Did you miss me?  Yes, last night I got together with a Flickr pal that I hadn’t met before. So I got a night off from posting to Flickr and here. We had a great time and chatted until after midnight I think. Which means I didn’t get that early night to bed that I thought I would.

The dogs have mostly been getting their exercise in big semi-grassy lots that I find next to hotels and mall type places. I did get them to a great dog park yesterday in Columbus: The Big Walnut Dog Park. There was a lake and everybody went swimming — even Grippie for a few seconds. Separate areas and plenty enough room to run Nik around for awhile. Fencing seemed nice and secure so I felt comfortable having Grem run around. There was a big list of rules at the entrance and it did say no more than two dogs per owner. But everybody clearly saw me with my four and I didn’t get hassled. This place will now be on my permanent list of places to go every time I pass through Columbus.
http://www.bigwalnutdogpark.com/

All else going fine. No stray dogs to rescue, no mishaps with any of mine. Weather mostly sunny & Sparkle running great. I’m pretty much on schedule I think and will hopefully wrap up Ohio on Sunday or more likely Monday. I have tons of bloggy photos and since it’s nearly 1am, let’s get to it.

All of these are from Columbus unless otherwise indicated.  Elsie the Borden’s cow peeks out from this old wall advertising:

This had to have been a circular Dairy Queen sign originally.  There are some examples at this page at my website:
http://agilitynut.com/eateries/dq.html

Then, somewhere along the line, the rectangular piece was added.  And, then this latest paint job which is pretty bizarre.

Next door to this sign, is this oddly painted or weathered one.  I much prefer signs to look this way than those brand spanking new looking restorations:

At the Eastland Mall, was this nice midcentury building.  I’m sure you Columbusian, Columbusites, will enlighten me as to what department store was here originally:

Today, I came upon a similar building with the same turquoisey glazed brick but with a different style entrance.  This one was on Tremont.  A Macy’s but I don’t know if that’s what was there originally:

This sign was in the trees in Marysville next to the former Frostop (now Benny’s Pizza).  Can anyone make out the lettering below the coffee cup?

I believe I’ve seen this giant sign style before.  I’m too needing sleep to check around.  It was a drug store chain I think.

This plastic sign surprised me because I didn’t know that Super Baker was a chain.  I had been only familiar with this neon sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dania_h/2303882974/
So I assume there were other neon signs like that one around?  It must be the only one left if that’s the case. 

I have always loved these Coca-Cola and other beverage signs that use these shapes sealed in clear plastic.  Here’s an example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/2749853440/
 This one was busted out of its shell so I got to get a better view of them:

I decided to switch from sweet to salty for today’s snack.  I’d heard good things about the local Conn’s potato chips brand.  I probably should have gotten regular because this salt & vinegar was a killer.  My mouth got blisters I swear!  The dogs weren’t fond of them either but ate ’em anyway. 

Speaking of sweets, how bout a couple of not quite website-worthy donut signs:

More signs!  A sad but still pretty one:

So many fun things about this one:

One of the biggest neon arrows that I’ve ever seen:

What could be a more appropriate use of the classic plastic ball — than as a symbolic meatball!  Certainly, this must have been a later adaptation though, right?

A beautiful building with painted signs indicating its original use and a classic Mail Pouch ad.  This was in Mount Vernon, OH:

And I don’t know which of these last two is more terrifying.  This one from Mount Vernon:

Or this rooftop inflatable at a Wendy’s in Columbus:

I hope these don’t give you nightmares.  I’m heading to bed now myself.

Glorious sun & cinematic clouds — nature’s been very kind to me the past couple days.  Hustling around NW Ohio.  One or two preplanned stops per town & a little trickle of unplanned discoveries.  I sat & waited on so many train crossings today.  Stuck behind very slow drivers and gigantic trucks.  So much for relaxing, country driving.  But it was quite scenic and less stressful than city driving.

