OK — time to play catchup since I’m a post behind.  I haven’t even started working on today’s photos and I took TONS.  It’s already 11:15 pm but I just bought a gigantic coffee at the 24/7 Travel Store (smallish truck stop-y gas station) here in Russell so I’m feeling pretty ambitious.  But I’d better keep things slide-show-ish and keep the commentary limited so I can get stuff done and get back on track.  I suspect the next post won’t be as chatty as my brains fizzles to mush.

Way back yesterday morning then… stuff to do in Kansas City, KS and keeping an eye out for open, reliable-looking AC repair type places.  So let’s start with a couple signs from KCK:

Named for its location (on Rainbow Blvd.):

I’ve seen a few repurposed Safeway signs on this trip.  I’ll share this one in Mission with you to show off some more of those gorgeous clouds I’ve been witnessing.  I don’t know if this sign will survive the next business incarnation:

And so Mission was to be where I spent about two hours of my morning getting Sparkle’s AC serviced.  I saw a respectable looking Goodyear tire place and it wasn’t five minutes til they pulled her into the bay.  The found a funky hose (I think it was) and there was only 1 gallon of freon when there should have been 3.  So charging that took about an hour.  It was already 90-something at 10am so I really had no choice in the matter.

Normally, this Goodyear has wi-fi which would have been a nice diversion but the modem was down or something.  I did shoot this nice midcentury bank across the street, thinking it was a nice sky blue & white theme.

When I got rolling again, not less than a mile down the road, I saw a sign that said site of new Capitol Federal Savings.  Uh oh.  Looks like that cute little bank might be endangered.  The KC suburbs are rampant with new development — bigger, newer, nicer — the same chant going on everywhere in America.  Shoot ’em now folks!  These things have a way of disappearing.  Praise the business owners for keeping their old signs/buildings and plead at your community meetings and electees that these things be spared.  I’ll keep my lecture short for now.

Sometimes you just can’t tell what’s “real” (old) and what’s retro (fake imitation).  Particularly, as this retro stuff ages it gets really confusing.  This little strip mall in Mission has a stainless-looking wedding cake over the cleaners entrance and some other little stainless embellishments on the side. I sure can’t tell — but maybe a local remembers when this place was built or how long they’ve seen it there.

crappy side view — sun problems:

I’m crazy for this pair of arrow signs at a used car dealer in Olathe:

A truly crappy photo but I’ll include it anyway.  Taken while driving in Lawrence so you get glare and bugs.  But I hope you can make out the neat camo cab — is that wheat or what?  I’ve never seen a truck with this sort of thing before. 

This sign in Lawrence.  I suspect these beer mugs were mass-produced with maybe other beer cos. than Coors as well — but I’ve never seen another one like this:

Just plain pretty.  Looks like it might have either had a name change or a heavy-handed restoration at one point.  From Tecumseh:

We’re in Topeka now — my first time which was very exciting.  And it was just mind-blowingly great in every way.  Great signs & old buildings.  Mid-century buildings all over the place.  For my money, I’d pick Topeka as a vacation destination over Palm Springs if you like mid-century.  Sure, maybe the examples in PS are more extraordinary — but not as plentiful or as heavily tweaked.  If you exclude houses (I usually do!), there are maybe about a dozen or so mcm buildings in PS.  But in Topeka, I bet there are 200!  PS’s mcm buildings get As while Topeka’s might get C+/B-.  But I bet the hotels are a heckuva lot cheaper, too.  And off the top of my head, I’m not remembering any neon signs or Art Deco in PS either.  Topeka’s got other fun raggedy, weird stuff, too, that PS doesn’t have.  Hands down, Topeka’s the winner in my book!

Here are just a few highlights (more at last night’s Flickr post).  A two-fer:  dogs and rustiness.  Yes, the text part of the sign must have been a lot more exciting in its prime.  I’d love to see a vintage photo of this one!

A modern sign — but so worthy of including here.  I tried to place/crop the clouds so it looked like rocket exhaust for you:

Two magnificent specimens at Autos Inc.:

It’s been awhile since I posted any parking garage signs.  And Topeka has several nice ones.  Can someone please get me a grant or a book deal so I can just travel the country and shoot parking signs exclusively?  Only half kidding.

