Day 6: Illinois & Wisconsin

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This sign probably had nice neon at one time -- gotta love the shape of it! It's a nice big pole sign, in a sea of hideous modern chain store signs. But mostly I wanted to include this as a tribute to the fantastic customer service at Lundgren's Photo in Rockford, IL. I'm back in action now thanks to the them. They gave me lots of good advice and sympathy. I got a wire for the camera-to-computer and another memory card. It seems the software for restoring cards usually takes a few hours and I didn't want to waste part of a day doing that when I could be taking pictures instead. So I'll deal with that when I get home.

I'm thrilled to be able to upload stuff to Flickr and here again -- so here goes:

First, a photo from Detroit that I meant to include before this camera fiasco. A neglected building in a downtrodden neighborhood -- this Mayan (or is it Aztec?) design:



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A nice mid-century building in Chicago. I wish I'd taken a close-up photo as the white textured part was quite incredible:



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Also from Chicago, this juxtaposition of old and new: nice detail vs. painted plywood.



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Now, how could I resist including this doggie sign/statue which hangs above an antiques shop / cafe in downtown Mineral Point, WI. More about him here:
http://www.mineralpoint.com/living_history/pointer_landmark.html





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The scenery on the long stretches between destinations has been spectacular. It's amazing what can be done with corn!



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And lastly, here's a shot of Sparkle (the kids are hard to see) basking in the hot sun. The Wisconsin portion of the trip has officially begun. I have managed to find a setting with the A/C that keeps things an almost comfortable approx. 75 degrees or so inside. Things are looking up!