Let’s get to today’s big event.  I was about halfway into the day when I was passing through the relatively small town of Delphos.  There in the road, Lincoln Highway in fact, was a dog wandering around.  Cars being careful to go around.  But I didn’t feel good about it.  I watched & yes, the dog was definitely disoriented.  Not one of those dogs with the confidence of a destination or with a hanging-out attitude.  I watched a postman walk right by him.  No one seemed to be doing a thing — the cars kept going by.  I decided to intervene.  The dog went over to a gas station with me in hot pursuit in the van.  At least she was out of traffic.  Hanging out at the pumps, everyone deliberately looking the other way.  I was offering good doggie treats with one hand and a concealed hand behind my back with a slip lead.  Dog not interested in me or cookies.  I started asking people if they recognized the dog, where the nearest shelter was, etc.  Nobody really wanted to get involved.  As the dog headed for the station’s convenience store, I made my lasso-ing move.

So now I had a large, sweet Dalmatian in my possession.  And not the slightest consideration of keeping her of course!  She appeared to be about 8 years old or so, a little hip displaysia but super friendly.  A  little dirty — maybe on the street a few days I guess but certainly not feral and weirded out.  I know my dogs can handle just about anything and have perfect social skills with all kinds of dogs.  Just had to take a chance and stuffed this big galoof in there with them.  They couldn’t believe it at first — a new dog — just like that — jesus!  But I conveyed to them that just had to get over it and I promised them it was temporary.

The van was suddenly WAY too small for Nik and he started growling but shut up when I told him to knock it off.  He then insisted on staring out the window for the rest of the ordeal — pretending this wasn’t happening to him.  “Spots”, as I quickly temporarily named her, remained neutral and perfectly well behaved. 

Grippie was very unhappy.  Dalmatians are actually her least favorite breed.  I believe she considers them freaks of nature — the Million Eyeballs Dogs — and she always barks at them and acts all tough to get them to keep their distance.  So this was one of those moments where you have to face down one of your biggest fears.  She was too terrified to bark in this small space.

Fix stayed up front with me.  She’s a total wuss.  Grem tried to get “Spots” to play since she prefers the company of big dogs anyway.  But “Spots” was just not in the mood — probably very hungry & thirsty but too freaked to do either.

I managed to get directions to a vet’s office that would take her.  Got there — they wouldn’t.  The gave me directions to the Humane Society in Elida.  Drove there — they were full up and sent me to the “Dog Warden”.  That name had me a little reluctant but once there, I knew she’d be in good hands.  They called the Delphos warden and there had been no one looking for a Dal.  But they recognized, too, her great temperament.  She was wagging her tail and kissie.  No microchip.  If the owner didn’t turn up, they’d contact Dal rescue groups & put the dog on Petfinder.  No way is this dog getting euthanized.  Whew.  I’ll call in the next week or two & see what’s happened & report back.

So anyway, that event took about two hours out of my day.  But some things are more important that shooting pictures of buildings and signs and giant stuff.  I think.  I was amazed at how unhelpful and uninterested everyone was — esp. the people at the vet’s office and the folks pumping gas at that station.  If there was a kid wandering in traffic they would be completed panicked.  This “just a dog” attitude is horrifying.  Maybe if the dog had been hit the vet would’ve taken her?

OK — enough — time for some pictures.  From Swanton — I love the folksy, homemade skate:

A rusty, crusty Masonic Temple sign in Delta:

Here’s a shot taken over my shoulder while driving at 60+ mph in the country.  Nik’s new birds eye view position.  Watching for motorcyles and/or water sources.  The D90 seemed to auto focus for me on the foliage at the left — but hey — this blur was my fault — a miracle that I got the shot at all.

Okay, and for laughs, yours truly.  My first attempt at a self portrait with the new camera.  This is what you would look like if you were up writing blogs until 2am & later & then got back on the road at 7am after five days.  But really, this is pretty much what I look like even on a good day, gotta face it.  Sucks getting old.  I know I have gone into stores to get Diet Coke with both pairs of glasses on my head.  I have to keep switching back & forth in the van so it just seems easier to store them on my head — though I try not to display this behavior in public.  I do often hold the lens cap in my mouth while shooting.  Seems faster than pocketing/unpocketing it and when you have a hundred plus stops to make per day, these little things matter.  The sticky on my nose a goof though — if you’re not familiar with the “sticky system”, you might want to check out the “How To Do a Roadtrip” page here at the blog.  This sticky was actually pulled off the  map for the Uncle Sam in the background — a non-blurry photo of him over at the agilitynut Flickr stream here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3794321230/

