Roadside Architecture

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day 46: Des Moines, IA to NYC

The dogs and I only stopped for gas stations and pee breaks this last day of the trip. I always say I will schedule the ends of these trips so that I won't do this to myself but it never works out that way. We arrived home around 9pm Sunday night -- too hot and exhausted to do much. It'll take a few more days to repair my life before I start adding photos to my website. Despite the fatigue and chaos, it feels great to be home and turn the engine off for awhile. The dogs are thrilled to get back to our routine and are still catching up on their sleep.

During this six-week adventure, we covered more than 18,000 miles. I put more than $4,000 in gasoline alone on the credit card. There were five pit stops at Jiffy Lube for oil changes & maintenance ($542), the overpriced fuel pump replacement ($1339)... plus hotels, food...

... but the thousands of photos and the adventures for my dogs and me = priceless!

Here are some Nebraska photos taken before I glued myself to the steering wheel.

I love this tank of a travel trailer. It was for sale in Gibbon, NE. I can't find anything about Travelures on-line.







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Cairo, NE was named after the Cairo in Egypt because of its desert-like landscape. Streets are named Nubia, Suez, Mecca, Nile, etc. and the sports teams are known as the Cairo Camels.





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The State Theatre in Central City, NE opened in 1916 and is still going strong:



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The Lake Sunset Motel in Fremont has long been closed but the sign lives on. The bottom sign brags that this is a Ma & Pa Motel.



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A nice Art Deco F.O.E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) Building on Main St. in Fremont, NE:




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and just down the street, this fun decorated shoe repair shop:




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The final photo stop on this trip was Omaha, NE where there were lots of buffalo statues downtown. I have never seen a buffalo run in person -- but the term "buffalo stampede" must come from somewhere. These big bronze statues defy gravity -- I suppose they have supportive piping that runs into the ground?




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The next blogged trip probably won't be until next summer when we hit the Midwest for a few weeks. Thanks for all your comments and sharing the journey with us.

5 Comments:

  • And so ends another amazing roadtrip. (Sigh). Thank you for letting me tag along vicariously!

    By Blogger Gale, at Wed Sep 17, 12:30:00 PM PDT  

  • Anytime! Come out to the Midwest next summer and you can tag along in "real time" for a day (or as long as you can keep up).

    By Blogger Debra Jane Seltzer (aka agilitynut), at Wed Sep 17, 01:07:00 PM PDT  

  • you know... after all of those weeks of constant eye-popping input... i might have become addicted, there.

    it's one thing to have photo evidence of your travels... another to make photos be the reason for it.

    that was WAY cool. and great memories for you, i'll bet.

    By Blogger ReggaeVibrations_WTJU, at Sat Sep 27, 03:54:00 PM PDT  

  • Thanks! Glad you enjoyed my "mission" and photos. I'm hard at work on the website right now adding thousands of new photos.
    http://www.agilitynut.com/whatsnew.html

    This project will probably keep me busy right up til the Midwest trip next summer. More blogging & Flickr-ing then!

    By Blogger Debra Jane Seltzer (aka agilitynut), at Sat Sep 27, 05:49:00 PM PDT  

  • Update -- someone wrote to me about the "Travelure" trailer. It was evidently built by a farmer in his spare time who drove it around for many years. There is supposed to be very detailed woodwork on the inside. It was built on an old truck frame and produced piece by piece in the guy's shop.

    By Blogger Debra Jane Seltzer (aka agilitynut), at Tue Nov 30, 07:34:00 AM PST  

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