A study in contrasts.  Good Lord — that’s more awnings than I’ve ever seen in one place!:

Let’s close this one out with a couple more signs from Topeka.  I’m heading off to work on today’s stuff now.  Stay tuned…

Cooler inside the van that is.  Outside was just awful — hotter than ever on this trip.  Bank clocks ranged throughout the day from 103-105 for most of the day.  One even read 112.  By 9pm, it had only cooled down to 90.  More of the same expected for the next two days.  Got the A/C fixed this morning — mostly.  But since it’s 1:30am now (got started late tonight), I’m gonna cut myself some slack and do the official post from today either tomorrow morning or tomorrow night.  I’ve got loads of photos to insert and that project is just too overwhelming for me at the moment.  All is well — stay tuned.

So, around 10am, we’d had enough and I turned on the A/C.  Lots of fans blowing but nothing cold coming out. And so it was.  I tried to find a garage but they would all say things like “maybe this afternoon”.  So we plugged along.  It broke 100 degrees which means it was probably 110 in the van.  I think tomorrow I’ll have better luck finding a not-so-backed-up mechanic in Lawrence or Topeka so we can get this thing fixed.  The AC has been working so great throughout this trip.  You really miss it when it’s not there — especially when you’re driving about 13 hours per day.  I did a little poking at Google and it seems air conditioning didn’t really become standard until the 1960s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioning

At one point in the afternoon, I thought I had a brainstorm. I bought a giant bag of ice for $2 and some garbage bags.  I filled up/spread out the ice in a bag for the dogs thinking they would really like to lay on that to stay cool.  But everyone seemed averse to this crunchy, weird thing.  Eventually, Nik figured out the benefit when I moved it to the front seat:

When I pulled in to reshoot one of my favorite mid-century churches, I spotted it from a distance:  a hose!  Fantastic!  Nobody around so I took the liberty of giving everybody a good long douse.  I even doused my head for awhile.  Then a couple stops later to see the giant Jesus statue, there was a little pond right there for the kids to swim in.  Even an atheist like myself found these “the Lord will provide” events pretty remarkable.

This afternoon seemed like an eternity but I just kept banging through the KS stuff and eventually moved across the border to Kansas. It’s been a long, exhausting day for all of us — but I won’t neglect my homework.  Lots of photos for ya.

Unless otherwise mentioned, everything’s from Kansas City, MO where we spent 95% of the day.  This one’s showing its age — a most unusual name:

a great used car lot sign:

Another used car lot — multiple views of this great place.  The pole sign in front.  Note the sweet drop lights above it:

The same drop lights on top of the office (close-up below).  And odd shape — maybe completely round originally and the back part added later?  Note the strands of bulbs all over the place.  This place must be quite stunning at night.

Love the literal-ness of this sign:

A couple of odd storefronts:

An art deco delight detail — with some twists.  The police camera — and the crane in the background.  Times sure have changed.

Nice contrasting brick for this sign — which must’ve been repurposed from a previous business.  KC-ers — do you have the scoop on this one?

Wonderful towering bank sign.  Can’t remember the last time, if ever, I saw a bank sign this big.  Usually, this style is reserved for shopping centers and the like.  It was a mere 91 here.  I think it peaked around 2pm and this was maybe noon.

Another mammoth sign (see buckets at the bottom for scale).  It probably looked a heckuva lot nicer once upon a time:

OK — we’ve moved into Kansas City, KS now.  It must be confusing sometimes mixing up the cities/states.  The KS side is remarkably poorer.  I don’t think Texarkana TX vs. OK is that much of a noticeable shift in economics.  But I guess this Missouri River is a bigger separator.

Next door to the Crown Rug is this crinkled-up sign for my rusty crusty fans:

Still in KS City, KS — love this advertising.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of wigs? (note to newbies to my blog – you can click on the photos for bigger sizes)

Near the Kansas Speedway — the T-Rex Cafe was on my list — but I had to steel myself since it’s in a MALL!  I stay far away from those places but sometimes, you have no  choice.  The outside of the place was intriguing and revolting in an overly commercial way but I gave it a go.  I do love dinosaurs. 

