Great sun and clouds all day.  I wished I had had a denser shooting schedule to take advantage of them.  Instead, I would drive about an hour between photos at times.  Lots of corn.  Lots of cops — but they didn’t catch me speeding today.  Only about a week more to go on this trip.  I’m thinking I will probably just scrap KS and MO entirely on this trip and do the Southern IL & IN stuff on the way home. 

In addition to the rivers and grassy lots that I found, I took the dogs to a dog park in Clinton, IA today even though it was still the weekend (see previous post).  “Prairie Pastures Dog Park” was a wonderful place with good fencing.  $3 per dog (an honor system pay station) and well worth it.  A small lake and lots of good landscaping for sniffing out bugs & where furry creatures might have been.  Separate areas for dogs that need it.  Nice people, nice dogs.  I’d definitely go slightly out of my way for this one again.  The park it was in was gorgeous as well.
http://www.soaringeagle.20m.com/about_1.html

Some food shots as promised.  Nothing that exciting — but I’ll work on it.  This might have been the perfect donut.  Duncan Hines tasting chocolate cake with maple frosting.  Nuts would have moved it from an A to an A+.  From a gas station — next to this defunct gas station on the Lincoln Highway in Stanwood.

Later that afternoon… I’m not a big M&Ms fan but always eager for something new.  And I needed lots of sugar and coffee to get through this big highway day.  Strawberry and peanut butter — an unusual combination but it worked for me.  I’m sure it’s a limited time only thing — and I bet not all that popular.  So if it sounds appealing, you’d better track some down quick.

I saw lots of fraternal organization signs today.  Masonic Temples, Moose Lodges, Fraternal Order of Eagles, etc.  Here’s an old I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) sign from Tipton:

and another from Decorah:

Also saw another nice neon V.F.W. sign in Galena:

On the way into Galena, was this log cabin that was originally the home of Ulysses S. Grant.  I thought for sure I could just grab an online link later to include here but I’m coming up dry.  There’s only talk of the much bigger house in town.  I do remember from the plaque that a few families lived in the house before it was moved here.  One family raised five children in it, another raised six children.  I’m not sure if  this would have enough room for me and the dogs.  I don’t see how they could even get that many beds in there.  Did they all sleep together?  I have lots of questions.

Earlier in the day, I was in some little farm towns.  They seemed more like movie sets especially since the shops and offices were closed and the streets were deserted on a Sunday.  Mini libraries, city halls, and post offices.  Quite a change from Chicago just yesterday.  This was Oxford Junction:

In downtown Clinton, this building really stood out and just had to be Louis Sullivan’s work.  Sure enough, googled and found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_Building

Another great building/store just down the street:

The bottom part of the neon sign obscured by the later-added metal canopy spells out the address:

I scooted across the Mississippi River today for a bit to get some stuff in Illinois that made more sense to do on this portion of the trip than last week.  This sign is from Savanna, IL:

And lastly, you may remember from previous posts about stones and rocks used for architectural detail?  Well, I think this storefront in Decorah takes it to the extreme:

Yes, finally in Iowa — but barely.  The remainder of Illinois took til early evening.  I’m going to slog away at northern and central Iowa for the next three days and then evaluate what’s accomplishable with the remaining days at that point.

In addition to the usual abandoned grassy lots that I found today, I got the dogs to one last dog park in Illinois.  This one was in Aurora.  Big enough for a run and fencing seemed good enough to contain Grem.  But I forgot about it was a Saturday and therefore it was pretty mobbed.  And with weekend type dog people as well with their weird attitude and obnoxious dogs.  When a Standard Poodle stole Nik’s ball and I walked aaaaalll the way across the park to get it back, I tried to conceal my impatience when I asked if she could get my dog’s ball back from her dog.  Her response “well, I can, but he’ll just get it back again.”  I said nothing but went off to the furthest point to play.  What I didn’t say.  Oh, I see.  If I want to bring toys to a dog park, it’s my tough luck if you can’t keep your dog away.  How silly of me.  Then just a few minutes later, although we were in the furthest corner, when Grem dropped her toy at my feet, the Obnoxious Owner’s dog swooped in again and stole the toy.  Of course, I had to be the one to walk clear across the field to the woman to get my toy back.  No apology.  So we left.  Basically, I know from back in my NYC park, “weekend people” take their dogs out just so they can sit around and talk to other people.  They don’t interact with their dogs or train them at all.  They don’t bring their own toys or treats.  And the dogs are bullying and oafish at best, aggressive at worst (and too often).

