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ROADTRIPS, WEBSITE ADDITIONS & OTHER STUFF
Future Trips These are the tentative summer trip plans:
2025: IL, IN, and some OH/KY
2026: TN, SC, NC, and some AL
2027: IA, MN, WI, MI
2028: OH, PA, MD, WV, and some VA
2029: Northeast
2030: Canada & Alaska
July 2024 - right now The summer trip photos: I'm adding about 4,000 photos throughout my website on a daily basis from the trip. I still have about two weeks of photos to go -- mostly from Illinois. As I finish adding a day's batch, I also post about a dozen photos to Flickr (agilitynut account) and another dozen different photos to my blog. The blog photos are duplicated at Flickr (roadsidenut account) with links to the posts. It will probably take me until February to get everything up at the website.
November 2023 - February 2024 My annual winter project: I checked all of the map links in the descriptions to see what changed since the previous year. I updated the descriptions to indicate what's gone, remodeled, repainted, or restored. As I discovered this "news," I posted the most noteworthy changes to my blog. Now that this project is done, I'm treating myself to some 3- and 4-day weekend California trips and roadtesting the van for the summer trip. As I add stuff to my website from these mini-trips, I post about a dozen, different photos to my blog, Flickr, and Instagram.
June - November 2023 This June trip focused on Colorado and Kansas. I planned for 5 weeks but had to cut things off at 3 weeks due to transmission troubles. The approximately 3,000 photos from this trip are all up at my website.
Interviews and Presentations
In the past few years, these groups and individuals featured me in podcasts and interviews: Backroadtripster, Mondo Neon, Stress Less Camping, and the California Preservation Foundation. I have also been a presenter, sponsor, and participant for the Neon Speaks Festival & Symposium since it started in 2018. I posted the slides for the 2023 presentation here. In 2024, the SCA (Society for Commercial Archeology) invited me to present Getting the Most Out of Your Roadtrips.
Vintage Signs Book
I wrote a book in 2018 entitled "Vintage Signs of America". It's a paperback and just under 100 pages. There are about 175 photos, each showing a different sign with histories about each one. The publisher went out of business in 2023 but the book is still available online at places like Amazon.
SCA Journal Articles I have been writing the feature articles about signs and a sign news column for the Society for Commercial Archeology continuously since 2007. You can order back issues and digital downloads of the Journal and Road Notes at the SCA website. I also have companion pages with other examples of the sign themes/types at my website for most of the Journal articles. Here are some of the most recent ones:
Fall 2024: Shopping Center Signs
Spring 2024: Bowling Signs
Fall 2023: Mortar, Pestle and Beaker Signs
Fall 2022: Shoe- and Boot-Shaped Signs
Spring 2022: Clock Signs
Fall 2021: House Signs
Spring 2021: Welcome Signs
Fall 2020: Flame Signs
Spring 2020: Reddy Kilowatt and
Willie Wiredhand Signs
full list of SCA companion pages: here
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WHERE IS IT?
Many of you have asked me for the locations of various places or suggested that I add addresses. However, instead of listing addresses, I include what I hope is even better for all of us. These "[map]" hyperlinks at the end of descriptions link to Google Street View maps of the building, sign, or statue being described. Maybe you're like me and enjoy traveling virtually on-line and seeing these places in the context of nearby buildings or scrolling around the place in different directions or even in satellite view.
Since a good percentage of the Google cars have taken photos within the past year or two, these maps make it easy for me (and you) to verify if something is still there or if it's been altered. These maps can also help you put together your own lists and maps of places to see and shoot. Quick tip: if you copy the longitude and latitude (e.g., 43.0810917,-76.1167953) from any of those map links in the browser, you can quickly build your own maps at Google's My Maps or add them to your lists for pinpoint accuracy.
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SHARE THE LOVE You can show your appreciation for my advertising-free, comprehensive website and blog by making a donation. If you click on the "Donate" button below or you log into PayPal.com, you can make a donation directly to my email address: roadarch@outlook.com. Paypal will notify me of your generosity and I'll email you back with my profuse thanks! Or, if you'd rather just send me a check, let me know. Your money will go straight to Gator's gas tank and repairs fund.
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Copyright. All photos at this website are copyrighted and may only be used with my consent. This includes posting them at Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, other websites, personal use, etc.
Tips & Updates. If you have suggestions about places that I haven't covered, historical info, or updates about places/things that have been remodeled or removed, I'd love to hear from you: roadarch@outlook.com.
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