But once I was inside, I really got in the spirit.   There’s this animatronic, rubbery necked guy to greet you right when you go in:

To the left is an awesome bar with a giant squid and jellyfish (?) lights and fish tanks:

Up the stairs on the way to the bathroom, I passed the Ice Cave:

 

Regular folks having dinner amidst the dinos.  It’s a little too family-oriented for me.  I’m not that into children — esp. on the rare times that I eat at a restaurant.  Not that I would have on this trip.  OK, so I don’t like kids (actually, they’re okay, just not crazy about them) and I don’t believe in God.  Have I lost have my blog audience now?

Damn!  I missed the wooly mammoths!
http://www.kansastravel.org/kansascitykansas/trexcafe.htm

On to Bonner Springs where I’m calling it a night.  I went to this place to see & shoot a giant chicken.  It was closed but luckily the chicken was in the yard so I still got my photo.  Little did I know that the place had lots of mcm (mid-century modern) touches — the cool sign:

The Farmers’ Memorial dome:

The museum itself:

OK — one more for you sign lovers — also from Bonner Springs.  The building itself is not that special but this sign is a winner:

Here’s hoping for a cooler day tomorrow!

It was over 100 degrees, again, today.  We’re all hanging in.  Forecast for tomorrow is more of the same.  The weather’s supposed to change on Friday — 20 degrees cooler and rain.  So I’d better shoot as fast as I can.  If I do run into crappy weather, I’ll consider it a blessing and pull over and sleep.

Otherwise, nothing noteworthy.  I’d hoped to bang through all the KC stops in one big push.  But only got through about half.  Road construction and detours east of Independence didn’t help either.  So tomorrow, I should be able to wrap it up and start on the Kansas chunk.  I’ve allotted four days to cover that state’s stops — not enough I’m sure.  Little blue circles all over that map in the atlas.  And a hefty one-inch thick stack of printed maps.

Let’s move on to today’s offerings.  We dipped our toes into Kansas a couple times today for a few things.  Here’s one from Leavenworth.  Of course, I’m a huge mid-century modern fan but, really, what were they thinking here?

Not to be confused with the Best Western chain…  This one in Independence, MO:

Several more from Independence.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that in the Sterling Lanes sign (near Sterling Ave.).  Google actually calls this Sugar Creek, MO.

I was glad to see the “winking man” signs were still there.  There’s this one and another one next door at the used car lot.  Both building and lot have been abandoned for years.  Any KC-ers know the original name of this dealership?  Did this character have a name?  I’ve never seen these plastic ball signs used in repetition like this before.

I posted a close-up of the Save Gas sign but here’s another gratuitous shot just to show you more incredible clouds.  The gas station’s been closed for awhile apparently.  I worry what will become of this sign.  Lots of new development all over the place.

I can’t remember what was here before Bob’s Cafe (help, anyone?) but they’ve done a nice job of repurposing the sign:

A cute plastic sign from Raytown:

I posted the Fun House Pizza sign in Raytown over at Flickr tonight.  Here’s another example of a C-152 Lectra sign.   Bonus bulb arrow and concrete block.  These C-152 Lectra signs were quite mesmerizing at night.  Here’s a video of the Fun House sign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-m4xcocevI

A couple shots from Kansas City proper (more tomorrow).  Some swirly Art Deco detail:

And last one for the day — I can’t tell if this sign is a new retro build — or a repurposed sign.  It looks sooo familiar but so many signs used this or a similar design.  You’d think Dave’s could have added neon to the mid-section.  The sign looks so odd and half-assed this way.

My god it was hot today.  Holy cow!  It had to be more than 100.  The only bank clock I saw was at 6pm and it read 99 degrees.  It’s not cooling off much more tonight either.  In the late afternoon, I found some water for the dogs to romp in.  Right by Terrible’s Casino in St. Joseph.  The Missouri River was really moving quickly and strongly so I was careful just how far I threw the ball for Nik and the treats for the girls so nobody got swept away.