But enough bitching — let’s get to the pretty pictures already, right?  And I’ll try to come up with some food photos tomorrow. 

Oopsie — I didn’t write the name of this one down.  But I know it was in Chicago and on Harlem Ave.  The canopy extends to the left, supported by two stone-faced columns.  I chose to include this photo instead just because it shows off the sign and storefront better.

I have seen a LOT of people mowing grass on this trip.  All kinds of mowers, all ages of people.  I regret not taking photos of a granny-type woman in her sit-down mower.  Today, I was mesmerized by this guy in Naperville on a stand-up mower.  This ditch was next to a shopping center and it seemed more like an amusement park ride than work.  Both sides were pretty steep and it seemed borderline unsafe.  Sometimes he’d have to hop off and use footpower to get to the top of the sides.  He was a master.  Forget Segways — this looked like much more fun.

Some statuary for you.  This one of a fireman and doggie (Dalmatian I assume — spots don’t translate well to bronze) at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum (yes, in Aurora).

and these foxes on the bridge in St. Charles (I assume a reference to the Fox Valley):

This sign at the Hotel Lafayette in Rockford:

Supreme cuteness, also in Rockford:

An incredible mural — also from Rockford:

This was in or close to Rockford — just south of town on Route 2 (or Highway 2 or whatever kind of road they call it)  but already in deep farmland.  That’s why this one’s a mystery.  I don’t know if this was ever used as an ice cream stand or store — it seems unlikely given its remote location.  It seems a bit too big and fancy for a “you-pick” or “we-just-picked” produce stand.

I’m not positive what this sign advertised — but it seemed to be pointing at a mobile home park.  This could still be Rockford — even further down that already twisty part of “2”.  Wonderful woodsy font.

So my van is big enough — why do these normally non-lap dogs need to be in my lap when I’m driving?  Surely the view of the river was just as good from behind me.  I’m proud that I got this shot with my right arm extended at 70mph.  Even prouder that we didn’t crash.  Nik was content with the passenger seat view, thank god.

I found another of these gold aluminum (?) mid-century screeny things today in Sterling.  A match or near-match for this building in Richmond, IN that I posted to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3817561368/

Also in Sterling, this nice sign & reflective vitrolite.  I love the two-piece approach to this sign which must’ve had neon originally.

And to close, a hi & goodbye from this cute dude in Rock Island:

Still wrapping up the suburbs of Chicago.  Tomorrow, we  should finally, really, enter Iowa.  Time to start prioritizing and calculating soon I’m afraid.  I glanced at my Iowa stack today and it looks like I could spend two weeks there alone but I only have about 10 days left on this trip. Plus I do have to spend a day in Cincy and get back home to NYC.

It was a fun but fairly unproductive day.  The fun part was definitely not the traffic — road construction mostly.  Plus, of course, there was more rain.  I saw the aftermath of two car accidents today and was glad not to be part of them.  I also saw two arrests — cop cars everywhere and arrestees standing with their hands on walls and cars.  I was really in the outer suburbs — newly developed so not a hope of being surprised with running into any old stuff.

To break up the monotony, I scheduled in several dog parks.  In the morning, just to take the edge off, we stopped at a nice big human park in Morton Grove.  Big signs saying dogs must be on-leash. So we went to the furthest corner and kept an eye out for rangers or any park-users that might be annoyed by us.  One of the nice things about the Chicago area is that they have carefully protected lots of natural space called “preserves”.  North of Chicago, there are more than a dozen spaces specifically for dogs.  We  all wish there was time to check out all of them but I made a point to get to two today.  These photos were taken at the amazing Libertyville Dog Exercise Area which had foresty trails and an enormous lake.  It was well-fenced but not enough for naughty little Grem who squeezed through for about ten minutes of chipmunking.
http://www.lcfpd.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.details&intObjectId=23892

Superstar, Petunia, Boobanooski, & Edith (the names I call them frequently instead of Gripper, Gremlin, Sputnik & Fix)

Much later, we went to the Schweitzer Woods dog park in West Dundee.  No lake but plenty big and fenced.  Foresty trails towards the back and this time Grem went missing for about 15 minutes.  I put the three others in the van and figured we might be spending the night there with me screaming her name incessantly while hoping she wasn’t all the way off in another state.  But then she came charging down a hillside at top speed — maybe she heard the van doors slamming and thought she’d better catch up to us?

