Roadside Americana

Over the course of a lifetime, we pass lots of welcome signs. They're on stores and parks, at state and country borders. I like stopping to document the border crossings with photos. As my friend Jamie mentioned recently, in addition to the welcome sign, some states will also follow up ...

File this firmly under the Things I Love category. I first got wind of this ghost while scrolling through states on Dr. Ken Jones' fantastic American Ghosts site. It is an awesome resource for adding punctuation marks to my rides. What I particularly love, beside the combination of the two ...

Everything doesn't always come up sunshine and roses when you're road tripping and looking for something you read about or might've heard of in passing. Sometimes a pin on my map for a Mail Pouch barn will turn up a pile of collapsed wood where a barn used to be. Or ...

In December of 2016, I was in California taking a week-long riding trip. I flew to LA, rented a bike and wandered about. While heading towards Borrego Spring on Montezuma-Borrego Highway, I passed a Yeti in Ranchita. Often people will ask me how I find such things. In this case, it was ...

While my love for Mail Pouch Tobacco barns and murals is well documented, I do find other olde tyme advertising campaigns appealing, too. Even though I find smoking and tobacco use totally gross, the nostalgic feelings that are stirred within me when I look at Mail Pouch ads is deep ...

One of the stars on my Google Map that was close to where I stayed one night in Tennessee, was the old Underwood & Petty service station in Strawberry Plains. I'm not sure where I first saw a picture of the old station. It may have been something in my ...

When I rolled into Culpeper, Virginia I was charmed by the small town America vibe. At the heart of things is a lovely main street lined with well-manicured restaurants and shops. What pulled me to Culpeper was my worst addiction, the drug I crave most: Love. But before I could ...

2018 2018 2018 This image was from my first visit in October of 2014. At that time the ole skate was in need of some repair. 2014 ...

Thursday was the reckoning. I'd enjoyed mostly dry weather the whole week prior so it was time for me to pay the toll. The rain dogged me all day long varying from mist, drizzle, frog-choker, to partly cloudy but menacing. It made for a long cold day and I wound ...

This Harley-Davidson mural in York, Pa. has been starred on my Google Map for some time now. It was painted in 1996 by Michael Svob. York has many murals scattered around the city that are worth a look. Address: 258 West Market St. York, Pa ...

Do you think the people who live in this neighborhood are tormented by the irresistable urge to wave back to this muffler man? I mean, look at him. What a friendly guy. "Mornin', Bob. Have a great day at work." "Hi, Mable. Hair looks great today." "Hey, Jimmy. Goodtaseeya, buddy." ...

This spring after spending the night in a caboose, I decided to take the long way home and to stop and see a few stars on my Google Maps app. One of the things I was most looking forward to is this Cerasota Flour mural. Sadly, my car looks way ...

Hands down, the most incredible mural I saw while visiting Lynn, Massachusetts, and perhaps that I've ever seen is this collab between JPO and Miss Zukie. “Zukies are a fluffy and chubby character that don’t talk,” the Peru native said. “They communicate with facial expressions and thought bubbles.” -itemlive.com They ...

The town of Lynn, Massachusetts has been incredible-ized by a program called Beyond Walls, which features neighborhood beautification with vintage neon, sculpture and gorgeous murals. We activate spaces that foster more livable, economically viable, and equitable communities while retaining the voice and integrity of area residents. On Saturday I zipped up ...

Though I don't drink soda or smoke, I do have an affinity for tobacco and soda wall advertising. Whenever I see a Coca-Cola ghost ad, it feels like a win for the day. Previously I posted a few ghost ads that I saw in Middletown, New York. One that I left out ...

Last weekend we had an itty-bitty taste of spring. Temperatures crept into the 60's and so I decided to hop on the Bonnie and visit a few of the pins on my Google Maps app. If I don't look at the Streetview of a pinned item, sometimes I'm not sure what ...

Sleeping in a caboose is one of the items that has been on my life's To Do list for many years. How it ended up there, at this point I can't say. It's not like I'm not a railroad fanatic or anything. No doubt I stumbled across the existence of ...

In September while heading east on the Lincoln Highway in the Chambersburg area, I stopped to snap photos of two gas pumps that were part of the Pump Parade. The first was at Shatzer Fruit Market in Chambersburg. It features a Chambersburg peach motif. A little way down the road ...

While traveling throughout the US, stopping and snapping post office photos has become something of a habit. The photos become place markers for passing through a town with an interesting or funny name. The buildings themselves can give clues about what a place is like to the traveler. Is the ...

A Whimsical Wonderland In January of 2017, I was riding my motorcycle on a solo trip through California. I followed a leg of Route 66 back towards Los Angeles. That's where I learned about Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch. January 2, 2017, was a gray morning, I cruised along Route 66 ...

A Road Food Oasis Like No Other While cruising along the Ohio River on my way to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, I made a pit stop at the glorious Hillbilly Hotdogs. If you're ever in the area, it is not to be missed. Previously, I posted about a postcard from ...

After leaving the town of Buckhannon, West Virginia then stopping at the tiny Randy Brown Memorial Chapel - I wound my way across the mountains down 219, across 250 and into the town of Monterey, Virginia. I've ridden this section of Route 250 quite a few times and it never ...

My love for the ghost ads of yesteryear is strong. While out and about in 2017, I saw some excellent examples: Mail Pouch Tobacco - Point Pleasant, West Virginia Mail Pouch Tobacco - Point Pleasant, West Virginia Mail Pouch Tobacco - Layton, New Jersey Mail Pouch Tobacco - Grafton, West ...

I don't have a unique method for finding oddball stuff. There is no special radar or a giant U-shaped magnet that draws me to it. But I do sit in front of a computer all day and I do mentally (and electronically) catalog things that interest me. Map pins aside, ...

While I was on my way to see the Snoopy barn in Nazareth, Pa. I happened to pass by this house with a great menagerie of critters in the front yard. If I had just one of these animals, I'd be happy. But to have them all? Man. Sadly I ...