Day 2: More Ohio

A glorious sunny day: perfect for picture-taking. I took about two hundred photos for the website (and put about 18 up at Flickr). I've got about a dozen for this blog as well.

Today's news: The A/C in the van is officially dead. I stopped at a Chevy dealer and they poked around and assured me that it would be a big job: at least half a day to fix. So I'm going to tough it out til I get home. It's been in the upper 80s in Ohio -- not as bad as the 110 degrees in CA and NV right now. I'm managing to find lots of streams and lakes for us to play in to keep cool. In the afternoon, a lake proved to be more mud than water and the van's interior is a lovely shade of gray for probably the duration of the trip.

I'm wiped out so let's get to the pictures. Do keep in mind that I write these blog entries at the end of the day, just before going to bed. So I won't be held accountable for spelling, grammatical errors, or incoherency.

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Maybe it's the heat, but these ice cream stand signs are masterpieces in my opinion -- from Wapokoneta, OH:



























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Speaking of Wapokoneta, here are just a few of the fantastic buildings downtown:





















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Wapokoneta has something for everybody, including the Armstrong Air & Space Museum. Here are the kids (looking hot and tired) with the Gemini space capsule mock-up:




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from Bucyrus at a replica Sinclair station is this cool police cruiser:



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and from somewhere in the middle of nowhere (I saw a LOT of corn fields today) are these two antique & restored tractors:



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I usually don't photo painted wall signs -- but this one in Lima, OH got my attention with both Vernor's and Teem sodas:



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Here's another nice, old Vernor's sign from Tiffin, OH:



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Topic for Discussion:



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I'm sure you've seen these around -- the Honda showrrom above is just a small example. What do you think of these modern retro Honda buildings? Do you like them or do they annoy you? What about the trend lately to incorporate "googie" elements into shopping malls, etc. -- is that a good thing or does it dilute the impact/significance of the original buildings?