Here’s one to add to the previous barber shop sign photos & discussion on this trip.  I can’t say if these two barber shop signs in Chicago were operational — too early in the day for them to be open.  Note another of those classic rooftop steel sign things supporting the rooftop sign.  Maybe they did use these things for all kinds of signs.  But they sure seem funny now when they have cheap, lightweight plastic signs hanging from them.

This sign doubles as bird nursery.  At Scot Cleaners in Evanston:

I have never seen a wrap-around arrow sign like this before.  Unfortunately, the stores in this little strip mall were as updated and boring as could be.  Had to chop them out of the photo.  In Skokie:

So, ordinarily, I don’t put the pet cemetery photos here in the blog (and probably some of you wish I’d leave them out of Flickr as well!).  But, since this was a low volume photo-day… and since I got to talking to one of the groundskeepers at the Aarrowood Pet Cemetery and thought it might make a good topic.

As I was wandering about taking my photos, I noticed a car pull out and a hunched over woman who must’ve been at least 90 go to a gravesite.  She took some measurements with a fabric tape and then got back in the car.  I then noticed the driver couldn’t have been much younger.  Slowly off they went.  The groundskeeper guy said that she comes about once a month.  He said there are several people that come every single day at the same time.  “Tippy’s” owner comes every day for a visit at 2pm:

I don’t think I would have the inner strength to keep such a vigil over a gravesite.  I find it fascinating and moving that other people do.  I could not deal with death and loss on a daily basis.  I have no plans to bury my own dogs and I don’t believe in heaven or hell.  But as for communing with my doggies’ spirits once in awhile — yeah, maybe.  I don’t know where our loved ones’ souls goes when their bodies die.  I do like to think they hover about us and give us guidance and protect us now and then. 

Well then.  Hopefully, I’ll be writing to you from Iowa tomorrow and the sun will be out.

The big story today was the weather.  I think I know at least partly why they call it the Windy City.  I’ve never seen such fast-moving clouds.  It was raining and miserable until around 1pm.  So most of the photos I took were pretty lousy and won’t be appearing at Flickr or the blog tonight.  But I guess they’ll be good enough for documentation purposes at the website for now.

I have never seen so many cloud variations.  Pretty whiter than white ones and evil black bad ones.  It would get nice and then 20 minutes later change again, get dark, and then more rain.  But most of the afternoon was gorgeous and I really tried and failed to finish up Chicago proper.  Still have a few more stops and then lots of suburbs which should eat up probably the whole day.  Missouri is definitely not happening.  Kansas is now a maybe.  Here’s an afternoon shot downtown which doesn’t do the scene justice. The clouds look flat here but were magnificient and flying by.  You can see how wet it was as it had only stopped raining a few minutes prior:

In the morning, the dogs got a good illegal romp in at a huge grassy patch of land near the Brookfield Zoo.  Much later, I checked out the Belmont Harbor dog beach.  Much smaller than “Montrose” so that’s where we went instead.  Everybody had a great time.  Though the water seemed pretty cold as Nik could only take a few minutes of it.  It was awfully crowded since it was warm and about 6pm.  We are usually there in the mornings when it’s much nicer and less chaotic.  A nasty Rottweiler kept coming after Nik for his toy.  He would snarl and growl and pretty much deck Nik and take it right out of his mouth.  It was scary and escalating and then it would take ten minutes for the owner to get the toy back.  We kept going off to a different part of the beach but he would come find us.  The owner had no control and didn’t really comprehend what was happening. 