I’m pretty sure this Deco Dream House was in Delphos — shot just before I saw the wandering dog:

Irony and sadness.  The long gone paint store with the peeling paint, in Lima:

So, here’s the deal.  I went to see/shoot the Plaza Bowling Lanes in Celina.  This guy up on the ladder was painting the undersides of the panels with black paint.  The panels on the other side of the sign were gone.  (That’s why I was forced to shoot into the sun & got those nasty spots — again, not the D90’s fault).   He told me that they are replacing the panels with “aluminum core and vinyl lettering”.  The neon was removed but will be replaced.  All you Ohio Flickr-ers out there should keep an eye on this one.  I’m very curious (and apprehensive) to see what the finished product will look like.

Somewhere out there in farmland — too late now to check my notes for the exact town.  This makes me not want to climb on a ladder again ever.

This was west of Covington.  I don’t know what it means and the building behind it, if even related, was vacant.  Perhaps some sort of VFW type place.

This gal was in the window at a piercing & tattoo studio in Troy:

Quick, all you Ohio-ans, Ohio-ites, where am I?

That’s right, The Spot in Sidney.  And Gale, I hope I got your favorite booth in the photo.  And yes, I got the pie!  There were several cream pie choices — but none of them banana which would’ve been my first pick.  There was custard cream (which sounded the yummiest) and chocolate cream and “original” (I think that’s what it was called).  But I went with the coconut since it was the most photogenic – the only one with the mound of meringue.  I was skeptical since usually coconut cream pies are way too sweet and the coconut too dry & chewy.  But this pie was more creamy than sweet.  The crust had that slightly undercooked quality but still flakey — probably Crisco — or maybe lard — as a vegetarian,  I’d rather not know in this case.  The dogs found it just as yummy.

And lucky for all of us, I went with the waitress’ favorite and got us a slice of blackberry pie for tomorrow.  Sorry about the styrofoam plates — no time for proper food styling.

This post is a little light on architecture — so I’ll include a couple shots from the magnificent Louis Sullivan building just across the street from The Spot.  It’s a little more orange than in reality since the sun was setting — again, not the D90’s fault!   And I’m sure there’s a way to ISO or white balance to deal with it.  I promise to study hard over the winter before the next mega trip.

Tomorrow night, I will probably be taking a well-deserved break from Flickr-ing and blogging since I’ll be meeting a Flickr pal.  I’ll catch up with a double dose on Friday night.  Maybe I’ll give up on sleep entirely.

So much for my little “side trip” into Michigan.  It ended up taking pretty much the whole day.  But it was a great time — lots of photos, lots of traffic.  Glad I did it but now we’re definitely behind schedule.  Might mean Western Kansas has to get scrapped.  We shall see.

Not so great for the dogs who got a lot more sleeping & less exercise than usual.  But at Day 4, they didn’t seem to mind as much.  Tomorrow, we’ll be back in the middle of nowhere a lot where I can let ’em run.

Since it’s after 1:30am, let’s cut the chit-chat and get right to it.

Great signs at a Toledo barber shop:

I did a bit of posing with the dogs at the giant Uncle Sam at the Michigan/Ohio border.  I put a picture over at the agilitynut flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3790566411/

I was also trying to get a photo of Grem’s newest trick “Where’s Your Boyfriend” but unfortunately Nik insists on laying down everywhere on this trip — thinking that’s the code for “throw something”.  So instead of looking like she’s hugging him, she looks more like she’s humping him.  Damned cute anyway.

Here’s another shot where at least you can see the hugging aspect — but you also see Grem’s far-away look — like maybe she might just jump off the 50 foot tower and be free-FREE! at last.  And Nik anticipting the cheese for tolerating this nonsense.

Must include the rocket which is at the very same fireworks place as the Uncle Sam:

Today’s high calorie snack — hey, it’s vacation — leave me alone!  I posted photos of the sign & building over at the agilitynut flickr stream.  By the way, perhaps the best peanut donut I’ve ever had.  And I’ll admit to having had my share.   Roadside mavens, yes, that’s the Fisk Tire Boy in the background which is just down the road from this place.  If you can make him out through the passenger window’s nose schmear.