The purpose of my venture over to the casino was not to gamble — but to shoot this guy who’s not as big as the one in Osceola, IA but still nice — especially for a modern sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3868887677/

I knocked out the St. Joseph stuff today and thought I’d stick around to see if the  Pony Express or the Boudreaux’s bucket signs were lit at night.  Apparently not or I got there too late (11pm).  Tomorrow, it’ll be all about Kansas City — and if I really hustle, might move on to Kansas state.

The weather was so intensely hot and with all that city traffic, I started to worry what this might be doing to Sparkle.  So I’d turn off the A/C for awhile to give her a break.  When the dogs started panting and looking miserable, I’d turn the air back on.  Their comfort is way more important than mine.

Lots more signs today – hope you don’t mind.  The food has been pretty mundane.  I did splurge on a peanut parfait (ice cream) at the Dairy Barn in Wathena, KS this afternoon to treat myself for a superhuman effort today.  Man, was it good!  Sorry, no photo of it though — I just wasn’t thinking straight at the time.

The day started off crappy and rainy.  But at least my stops were spread pretty far apart and the grey photos are limited.  I checked on the giant pecan in Sumner.  It’s fine but some weeds are growing up around it.  The store itself looks like it’s been closed for awhile.  These characters are known as Wham (the hammer) and Petey (the pecan):

The movie theatre in Brunswick.  Brand new sidewalk and handicapped access but no attention to the theatre itself:

Another depressing theatre in Carrollton:

Some signs — this is from Chillicothe:

which is evidently home to sliced bread — who knew!

A couple photos from little Stanberry — this a Valentine diner like this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/3872698430/

and this sign (clock works) which stands next to an ATM machine.  I assume there must’ve been a small bank building there once:

A few photos from Maryville.  This must’ve advertised for a real estate office or mobile home seller:

A chiropractor’s office:

and a weathervane place:
http://www.robbinslightning.com/weather_vanes.php

A hand painted (plywood I think) from Savannah:

Great spiral-y poles (what would you call these?) from Belt Alignment & Frame in St. Joseph:

a ghost sign from St. Joseph:

and lastly, another from St. Joseph.  No idea what this gigunda arrow advertised for originally but I really like the shape of it.  Must’ve had neon:

And so begins one of the biggest chunks of this trip.  We’ll spend more time in Missouri than any other state (if you exclude the unplanned lengthy stay in Fort Wayne which stretched our Indiana visit a few days).  Made good progress today despite the incredible heat and humidity.  Really giving Sparkle a workout.  Seems almost cruel.  I saw a bank clock at 4pm that said 99 degrees.  When I let the dogs out to run, it was brief.  And then I’d dump a bunch of water on them and pop them back in the van for the A/C.

No mishaps– just plugging away at the list.  Loving this 70 mph speed limit (which means I do 80) even on the non-interstate highways.  Most states will only let you do 55 off the interstate — which means I do 65 and inch up towards 70 now and then.  Oh, by the way, yes, I’ve gotten a couple “souvenirs” so far.  A weird lane change ticket in Indiana — within the first 20 miles after leaving Fort Wayne for the final time.  I guess I didn’t signal and even though there were no cars behind me, the motorcycle cop nailed me for it — set me back $140 — damn! 

My other stop was in Iowa — speeding like 65 in a 55 or something — and I got a cute warning ticket.  I actually hang those up near my desk.  My goal is to get one from each state.  Not really.  But I have about 3 of them now.  Oh, and for those of your concerned about what all these tickets do for my car insurance — the answer is nothing.  States don’t recognize each other’s traffic laws — so I’m extra careful in New York and have a clean record.  Except for one seat belt ticket which I got within 3 blocks of my apartment.

On with the photos, shall we?  An abundance of signs today — both here and over at Flickr.  Not that I’m more into signs than buildings or statues — there were just more of them today that were noteworthy.