Sorry no beach photos — I didn’t want to take a chance with the camera and the sand & water.  I already had a close enough call earlier in the day. While stepping backwards to get more into a shot and with a couple of guys all scary “miss, miss, miss, you got thirty cent?!”, I stepped on a bump and felt myself going down.  Right on my ass with camera unscathed thank goodness.  Material instinct kept it far from the ground.   I’m a little sore and have a scrape on my left elbow but otherwise fine.  Will be more careful, you bet.  Yeah, no, my pals did not come to my aid or inquire if I was okay.

Chicago is just loaded with spectacular, architectural wonders.  I’ll just post some snippets here of three different buildings:

Another unique architectural phenomenon in Chicago, or maybe not unique but it’s gotta be more plentiful than anywhere else, is the integration of stone, or should I say rocks.  I could’ve shot variations of these rock buildings all day and never gotten any work done.  Maybe another time.  I’d like to come back to Chicago for a month or more someday.  Anyhow, this example is fairly typical of residential architecture — but sometimes the rocks would be where it probably would’ve been nicer to have a window.  Many of these small houses and apartments buildings also had these small round windows.  Sometimes the rock work was much more nicely done or plenty worse.  The rocks were just as frequently used for commercial buildings, churches, you name it.

Here are some rocks, more of a bricky type, used at a barber shop.  But what I mostly include this photo for are the metal barber pole signs (see an entry in an earlier post/photo on this trip for an example).  I have never seen them used back to back before in true simulated pole fashion.  I doubt this was the original use in this case — it probably had a much heavier store-name sign above in the heavy-duty frame.

Some more bricky rocks at the Naples Bakery in Evergreen Park.  Do these wedding cakes count as a food shot — or does it have to be my own food?

More faux food — birthday cake suggestions from Roeser’s Bakery.  Hannah Montana is everywhere!

A fun painted wall sign.  I saw at least two other painted Walker’s Monument signs during the day but this was the biggest and nicest:

One other thing that sure seems unique to Chicago — though other cities must have had them.  Maybe they were just more frequently used here or maybe they just have more left.  In any case, I’m not even sure what you call them — “sign supports” just doesn’t seem descriptive or catchy enough.  Giant metal hangy things with chains mounted on rooftops to support the gigantic and heavy steel signs below.  I’m gonna call them steel skeletons because in so many cases, the signs are long gone.  You can see blocks and blocks of these things.  Very sad but it challenges the imagination of what once was.

Here’s one still in use.  And an example of all the wonderful light bulb signs in Chicago:

And one more giant bulb sign to close with today:

Today was cut short by several hours due to pouring, impossible rain once I finally got to Chicago.  8:30pm and now it has finally let up!  Hopefully, it will all blow through tonight and give me a good day tomorrow.  If so, I should be able to pound through Chicago and start heading westward towards Iowa.  Not too many stops in Chicago proper since I’ve been here many times in the past few years.  Although I would just love to reshoot tons of funky, dull old photos that live at my website — there’s no time to do that on this trip.  I will try to resist the temptation to stop every few feet tomorrow to photo something or I will just never make it to Iowa on this trip.  Chicago is just so loaded with good stuff.

The dogs got to splash around in the Illinois River several times yesterday.  No water for them today — might be the first swim-less day of this trip.  But tomorrow, I know there’s one of their fave beaches (Montrose in Chicago) and another one that I want to check on.  They were pretty content today to just sack out.  Grem barely mustered her motorcyle alerts.  This morning, they had a big run at the Hammel Woods dog park in Shorewood:
http://www.fpdwc.org/dogs.cfm

Although it’s a members only sort of place — you must get a permit and wear a card around your neck — I crashed it anyway.  I would’ve been happy to make a contribution — even $15 or $20 would’ve been fine —  if there had been a convenient way to do so.  Oh, and a three dog limit which we blatantly ignored.  Most dog parks have a two or three dog limit but out of the hundred or so that I’ve been to around the country, only one place did someone say something.  I guess they just don’t want dog walkers bringing packs of dogs there — or idiots who don’t pay attention when their dogs poop.  I guess it is hard for most people to keep tabs on four dogs at the same time but I’m quite used to it.  So Hammel Woods was really a gorgeously landscaped and plenty big enough space (7 acres) with great fencing.  No pond or kiddie pools but it was okay since it was early enough that it wasn’t too hot and I had my water jugs in the van to soak down Nik afterwards.