I believe this former station buried behind weeds and crap in Detroit was originally a Sinclair:

More Detroit stuff or more or less.  Could be some suburbs — too wiped out to verify — but I think technically all of these are within city limits.  Here’s an abandoned billboard that looks as old as time (1940s?):

Advertising for a store that doesn’t exist anymore:

A chop suey place that doesn’t exist anymore either:

And one across the street that sorta does.  I think.  Maybe.  Must have been quite nice looking in its day:

A Dairy Queen sign that’s had text removed & bulbs added:

I just love the urban-ness of Detroit & vicinity.  Very much like Chicago.  New York’s got none of this funky feel, no hidden treasures, no preservation through benign neglect.  I feel quite at home even in the skankiest of neighborhoods.  Everybody seems very nice to me — maybe I exude friendliness or confidence or craziness.  I am dressed about an inch above homelessness most of the time.  The dogs get me pretty dirty & I’m not changing clothes just to take pictures.

I had my first bad reaction, I think, to this very prominent new camera.  I asked at Elmer’s Hambugers if I could take a picture inside — very cute in there with lots of stainless steel (not the fake chromey type) and low stools.  The woman took one look at my camera and asked “what’s it for?” in the surliest tone.  I replied “oh, it’s just for me” which is my stock answer.  She said “No.”  Flat no.  No explanation — I was sort of shocked.  So I repeated “No?” like a confused, half-frightened kid.  And she flatly said again “No.”  What a conversation we had.   I don’t think my little Olympus would have been as unwelcome.  I think she thought I was the Detroit paper doing an expose on filthy restaurants or something. 

I assume the bulbs in this one had an animated flickering fountainy effect.  Still a nice sign even in this raunch condition:

And lastly, in no particular order or theme tonight, an apparently mid-century embossed plastic facade.  Love it.  This one’s in Flint, MI:

That’s that —  2:15am dammit.  Tomorrow’s goal is to wrap up by midnight & get more sleep.

The sun came out today and stayed out!  Gave me some really fine photos & proved that this D40 is a serious machine.  I’ll have to bone up on white balancing, ISO-ing & the rest over the winter.  But for now, I’m very satisfied.  I still don’t get why that flash thingie pops up on like every single photo. 

I can’t even begin to list all the cities we were in today.  Still, didn’t quite get as far as fantasized.  And turns out my Michigan friend will be busy tomorrow when we’ll be there.  I can only afford a couple hours to grab some must-haves up there before getting back to business in Ohio.  I think I’m pretty much on schedule at this point.  But I predict that’ll change by Illinois. 

I didn’t take a lot of blog photos today. Not exactly sure why as I sure seemed busy with the camera.  Did I miss the weird stuff or was there none?  I’ll try to make up for it tomorrow.  The good news is, for me, less photos for me to fuss with tonight and I’ll get to bed earlier.  So let’s get to it!

I’ve been seeing these berry whatcha-ma-callits all over.  Don’t think I’ve seen them in my life before.  I’m counting on you botanical types for identification. 

The Sunset Drive-in in Mansfield.  And no, I didn’t pump up the orange in Photoshop — it really was that blinding in real life.  I don’t know what happened to the screen tower & marquee signs — tornado?

Those of you that are familiar with my site & Flickr stream know that I don’t shoot the very old stuff.  Not my era.  But I saw some of these ancient courthouses that were quite impressive.  This one in Wooster had one of those annoying bird-deterrent audio systems.  Screeching birdie warning calls piped over speakers.  The pigeons were so over it though and perching in the sculpted crevices anyway.

Here’s Grem’s normal riding position — perched on the driver’s side arm rest.  Doesn’t bother me since my arms are too short to use it anyway.  She braces that back right foot normally on the side of my arm.  But the rest of the time, even when it’s curvey, she seems to have paws of glue to balance this way. 

I watched her carefully today — only letting her off-leash for swimming where I can control her brain with copious amounts of Goldfish crackers.

Lots of miles, loads of traffic, tons of good stuff.  Ohio rocks!  I haven’t been here in about five years really other than some quick stops en route to somewhere else.  It’s about time I reshot many photos at my website of Ohio stuff that is 5+ years old — tiny, dingy, from at least two cameras ago.  But the focus of this trip is mainly on getting new stuff & reshooting things when it’s convenient.