This one in Macon:

 

This one from the other end of Macon:

This pretty Art Deco detail from Renick:

I was hugging I-70 a bit today and felt compelled to check out this place in Kingdom City:

It’s the usual awful crap inside — but I thought you might be interested in these items (Rick, are you out there?):

You do know by now that you can click on my blog photos to see the larger size, right?  If you still have trouble making things out, I’ll translate:
Hillbilly Washer/Dryer:  a metal washer and a clothes pin
Hillbilly Hair Clip:  a slightly adorned clothes pin
Hillbilly Toothbrush:  a stick with part of a corncob
Hillbilly Word Processor:  a pencil & piece of wood
Hillbilly Chop Sticks:  flattish chopsticks with a clothes pin

I went to check out the 63 Diner in Columbia.  Which technically isn’t a “real” diner (i.e., not prefabricated and installed as one structure but rather built on site).  But it has a nice collection of signs outside.  I believe these are vintage.  Or at least some of them.  I think the 63 Diner sign is new.  But, regardless, fun stuff.

I believe they are all lit at night.   I wish I’d had time to wait around to see them.  I put the BBQ piggie sign in the distance up at Flickr tonight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/4874627510/

Here’s the satellite sign at night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8492055@N08/2845423786/

This monster is also in Columbia:

This place is in Sedalia:

This one’s also in Sedalia.  Lots of signs in Chicago have these attached ladders for repair work.  Must have been very scary!  I doubt they use them at all now — liability concerns — and now sign companies have cranes.  Anyhow, I’ve never seen a sign with this many ladders:

These next two are nice signs by themselves — but also an excuse to show off the gorgeous-ity of the clouds today.   It looks just wonderful — but remember it was probably more than 100 degrees and super humid.  This one in Warsaw:

This one also from Warsaw at the Chuck Wagon BBQ.  Apparently a modern sign but so sweet.  I love flame signs and this one’s gotta be great at night:

This photo taken in or near Sweet Springs — a long-closed service plaza on I-70:

And lastly, the last stop of the day so the sun was going away — in Marshall.  I wanted to check out the memorial to Jim the Wonder Dog:
http://www.jimthewonderdog.com/foj_about.html

and couldn’t resist the photo-op:

Tomorrow, we should hit more northern stops including St. Joseph and then move on down to the Kansas City area for probably a couple days.

It took a lot longer to finish up Iowa than I thought.  Part of it is the quantity of road construction everywhere I go — repaving.  Which means one lane of traffic and pilot cars.  Or worse, long roundabout detours.  So I finally got to Missouri around 5pm.  Which is sort of a relief since I’m officially at the halfway point timewise.  I should be able to really dig in to these two states now (KS & MO) with the time remaining.  Then if need be, blow off the southern IN, IL, OH & KY stuff. Though it will hurt.

Lots of running and swimming for the dogs today.  Nik had to work hard against the current of the Mississippi — but I think he really likes the additional challenge.  Not to worry — I’m not doing anything, anywhere unsafe.   Oh, except for one near catastrophe this afternoon.  Regular followers of this blog know how Grem likes to ride shotgun from my side.  Between my arm and the window.  And of course, I’m always careful with the amount that that window is open.  Especially since she bounces around when she sees dogs, motorcycles, suspicious people.  But somehow, I guess I’d been taking a photo from the van (something I rarely do) and not rolled the window back up.  So, I’m going around a corner from a main street at about 5mph and plop — Grem falls out the window and lands half on her feet, half on her side.  I stop immediately and she stood there looking shocked.  I immediately opened the door and called her.  And she got that look that I know all too well:  “I’m FREE!”.  Which usually means bolting into the distance at about 40mph in random, runaway fashion.  Luckily, I’ve been working SO hard at recalls for years with her that this time — as she ran through the options in her mind — she elected to jump back in the van.  Sheesh!  She would’ve been flattened for sure if she’d run into that main street.  So, yes, I will forever be extra careful — as I’m sure she will be — regarding that window.

The day started out gloomy and cloudy with some sprinkles here and there.  But got sunny by afternoon.  I’ve been really lucky for most of this trip.  Nothing else noteworthy and I’ve got a bunch of photos for you — so let’s roll ’em.

The day started in Cedar Rapids — here are a couple photos from there.  A spiffy sign and note the  odd plastic bubble on the mini canopy.