On to the photos of which there are just a few.  The distances between stuff in the morning was great — lots of boring country roads and interstate driving with nothing worth shooting.  I drank about three cups of coffee — my desperation drink when I’m tired — resulting in having to pee every hour.  Very annoying time waste-age!   The good news for me tonight is I’m really going to get to bed super early and recharge myself for the remaining 10 days or so.

Some metal sculptures in Essex.  These were created by Jack Barker — more about him & them here:
http://detourarttravels.blogspot.com/2009/05/jack-barkers-sculptures.html

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a neon V.F.W. sign before.  This is in Wilmington.

It looks to me like this sign in Joliet has been reworked with different lettering at some point.  At least on the top piece and probably the middle piece as well.

This one from Kankakee.  At first I thought it said “Jafe” — one of my work buddies.  Perhaps he can photoshop out one of the Fs.

And lastly, I think I like this sign better than any of the pretty neon signs I shot today.  This one is in Watseka.  Very unique framing and bonus use of actual auto parts.

So — I’ve had requests for more photos of dogs and food.  Any other suggestions or things that I should be including?

I’ll be in bed by 10pm — woo hoo!   Ready to tackle Chicago come rain or shine at 7am.

No tickets and no lost or found dogs.  Got Sparkle another oil change marking the 6,000 mile mark on this trip.  And the rain stopped!  A bit of fog in the morning, a few grey clouds here and there.  But by noon, the clouds were breathtaking for the remainder of the day.

I don’t know how old this Maytag Man embossed plastic sign is.  My guess would be 1960s or 1970s. FromKewanee:

Love  this lumber mill sign in Peoria.  Especially because the weathered paint reveals the wood underneath and matches the paint on the building to the right.

This scrap metal yard was impressive and depressing at the same time.  There was a crane between the two piles keeping everything nice and tidy.

In Lexington, or just barely south of it, was this long gone drive-in restaurant.  This is right on old Route 66.  Anybody know what the name of this place was?

You may remember the Hen House restaurant sign photo that I posted a couple days ago.  Well, here’s one that’s been unimaginatively repainted.  They kept the old barn-like building as well.  In Chenoa.

I’m having trouble finding in my notes where this Elks sign was.  From the sequence of photos, it was somewhere between or in Streator or Ottawa.  I can never get enough of this classic navy porcelain enamel.  Or red.  Or green.  Or brown.

I hope my botany pals can help me out and identify / explain these purple flowers and beans.  Never seen such a thing.  In Ottawa.

Also in Ottawa.  This sign must have revolved at one time.  At least the neon still works on both sides.

More Ottawa goodies.  Today, a double dose of Lincoln.  Ottawa was evidently the site of another Lincoln vs. Douglas debate.  Was Douglas really that short or was Lincoln just huge?  No time for research right now.

And this nice wall mural just next door to the Washington Park fountain.  I love Douglas’ smirky expression.

Just across the street from the mural, this nice old popcorn truck:

On the western edge of Ottawa was this unusual oval structure.  I’ve never seen such a thing.  Looks to be for grain storage but then with rooms on top.  I’m sure you round barn fans out there must know what this is.

And to close out the day, a couple signs.  This one from Seneca:

And this one from Peru.  There are not enough of these names-as-jokes motels left:

Today was a real weather challenge.  Sensible people would have just stayed in the hotel and watched movies on HBO or caught up on email.  But since I was three days behind, I had to press on.  I’ll never take the sun for granted again.  I did my best to protect the camera with my shirt and a plastic bin lid.  Then I’d rush back to the van and wipe down whatever drops got on the camera.   At times, I had to pull over because visibility was near zero.  But there were a few good sunny hours and I managed to bang through a good chunk of stops.

Adding to the stress and irritation of weather, I got my first (and hopefully last) speeding ticket of the trip.  Entering the little town of Stonington (population 960), I  must have been distracted with my maps as I never saw him til the lights were flashing behind me.  He had me at 52 in a 35 but kindly knocked it back down a bit.  So this will be a $75-er.  Not a bad price considering how my non-stop speeding for the past 17 days has gotten me umpteen or so more stops per day.  This was definitely a speed trap as when I was coming back the other direction, I saw the same guy giving some other sucker a ticket.  I figure at a minimum $75 times about 4 per hour, that’s $300 an hour, times 7 hours = $2100 day.  No wonder he had such a huge monster truck type truck instead of the usual police cruiser.  The town probably said he could have whatever he wanted.  Maybe nobody in the town even has to work since he brings in such revenue.  So anyhow, yes, I’ll slow down a bit.  Maybe.  At least in Illinois.