I could complain about the weather — mostly grey, some rain in the morning, some nice sun once in awhile.  Very cool out — now remind me why I spent another $400 to fine tune my A/C for this trip?

Perhaps the biggest event of the day was a very long 30 minutes or so when Grem went missing.  She has been so good on this trip.  At a huge fenced dog park today, she stayed pretty close by.  She was actually “checking in” with me (dog world terminology for exchanging eye contact now & then = “keeping tabs” on me).  Early afternoon, I was trying to find a way to Whiskey Island to see the abandoned Art Deco former Coast Guard station (which I eventually found).  From a big industrial lot, I could see it in the distance.  Decided it was a clean & big enough spot to give the dogs a run — well, three of the four anyway.  As usual, I held onto Gremlin’s leash.  But then, feeling pretty confident about her attention to me and overall fatigue from barking all day, I let the leash drop for awhile.  She was still staying close by but then as my attention strayed to helping Nik find his ball, I got that look from her.  That look of “now’s my chance!” and there she went at 60mph full speed to anywhere but here.  Pink fee-fee girlie leash flying in the wind.  Gone.  Me yelling and calling and yelling and cursing and praying.  Asking people around if they’d seen her.  Looking for any garbagey spots where she’d be most inclined to be.  Nothing.  Nowhere.  But luckily no fast moving traffic anywhere.  I put the other dogs in the van so I could focus on yelling for her.  Which doesn’t matter anyway when she’s in that feral mood anyway.   Finally, I see a black blip on the horizon & know her vicinity.  In my most positive upbeat voice, I call her and fling chicken to the ground while I snatch the leash.  Jesus.  Here’s what could have been her very last photo — the brat (keeping it clean for the blog ya know):

And from the same industrial lot — Nik & Fix (some shots of Grip tomorrow I promise — today’s shots of her were unflattering).  Yes, Nik (on the left) looks this psychotic (and IS) most of the time.

Must.  Read.  Manual.  to figure out how to take movies of the dogs on this trip.  Yes, by the way, I splurged on a new camera a couple weeks ago (Nikon D90) — but I was working so much that I never got a chance to read the books I bought about it.  So I’m going all auto-everything & it seems to be working well most of the time. 

Today’s big treat — had to give East Coast Custard (a photo of their adapted Arby’s building at Flickr tonight) a few of my dollars.  Went for the Peach Cobbler sundae which had some crunchy brown sugary stuff, probably canned peaches, and as you can see, ample whipped cream over the vanilla ice cream.  It was actually hot & sunny for the first time that day so I considered it a sign that I should indulge.  It also gave me the opportunity to test my very first “portrait” setting. 

Pacific Northwest?  No — Parma Heights! —

Paris?  No — Cleveland! —

One bit of “serious” architecture before I move on to today’s emphasis on the weird & goofy.  A very nice mid-century fire house in Parma Heights:

A few oddities from Akron:  on the roof of a motorcyle shop…

… and on the roof of a bedding store in Akron:

A quick photo of just one corner of the award-winning Bow Wow Beach in Stow:
http://bow-wowbeach.com/

Yes, the kids had a great time.  Especially after the rather disappointing dog park we went to in Akron about an hour earlier.

I always have to stop and shoot these OK used car signs wherever I see them.  These were in Parma Heights I think.  Other photographers are out shooting bees, birds and flowers right now.  But I’m shooting plastic signs!  They kind of look like summer sunflowers though don’t they?

And this one I just had to shoot for the bizarrity of it.  The fake-o dog lifting his leg — and mostly the hilarious website address:

Dead tired & it’s after 1am.  I’ll send this one off without spell check or proofing.  What the heck, it’s only a blog not a term paper.  Tomorrow’s blog might be brief (or not at all) if I magically get on schedule and manage to hook up with a friend for the evening.  Time to call it a day.  Much more Ohio tomorrow.

I managed to cover quite a bit of ground today & didn’t get settled in behind the computer until 10pm.  Since I only had a two hour nap last night, I’m more that zonked right now.  The weather was grey & rainy pretty much all the way through PA & the first few hours of OH.  But then, there were some pretty white clouds which made for some nice photos.  The day ended with lots of rain.  This has to be the rainiest summer ever on the East Coast & Midwest. 