This very intact old A&W looks like it’s been closed for a long time:

A nice embossed Sherwin-Williams sign from Olin.  Where we got stuck in this tiny town’s weird Western parade.  I think every horse in town was in it.  People even marched around with their less-than-a-year old horses in halter.  There was an announcer and since I was following the parade right behind the cop, he even said “and some folks from New York are with us today” and everybody clapped.  And I waved.  Weird. 

A cutie from Davenport:

More  from Davenport.  This business had some fun pedal cars in the window.  They’ve been around since 1906 — wow!
http://www.emeisautomotive.com/

This rusty one is from LeClaire.  I believe it was a coffee shop below now:

Responding to a special request for bridge photos — here’s one. Sorry about the bugs and glare.  I ventured across the Mississippi briefly today to grab a couple things in Nauvoo, IL from Fort Madison, IA.  Evidently, this is the world’s longest, double-decker swing span bridge.  Lost some time here, too, as we waited for the “swinging” action.  A big chunk of the bridge turns sideways so that ships below can pass underneath.  Here are some other photos & info about it — but, oddly enough, no photos of the bridge rotated:
http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pagesB/umissB11.html

This page has an animated illustration that gives you the idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_bridge

Some Nauvoo, IL shots. Who can resist these colorful, embossed product signs?

I’m not sure if this is an old sign touched up — or just a nostalgic piece.  I really like the bull’s crazy eyes:

Back in Iowa — this from Fort Madison.  I found it really kind of creepy to have this mini golf right at the foot of the Iowa State Penitentiary.  The prison was a really foreboding place.  Almost like a haunted castle — which made me feel more uncomfortable than a more modern-looking prison.

A couple other shots from Fort Madison.  Stainless steel letters / sign on white vitrolite (glass tiles).  Looks like a jewelry store — but it’s actually a hunting store — and apparently always has been:

And this one with black vitrolite — combined with the remainder of a classic red Woolworth department store sign:

And lastly — sure to give you nightmares if you’re reading this as late as I’m typing it.  This eyeball sign is perched on top of a more mundane box sign for an “eye care specialist” sign in Keokuk:

End of week two — three more weeks to go.  I’m going to need a week off when this is all over.  But alas, I’ll be returning to work the very next day I return home.  A bit of a zombie for a few days.  This is not how anyone else I know would spend their vacation.

As if the dogs weren’t making me fully aware of every single river and lake we pass here in Iowa (which is about every five minutes), I’ve been noticing that they all seem extremely high.  Some bridges closed that are too close to the water.  Fields that are flooded.  And this is the middle of summer — it must’ve been a hell of a spring.  I also saw places selling concrete igloo like storm shelters.  Flooding, tornados, crazy snow storms with giant hail, mosquitos the size of Monarch butterflies…  I love you Iowa, but I won’t be moving here.

1am — let’s get on with the show.  Lest anyone forget, I’m traveling with four wild animals.  The cast, left to right:  Gremlin, Gripper, Fix & Sputnik.  From Belle Plaine:

For my rusty sign fans — this one from Ladora. I can’t explain the muffler looking thing on the upper left:

A really nice Masonic Temple in Grinnell.  I feel a new category at my website coming on… but no!

This still-operating five and dime is real step back in time – from Chariton:

This building from Corydon.  I’m wondering if that tall structure wasn’t originally a faux windmill.  I went looking for a building in Albia that must be gone now.  There was a chain of windmill gas stations in south Iowa.  I believe they were built in the 1920s for Harry Gholson and called “Dutch Service” stations.  There were also motel cottages built in conjunction with this station/restaurant (a gas/food/lodging tourist complex).  No sign of motel rooms near this building now.

Also from Corydon — one of what seems to be only a handful of these old neon Hy-Vee signs left:

These statues / sculptures also from Corydon.  I shot with the lawnmower guy for scale.   Now I regret it — kind of messes up the shot.