On with the show.  I have long been a fan of the Bear Manufacturing (aka “laughing bear”) signs.  Some examples and history at the bottom of this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/ca2.html

But this guy in Springfield seemed smaller than usual:

This Hen House restaurant in Springfield is part of what once was a chain.  I’m not sure how old this giant sign is but it might be from the 1970s.  According to an online source, the chain started in 1969 and at one time had 42 locations in five states.

One more sign for today — from Jacksonville.  This sign was massive (as was the Hen House above) but I chopped off the legs to give you more actual sign.

This one from Decatur I forgot to include in my post yesterday.  Three grown men motored up to the liquor store on these bicycles.  I’ve never seen such a thing.  Apparently, they are gasoline powered and somehow set up just like motorcyles.  Although they probably don’t go as fast. 

Something else that’s news to me — In Springfield, this clerk-less convenience store.  Well, almost.  Even wheelchair accessible.

Fixie is a female dog so it’s not what you think.  The thunder and lightening and rain had her pretty miserable and in a tail tuck all day.  If she could speak, she’d be “hounding” me with “when are we going home?”s.

Nik, however, when he’s not barking or running around, knows how to relax.  His standard sleep position, looking very leggy.  Even at rest, you can see the double suspension gait which makes him so fast.  I have been futzing around for the past hour trying (without success) to get some videos of him and Grem running around and retrieving today.  Maybe I’ll figure it out tomorrow night.

Today’s dose of Abraham Lincoln — this statue in Taylorville.  This webpage explains the pig:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/news/taylorville.htm

Also from Taylorville, the winner of the Ugliest Building of the Day.  And right there on the main square.

Actually, it’s not the building’s fault.  I’m sure it started out just fine, maybe even nice looking, but over the years, one modification led to another I suppose.  Until somebody got a really good deal on shingles.

This building in town also must have had a better appearance initially.  I’m guessing that Lewis was a department or clothes store?  There was already a theatre in this town square.

A couple photos shot with Flickr friends in mind.  Scottamus (aka Mr. Ohio) — this one in Farmersville is for you.  I’m not sure how old it is but I’ve never seen a combo design like this. Scott has loads of great old playground equipment here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10707024@N04/sets/72157603684236733/

And Roadsidepictures — this one’s for you.  It may not have a nice neon sign but it sure has it makes up for it in quantity.  Allen runs the Rexall Drug Store group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/rexalldrugstore/pool/

From Hannibal, MO (yes, I briefly snuck out of Illinois because this city was so close and won’t be as convenient during the Missouri portion of the trip — if there IS a Missouri portion that is, after now being, what, four days behind schedule?).  This is City Hall or some other big deal city building.  Okay, if you can get past the pigeon situation… I ask you:  what the heck is that thing on top?  That round thing that looks like it must light up — and, in my fantasy world, flash on and off in some way. Or are those just some sort of Xmas lights wrapped around the thing — and maybe they too are never lit.

Hannibal is all about Mark Twain — his boyhood home evidently. Coming into town on the interstate there’s this tribute.  Which looks better at 75mph than snatched and frozen in this photo.  Not sure what this “art” is composed of.

But — back to Illinois after this little diversion.  I’m figuring for about three more days.  Then, finally into Iowa.  At least that’s the plan.  Weather permitting.

Grey skies finally turned to rain in the afternoon.  Pouring so ridiculously that it forced me to cut off a couple hours early.  Looking over the photos, the colors seemed to get more muted as I went.  And then the raindrops streaking across the image.  And even though I was protecting the camera as best as I could from the rain inside the van, there was still rain bouncing off the door and onto the lens.  Better luck tomorrow.

Time for today’s daily dose of signs.  The Rantoul Motel — in Rantoul of course:

This little sign in Urbana was so high up on the brick wall that I’m sure it goes unnoticed by most people.