The dogs got a lots exercise in big green fields today.  I contemplated some swimming in the Susquehanna River for Nik & Grem but the water looked so brown (I guess from all the rain & turbulence?).  Also, I wasn’t sure how strong the current would be — better not to risk it.  Tomorrow, I have a legal doggie lakefront beach on the list.  And maybe another dog park or two.  Lots of motorcycle barking today — hot & a Saturday — so no surprise.

Despite spending at least half the day on the interstate, I got loads of photos for the blog & Flickr today.  We’ll be in Ohio for about a week with tons of stuff to shoot every day. Time for the photos — I have GOT to get to bed.

How could I resist this photo op:

Sparkle was the name of this grocery store in Youngstown, OH.  And for those of you new to this blog, Sparkle is my van’s name (that’s Fixie at the wheel).  I chose that name for based on my previous years and years of beat-up vehicles.  Although she came to me with 108,000 miles, she looked brand new inside & out.  I have never owned a white vehicle before either so this made her extra squeaky clean looking.  At this point, Sparkle has 211,000 miles and running absolutely perfectly (uh, oh, did I just jinx myself?).

The Zeiser Vault Company is located in Nescopeck, PA.  Loved this building with glazed brick, terra cotta details & brick glass.

There are a number of May’s Drive-ins in central PA — each with this style cone in varying states of upkeep:

This drive-in went by another name but certainly this is the distinctive May’s cone:

The Tenny Town Motel is in Bloomsburg, PA.  I assume there was a diferent name originally that made reference to  this giant candle.

Another couple nice signs and an art deco bank from Bloomsburg, PA:

This one looks even better at night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jschumacher/3683491510/

The Point Drive-in is located in Danville, PA.  I love the screen’s wooden supporting:

Love the handpainted sign at Stuck Brothers Appliances in Northumberland, PA:

I’m always relieved to see this Dutch Pantry restaurant in Du Bois, PA is still open.  More about the chain here:
http://www.highwayhost.org/DutchPantry/dutchpantry1.htm

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pear tree before.  Or if so, it was a small specimen.  This tree in Somewhere, Ohio was one of many that just seemed to be growing wild — no house or orchard nearby.

And so I’ll leave you for the night with this hello and goodbye from New Philadelphia, OH.  The bulbs in the rooftop sign were just starting to glow when I was passing through.  I love how the sign tilts slightly to the right.  I bet this one has been here for a hundred years.

Doggie photos tomorrow I promise!  Maybe even some food.  Today’s caloric intake was mostly coffee laden with French Vanilla creamers, some cheese, and some Sun Chips.  Not the kind of thing that you want to see photos of.  But I will get that pie for you Gale — I’m on a mission! 

I hope this post isn’t too laden with grammatical errors.  No energy to proof tonight.  See ya’ll tomorrow.

The dogs and I are leaving tonight for a month in the Midwest.  I guess that’s technically tomorrow (Saturday) since the driving doesn’t start until 3am when I get home from work.  Here’s a handy dandy map of what I have planned:

Note that this is a very generalized map and doesn’t show the extent of the zigzag-ing we’ll be doing within each state.  Judging from the towering stack of lists & maps, some or much of the later part of this trip might get scrapped if I get behind schedule.  Which I always do.  I’ll be posting here and uploading a handful of photos to Flickr each night.  I hope you’ll enjoy tagging along with us!

After a good diner breakfast at the Royal Diner in Springfield with my friend and some other diner photo-taking nearby, I was off for a big day of shooting in VT, MA & CT. I was feeling pretty whooped in the early afternoon & contemplated heading for home early since it just a few hours away. But then the sun came out at last. I got coffee-ed up and plodded through my list until dark. Tons of diners that I’d never gotten to before, some neon signs, some other odd stuff. And along the way, lots of good blog material for you.

Trip summary before we get to the photos: approximately 3,600 miles on this week-long trip, about $575 in gas. Came home with all four dogs — always a miracle — and Sparkle ran flawlessly. No speeding tickets or mishaps. I even managed to fake my way around with some very rusty French. I don’t know when we’ll be in Canada again and feel kind of sad about it. I fantasize sometime about a really Big Deal Canadian trip — like a six-weeker some summer — where I can get to some of the remoter regions with some great Giant Stuff on my list and see what that part of the country looks like.

