

 

 

Back at it tomorrow here in Minnesota.  A giant fish just down the block here in New Prague to shoot just as soon as the sun is right.  I’m hoping to move on to Wisconsin by Tuesday afternoon.

This morning, things were not looking so good:  pouring rain.  Which was kind of good since, for the second night in a row, I had to finish the blog in the morning because I couldn’t keep my eyes open the night before.  And I couldn’t find the energy last night to get the Flickr photos up.  I was absolutely dead tired.  So, after doing all that, it was 10 am and the rain was still coming down.  I considered giving up and going back to bed around.  I checked ol’ reliable (not) weather.com for the forecast.  And the forecast for Sisseton — 2 1/2 hours to the north where I was heading today.  While weather.com is pretty inaccurate with forecasting, at least they’re better with announcing the present conditions (though even that they screw up sometimes).  I’ve tried other weather websites and they’re no better.  When I saw all sun up in Sisseton, I fired up Sparkle and off we went.  Sure enough — loads of sun.  And by the time we got back to Sioux Falls, it was sunny there, too.  Well done!  So, a travel tip for when you encounter crappy weather:  find out where the sun is and skedaddle to there.

Hello, Sisseton!

 

 

This will be a shorter than usual post since I spent about half the day on the interstate or nothing-to-look-at highways.  But actually, the clouds were stupendous all day.  Just amazing.  But I won’t bore you with photos of those.

Back in Sioux Falls:

 

 

I’m guessing that the El Riad Shrine (Shriners Temple) in Sioux Falls was built in the 1930s or so.  Really hard to tell and I’m finding nothing about the building’s history on-line.  Probably a lot of remodeling.  The neon signs are probably modern but still great.  I hated the modern carnival-esque entrance marquee at first.  But now it’s beginning to grow on me:

 

 

From Brandon.  Trees in the way forced this angle — but maybe better than straight on anyway:

 

Moving on to Iowa for a little bit.  This Rexall drug store in Rock Rapids appears to still be in business.  I couldn’t tell if there was a lunch counter — the place was closed when I arrived.  This store probably also had a hanging neon Rexall sign originally.  If you’re into Rexall signs, I’ve got a mini section over at my website:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/rex.html

 

 

Last one for the night — ran out of daylight here.  I’ll be reshooting this one in the morning for the website.  But you don’t mind a bit of washed out color, right?  From Spirit Lake, IA.   A nice bit of historical info about the place here:
http://www.vickscorner.com/history.htm

 

 

Tomorrow, I’ll finish up a very short Iowa list and then be on to Minnesota.  Most of it small towns on the southern edge of the state.  A few Minneapolis/St. Paul stops — but not many.   I did a fairly thorough job of all that last year.  In bed at midnight for the first time in weeks!

Since this is a shortie post tonight, it’s a good time to mention to late-arrivers that there’s a whole ‘nother parallel universe taking place over at Flickr.  Yep, I post different photos here and there every night on these trips.  Here’s what you might be missing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

A gloriously sunny day — but a good percentage of it sitting in place just barreling down I-90.  Three mediums cups of coffee for me today.  I think a new record.  But I got all the way from western to eastern South Dakota with many stops hugging the interstate on the way.

We started the day in Rapid City.  And one of my goals has always been to replicate the vintage scene here at the Dinosaur Park with my own dogs:

And all my dogs know how to beg, readily, eagerly, easily.  It’s one of the first tricks I teach.  But today, Day 28, I experienced one of those “do we HAVE to, Mom?” moments.  Nobody wanted to do nothing.  I think at least Nik might have — but since he knows a finger signal more than a verbal signal and the nearly blind boy was facing the sun, he hadn’t a clue what he was supposed to do.  Fixie and Grem were on strike.  Grip can only sit up for a couple of seconds since she’s losing a lot of muscle tone in her aging rear end.  Ah well.  I think another trip, another time.

 

Then, photo-op #2.  I saw this statue in downtown Rapid City last night and knew we had to do it.  But the bronze chair was so slippery from so many human butts previously posed on it, that my guys could barely stay on.  It was like glass.  The statue is of Warren Harding and his Airedale Terrier, Laddie Boy.  There are these smaller than life Presidents on nearly every corner downtown.  I had to shoot quick since it was rush hour traffic just a few feet away and Grem was scoping something.

 

On with the roadside stuff then.  More Rapid City.  Love this 1970s era sign:

 

From Hill City.  This guy advertises for Chute Roosters restaurant:

 

Another from Hill City.  With meshie protective covering:

 

Several signs from Custer:

 

And  no I-90 trip through South Dakota would be complete without a stop at Wall Drug:

For those of you that have never been, there’s all kinds of creepy statues — animatronic like these — and others just to pose with:

Photo-ops — like this faux Mount Rushmore and a saddled Jackalope for you to climb on.

And of course, an incredible amount of souvenirs, stuff to eat, and all that.  ‘Tis amazing.  This dinosaur is a fairly new addition sure to give the kids nightmares:

 

On to Interior to check on the giant prairie dog statue — looking good.

The other times I’ve been there, it’s been deserted.  The gift shop closed.  I had no idea that there were prairie dogs everywhere around the statue.  Maybe they only come out during working hours?  The gift shop sells some kinds of special peanuts or something — you’re not supposed to feed them anything else ($$).  And there were maybe a dozen kids and families there with the critters eating right out of their hands.  The fattest little prairie dogs I’ve ever seen:

And of course, the dogs were enjoying the show…  That’s Grem barking madly in the front seat and Nik jumping up and down.  Grip gets in a participatory bark now and then.  Fix is pretty much wishing we were back in Brooklyn already.

 

A couple of signs from Murdo:

 

From Chamberlain:

 

On to Sioux Falls.  I arrived at dark and was totally unprepared for shooting neon — but knew I had to find the energy somewhere.  It means even less sleep but who knows when I’ll be here again.

Just enough light to make out that one lonely car.  I put the pole sign from this place over at Flickr tonight.

This one has to be a modern sign — but I still like it very much:

 

I should be able to finish up South Dakota and get started on Minnesota tomorrow.  I thought I was maybe a day and a half ahead of schedule.  Thinking how nice it would be to get back on Saturday morning and have all weekend to get my life together before work on Monday.  But looking at the thickness of these Minnesota and Wisconsin packs — wow, not so sure.  I have a feeling it’s gonna be another killer drive home from Chicago & I’ll be home late on Sunday.