A close-up of the tin man:

An unusual FOE (Fraternal Order of Eagles) sign in Ottumwa.  The gold metal eagle was really glistening in the sun.  Just doesn’t look that way in this photo:

From Riverside — for you Star Trek fans:

And lastly, a welcome sign from Lone Tree.  I imagine the sign was neon originally and then replaced with these plastic letters.  I’m glad they kept the original steel shape at least.  Most cities would have gone the backlit plastic box route:

Tomorrow, still a few more hours in Iowa and then finally into Missouri.  Kansas will interrupt the northern and southern chunks of Missouri.  I’ll probably spend about 12 days in these two states.

So where were we?  Normally, I try to get settled around 9pm and then spend about an hour replying to various emails and to Flickr & blog comments.  Then it’s usually 10pm and I start picking out photos, cropping & tweaking.  Around 11, on a good night, I start uploading to Flickr.  Then around midnight, start the blog post.  Which explains why they are so disjointed and dry sometimes.  Not much sense of humor left in me.  But last night, I didn’t get settled til 11pm and then.. the usual schedule.. and no way was there time for the blog.  So that’s my excuse.

Let’s move right into the  photos then — since I have today’s pictures still to play with and it’s 10pm.  This is hard work — but I’m happy when it’s done and I can finally turn the computer off.

The day started in Sioux City.  This cute sign is right downtown.  A sign in the window indicated that the business has moved elsewhere.  So this one’s days are probably numbered.  Probably neon before it was patched & painted maybe 400 times, right?

Dashboard treat time.  Desperate for stamina boosters at a gas station c-store, I came across this new-to-me snack.  Very spicy which helps when you’re fading at the wheel.  Three of the dogs didn’t mind the intensity. But Fixie, who’s the only one that usually chews her snacks, gave me a “that was a dirty trick!” look.  I give them a B- and wouldn’t buy again.  Note this is a small bag — it just looks huge in this photo.  And the little Ritz sandwiches are about the size of a quarter.

The former Mister Donut sign in Des Moines.  Now Donut King but they let the sign live.  Sort of.  You can still make out the “Mister” at the top of the sign if you stare at it long enough.

Some fun stuff from the public sculpture garden in downtown Des Moines:

From Story City.  Yes, these Kum & Go gas stations are all over the place in Iowa.  There are also Git N Go.  And Casey’s gas stations.   I think I’ve been to 50 Casey’s in the last three days.  I sure miss Sheetz and Wawa though — which are way huger and have much great snack selection (even healthy stuff).  Anyhow, I don’t know what the original gas station brand was here, but evidently it was part of a chain.  In the past couple days, I’ve seen remnants of these “Food” towers at other gas station combo restaurant locations.  I’m assuming the food sign must’ve been neon and visible for 20 miles — and outer space:

The remaining photos are from Marshalltown where I wound up staying the night.  Mostly just so I could shoot the Stone’s Restaurant sign after dark.

6:27 and as bright as noon it seems. 

Another reason I’ve been getting such a late start on my email/postings is that it doesn’t get dark til after 8pm (or 9pm by my watch since I’m not changing for the difference between CST and EST).  The sun is up extra early it seems, too.  And also, since Iowa is so flat, there are no trees or mountains to cut into shooting time.  Which is great — but exhausting since I shoot from practically dawn to dusk.

Here’s another candidate for the world’s tallest, or top 10 tallest, blade sign.  Most likely a hotel-y name before it became the Tall Corn Towers (apartments).  The neon now substituted with plastic letters.  But still fun.

Last subject for the night — before I head off to work on today’s photos.  Admire the humor, cleverness, and tilework of the Totem Bowl:

Many, many miles and stops today.  Had a late rendez-vous with a sign for a night shot. But turned out not to be lit.  Lots of emails and Flickr comments to reply to and suddenly, it’s nearly 2am.  I have some photos ready to post here but I’ve just run out of steam.  I can barely type right now.  The cumulative effect of all those 3-4 hrs. per night of sleep.  I’ll post to Flickr in the morning.  Otherwise, I promise a double blog & photo batch tomorrow night.  Sorry for the disappointment.

[Update 8/6 Friday at 7:30am CST – at least I got the Flickr stuff up this morning.  Sun’s up and we’re off!  Hopefully, we’ll finish up Iowa today and start on Missouri]