We did a little exploring in downtown Springfield.  There was this neat old stained glass clock:

a great Art Deco building — the storefronts were probably much nicer at one time:

Springfield is right on the Black River.  There are lots of big old factory buildings which dumped their garbage into the river at one time.  But all that has been cleaned up now and the river is abundant with wildlife and popular with kayakers/canoers.  The town has little bridges over the river which has giant scary falls.  The dogs were fascinated.  Dogs can be a lot like 7-year old boys — “Woah!  COOL!”

I tried to convince my friend to reopen this candlepin bowling place — long closed.  Not enough candlepin bowling out there.  I’m sure Springfield could use something fun for families and a good watering hole for grownups.  This building is situated right over that crashing water which I’m told is known as Comptu Falls.

Holyoke, MA is located right on the Connecticut River.  From my map, it looks like the same water continues to flow straight down from Vermont .  So perhaps the Black River & CT River are really the same & just renamed at some point.  Anyhow, this neat, rickety wooden bridge is built over a little canal in Holyoke.  I guess a train ran across it long ago?  More old factory buildings. 

I’m not sure what to make of this sign.  Carville’s Ranch House in Hartford, CT may or may not be an old place.  The “Ranch House” channel neon lettering looked new to me — or maybe just altered/replaced.  This neon piece looks pretty old to me.  Regardless, a cowboy & cactus sign, old or new, is always worth hitting the brakes.

A magnificent rusty clock in Hartford, CT.  Gee, can you tell it was raining here?  There was sure a lot of challenging weather on this trip.

This heavily-altered, space-age diner on the Berlin Turnpike is a real heartbreaker.  This is in Wethersfield, just north of the still thriving Olympia Diner in Newington.  The sign on the door said “temporarily closed due to illness” but it looked like it had been closed for awhile.

Mr. Variety is perched on top of the Variety Homes Corp sign in Newington.    Love him!

This rusty, abandoned sign is in New Britain, CT:

and just down the block, this very nice relief piece above a not-so-nice storefront:

This is a pretty wacky place.  Wild Bill’s is a big antiques place of the non-traditional sort.  I don’t know where this guy came from but he, like the Nutcracker guy earlier in this post, is the stuff of nightmares.
http://www.wildbillsonline.com/

The sun was starting to set when I came across this nice mid-century firehouse in West Haven, CT.  After nearly a week of grey and rain, just about anything that the sun touched looked exceptional to me. 

The final stop was in Milford, CT to check out the long closed Milford Diner.  Closed since 2003, there was a sign on it saying “Intent to Demolish”.  Very sad.  As I drove a bit further, our route took us by a nice stretch of beach.  Nik & Grem were squealing with anticipation but there were huge “No Animal” signs.  Milford is a pretty upscale town.  I tried to break it to the dogs that it wasn’t gonna happen.  But less than a mile later, I noticed a big grassy, mucky beachy section behind some businesses. Good enough for us!  So it was a great way to end the trip. 

Back home now & catching up on the email pileup & other stuff while the dogs are motionless with exhaustion.  I hope you will join us again in August for a month-long roadtrip to the Midwest.   The weather & photos should be much better then.  Until then, I’ll be getting my lists & maps ready while getting all the photos from this trip up at the website.  May the roads you travel, near or far, be filled with discoveries and amusement.

Not a lot of destinations today.  Mostly grey with just a little rain.  A few quick teases from the sun.  Lots of miles between the remaining Canadian things on the list & most of it dull interstate.  Much coffee was consumed & satellite radio was played.

I found myself enough ahead of schedule that I decided to hit Montreal one more time.  A few days ago when I was there, I was disappointed when I could not find it at the address I had.  I was then (mis)informed by someone that the Giant Milk Bottle had been removed.  That night, I looked it up at Flickr & sure enough it was still there.  So since it was just a mere two-hour roundtrip loop out of my way, I just had to go back to get it.  And then another quick pitstop in Granby to reshoot the Blanche Neige which I had blurred.