At the Pines Shopping Center in Decatur.  It seems a bit strange (and dangerous) to have both Exit and Entrance on the same pole, using the same driveway.

This sign is also from Decatur.  I don’t think you can tell from the photo but the sign is actually a screen (not solid) — pretty neat and appropriate for a steel fabricating company.

Another Decatur sign.  This business is now a gun shop — though you’d never know it from anything on the outside.

From Lincoln, in between downpours.  I don’t know if this was the original painted wall sign that’s been restored or if it’s just a general nostalgia piece.

I fell in love with this little shop.  The full sign photo I posted over at Flickr tonight.  But I also felt the need to document the other signs…

… and the terrazzo floor and display windows.  There’s also an unintentional self-portrait here.  Which I would normally crop out but here you’d miss the great shoe display.

Some more art glass block — this was at an apartment building in Decatur:

Not much slips by Grippie.  Here she makes it clear that cows should NOT be on roofs.  She had less to say about chicken cars (see background).

Surrounded by cornfields all day, I broke down and bought some at Curtis Farms in Champaign.  It’s a great snack raw right off the cob.  Good mom that I am, I sawed down an ear for the kids with my steak knife.  Fix ate hers I’m sure just so no one else could have it.  Nik genuinely enjoyed it.  Grippie wanted nothing to do with it.  It took Grem awhile to get into it — and then, like everything else with her, she became obsessed.

I couldn’t resist this little bear in someone’s front yard in Decatur:

I guess I’ll be seeing a lot of these statues now that I’m in the Land of Lincoln.  I like this young, barefoot version from Decatur:

This is pretty much when I called it a day.  I sure don’t remember an August like this one.

The dogs and I just crossed over into Illinois early this evening. We’re in Danville to be exact.  I’m eager to get cracking on a new state tomorrow.  I’m officially at the halfway point in this trip. Realizing that many of you are new passengers on the bus, let me just take a time-out to mention a few things that might be of interest to newcomers or whoever else is detail-oriented.

The photos that appear in this blog are actually the “throwaways” — the stuff that I would not have shot if not for this blog.  In addition to this blog, every night I also upload a handful of photos of the “important” stuff over at my agilitynut Flickr stream.  Those and the hundreds of other photos will find their way into my website over the next few months.

I maintain a grueling schedule but I think it’s an important undertaking and hopefully entertaining to spectators.  It wouldn’t be most people’s idea of “fun” but I’m not one to relax either at home or on vacation.  A rough approximation of the madness:

6-7:30am — get up and deal with emails, flickr & blog comments; get the dogs a good run
7:30am-8:30pm — non-stop driving & photo-ing except for peeing, getting gas & getting the dogs swims & runs
8:30pm-10:30pm — more emails, flickr & blog comments
10:30pm-11:30pm — pick out some photos, crop & tweak ’em
11:30pm-12:30am — upload photos to flickr, more emails & comments
12:30am-1:30 or 2am — upload photos & write blog
2-6am — sleep!

So, now you’ll know why my emails and comments are so brief during these trips.  And why the blog might seem a bit incoherent.  Staying up to do this stuff until 2am is a killer – but when I look back, I’m proud of the chronicle that I’ve created.  And I hope it’s the next best thing to being there for you.

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Okay — so on with today’s post. Weather was hot, low 90s but great clouds and sun. The dogs got lots of exercise — most of it water-related. I posted a quick little video at Flickr of our arrival at the Tippecanoe River in Monticello this afternoon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/3825351632/

Spent a good part of the morning in the Gary area.  Chicago will be later in the trip.  The following signs are from Gary — all closed businesses so who knows how much longer they will survive.  Although given our country’s present economic situation, maybe they’ll be spared for awhile.

At the Woodmar Mall in Hammond:

Bazz’s Roller Rink is in Rensselaer:

Today’s junk food discovery.  I give it an A-.  A Rocky Road sort of thing with marshmallow, caramel and nuts. Posed in front of a detour sign — which was a recurring phenomenon for the day.  Lots of road work and in addition to that, annoyingly speed limit-obedient drivers.  Had hoped to at least get SOME Illinois stuff in today but no such luck.