Le Madrid is the closest to an American-style tourist trap that I have seen.  Located in Saint-Léonard-d’Aston, it is right off a major highway (l’autoroute 20).  It opened in 1968 as the Moulin Rouge restaurant.  Dinosaurs and monster trucks now lure in motorists in addition to the usual offerings of gas, food & lodging.  More about the place: here.

I found a little pondy boat launching place in Saint-Georges-de-Windsor for the dogs’ final romp in Canada.  Then it was off to the border crossing which took far less time than recent experiences — only about a half hour.  Then it was on to a few stops in VT before visiting & staying with a friend in Springfield.  I took the night off from blogging & flickring — hence the lateness in getting this post  up.

While shooting the Heritage Diner in Charlestown, NH, I came upon this statue in the parking lot.  I don’t know the artist of have any info about it.  The back-to-back explorer guy & Native American were apparently carved from the same log.

More grey.  More rain.  All day.

Spent a lot of time behind the wheel — way fewer photos than the previous days.  Loads of miles between stuff — but I got my whale in Matane! Turns out he is metal & not cement after all.  And worth the approximately 8 hours round trip just to see him.  It was a damned pretty drive anyway and I found a great spot for the doggies to cut loose.

Much woofing and running of legs in their dreams right now.  Surely, they are still digesting the sights and smells of the doggie paradise that was “le municipalité du Bic” — which is a straight shot north basically of Maine.  The water source here is a little inlet piece of the St. Lawrence River.  Popular with kayakers & such because it’s a much calmer bit.  The further I got north towards the whale, the wilder the water became.  Little ocean-like waves even.

Upon arrival at any watery place, Nik heads out to alert me to it just in case I didn’t notice.

Game on.  Fixie in her classic “throw it for him so I can bite him in the ass while he chases it down”.  But she’s too much of a wimp to chase him in the water.

I have yet to witness even a big dog that can move as fast in the water.  God bless the “red kitty Cuz” which has gotten us through every day on this trip.

Grip is feeling mighty fine these days.  Damned good for 12 and the recent eye surgery.

Say bye-bye to that orange official retriever training toy.  Nik had put a hole in it awhile back.  As Grem considered the option of freezing cold water vs. the chicken she’d get for retrieving it, orange-thingie slowly sank into oblivion.

Beaches are just the best — all my dogs agree.  The skankier the better.  And this place had just enough standing water to create that special marinade of dead fishies, dead birdies, and decaying seaweed.  Fix found bones to chomp — god knows what that was.  And Grip consumed a seagull wing before I could get to her.  Ah well.  And apparently there were also live things just under our feet.  Grem got lots of exercise digging and fussing and doing what terriers are supposed to do.  A real break for me and the usual high stress of her likeliness to run off.  Unless, of course, the critter pops out of another hole and she sees it and gives chase.  Which would be disastrous — but kind of a risk I’m willing to live with.  Sometimes.  When there’s not a road nearby.

Obligatory group shot:

Moving on… Earlier in the day, I spotted this place in the distance from the highway in Rivière-du-Loup.  Needing gas soon, I decided to investigate.  Tackomania for sure.    This Santa looks so frightening and gnome-like.  And to top it off, Xmas music (the Christiany kind) was playing, loudly, although the place seemed to be closed.

Noël au Château looks much better at night — with a little technical manipulation. The place had a few storybook statues scattered about.  Not sure if there was a fairy tale theme here pre- the Xmas theme or if they existed simultaneously.  A Donald Duck that was partially concealed & too far away to shoot.  A weird chickeny thing.  And these guys:

Sorry for the blur.  I was holding the leashes for the heathens and trying to shoot at the same time.  Nik was sure critters were about while Grip & Grem were devouring dandelions (they love the greens & stems).  It felt like the camera was steady for the click — guess not.

Creepier still, directly across the street, at the Motel Loupi:

One more from Rivière-du-Loup, you gotta love a motel whose letters are nearly bigger than the rooms.  Je présente “Le Motel Blvd. Cartier”.

Okay — time for me to join the dogs in dreamland.  Hopefully, I’ll dream about places like Bic or Matane and not about scary Santas or bears.  This place is all me and the dogs would need to be happy.  If you could transport the scene out of freezing cold Canada that is.

Tomorrow should be the final day in Canada — then, just another day or two with some stops in VT, etc. on the way back to the Big Bad Apple.