I can’t remember where I shot this.  But I have seen a number of these barber shop signs in different states now.  This one is in pretty good shape — and yes, still used in conjunction with a barber shop.

This one from West Lafayette.  Even though the neon is gone and Sparkletone may or may not be the original name, still a nice contribution to the urban landscape.

Okay — this is NOT my cone.  Having just had a snack, I could only regret it and lust after someone else’s good fortune.  This young girl was happy to have me shoot her cone.  I love her bracelets.  Maybe this will be a neck tack for me: to shoot other people’s food.  This portrait taken at the Original Frozen Custard in Lafayette (a photo of the building over at my Flickr agilitynut account tonight).

This sign was located north of Rockville.  The exact town wasn’t clear.

In addition to the nice Pizza King neon crown signs, there are a lot of these plastic king signs scattered around Indiana.  This one in Rensselaer I believe.

And despite my sampling the other day, I hadn’t realized the unique way this chain slices their pies into little squares.  This little faux stained glass window featuring the King at a Lafayette location:

At this same location, there are dining booths with video games.  I didn’t see anyone playing them so I’m very curious how it works.  Poking around on-line, it looks like another location in Franklin has these — and there may be others.

So then, that brings us to the conclusion of Indiana and Ohio.  Unless I have time for the little southern slices of of both states that I had planned for the return home.  Not looking likely at this point since I’m at least two days behind schedule.

Here’s what the “clumps” (lists and maps) for Illinois look like — topped with a little truffle assortment from McCord Candies in Lafayette.  I’m sure the truffles will be gone before I finish this batch of destinations.  I expect I’ll be in Illinois for at least four days.

A somewhat frustrating day.  I had hoped to wrap things up in Indiana and get into Illinois.  But things just took for-ev-er.  Slow drivers and big trucks on two-lane country roads; construction; then Friday late afternoon getaway-traffic.  So I’m not far from where I started out this morning though I did do a big southward dip and a good northeast loop.  Even a naughty trek up to Michigan.  A Carpet Viking statue (see Flickr tonight) up there in Bangor that I promised myself I would go see if I had the time.  But since I didn’t have time, and I’ve fallen maybe two days behind schedule at this point, what the heck, I went to see him anyway.

The dogs got lots of swimming in. A big lake in Rochester and later “the beach” at Beverly Shores.  Nothing makes them happier than a good beach romp — and therefore, nothing makes me happier.  Itinerary be damned!  I’ll get to Missouri on another trip.

No food worth photoing — in fact, I’m not sure I had any sugar products today — horrors!  Considering I was looking at car bumpers, the backsides of trucks, stoplights, and cornfields 95% of the day, it’s a wonder that I have anything at all for you.  It kills me when the weather’s so nice and I have so little to show for it.

We started the day in South Bend.  Naturally, that’s where this one is from:

A swoopy bulb-encrusted arrow, also from South Bend:

Went to see both Bonnie Doon locations in Mishawaka — one that I needed to reshoot from a couple years ago and one that I have previously missed.  The building at this one appears to have originally been a bank:

Some other details — a sign in the parking lot:

And some fancy glass blocks above the order/pickup window:

Flickr member repowers has lots of nice examples of this type of block at his stream:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=glass%20block&w=27602148%40N00

I came across some buildings in Toto today that had these as well:

Also in Toto, this cute woodpecker guy advertised for the North Judson Lumber Yard:

I’ve pretty much concluded that these round Ritter’s Frozen Custard buildings are new.  This one in a new shopping center in Warsaw confirmed it for me.  I’m too tired to check if these were inspired by an older building style in the chain.

I stopped by the Bird’s Eye View Museum in Wakarusa.  This basement has hundreds of miniature dioramas showing streets and buildings in Elkhart County, all handmade over the span of about forty years.  Unfortunately, the museum is not really open anymore since the creator is in poor health.  But a relative was kind enough to let me in for a peek.  The lights weren’t working so this was not an ideal situation for “Dee”. 

In the late afternoon, I stopped by Beverly Shores to check on the status of the houses there (the House of Tomorrow, the streamline moderne house, etc.) and get the dogs a beach run.  I’ve always loved this little train station there.  I only wish Photoshop had a “remove chain link” button.