The day started off promising enough in Bartlesville. I waited about an hour after sunrise and the sun came out. Beautiful. Hardly a cloud in the sky. But that was short-lived. By the time I got to Tulsa, the clouds got thicker. By afternoon, hardly any light penetrating and another big whopper of a thunderstorm around 5pm that ended today’s shooting. Damn. So while I shot loads of things on my list, I’m not satisfied since there are no blue backgrounds or pop & shadow from sunlight. So I haven’t even tossed those maps with the hopes that things will improve and I’ll shoot all those things, seems like hundreds of places, all. over. again. I keep hearing rumors of Thursday being nice.
As if the weather wasn’t a bummer enough, I totally demolished my driver’s side mirror. That has really rattled my nerves and put me in a funk. Sparkle has pretty big and expensive mirrors. I know from getting them creamed by hit & runner in NYC. About $200 for them. I’ve learned to always fold them in after parking. But this time, it was me. While I was carefully backing up from a tight spot and trying not to hit the car behind me, I didn’t notice the pole next to me and just massacred the mirror. Not just breaking the glass but the whole plastic everything just broke. So it sort of made me extra on edge, how just little things can completely wreck your car, your trip. And I can just barely drive without checking that mirror. Crazy Tulsa traffic and I need to be making quick decisions, U-turns, etc. So… I’m thinking if the weather is crappy tomorrow, I’ve GOT to get this taken care of first thing. I’ve got my goal set on a Chevy dealer in town that opens at 7 am.
Lots of fun grassy spots for the dogs today. It was only in the 70s so we didn’t need rivers or lakes. Even when Nik was running hard, there were still lots of puddles from all the rain we’ve been having. I left the driver’s door open for a second today in a parking lot and Grem hopped out. Instead of bolting like she would have a year ago, she just stood there like “oops, I probably shouldn’t be out here”. And instead of panic-ing and yelling at her like I would have a year ago, I just calmly faked like I had a treat between my fingers and picked her up — and immediately gave her cheese galore in the van. Whew! I’m very careful where I let her run — anywhere near a road with her is VERY dangerous.
OK – a slew of photos. Of course you’re only seeing the decent ones here and at Flickr tonight. Lots of grey monotones. I think it was especially rough emotionally because I was all happy in Bartlesville, only to be let down again. Instead of A photos, I’m stuck with lots of B- and C- photos.
As promised, here’s a photo of the six sodas that I picked up back at POPS in Arcadia:
I noticed this one in Bartlesville — and a couple of others in Tulsa. So I guess they must be everywhere. They’re like a half-sized Arby’s hat. So I guess they are still producing them since these were all at modern looking buildings. This one in Bartlesville I saw last night as well and the animation / chasing bulbs was all working just like the bigger, old signs:
More from Bartlesville. I don’t think I’ve shown any vitrolite storefronts on this trip yet — so here’s one. Must’ve been a jeweler’s originally. The color is like a light salmon — don’t know that this photo shows that very well:
Moving on to Nowata. This place now operating as Burns Propane but they’ve left the sign alone:
These signs are at Cotton-Eye Joe’s Barbeque in Claremore. I don’t know how vintage, or not, they are. I’m thinking 1970s or newer:
And now in Tulsa for the remainder of this post. The Greater Union Baptist Church. Looks pretty 1960s or 1970s. But a confusing plaque said something about 1986.
A couple of next-door-neighbor signs:
These might disappear when a new tenant is found. Carpet City is gone:
I don’t know what to make of this one. Had to have been some sort of restaurant, right? I don’t recognize that steeple or roof at all. Anybody?
For Stu-Jo back in San Antonio — this one’s for you — and for anyone else listening in carefully enough to wonder about these dormer window stations. I don’t know what oil company built these:
I don’t know what supermarket used this sign originally. There was a vacant Piggly Wiggly next to this sign. It looks clean enough that hopefully the next business will reuse it instead of replacing it:
This one’s sure been tampered with a lot over the years. Like a woman with too much plastic surgery. Time to strip this one down and repaint & re-neon. Do people still have VCRs these days?
I remember when (just a few years ago) this place was still a Tastee-Freez. Now that it’s a used car lot, the ice cream piece just seems silly.
and the building painted black as if in mourning. This is not the proper fate for an ice cream place:
This one needs an overhaul:
This was previously American Cleaners — at least they’ve kept the sign & brick glass. Wish I had a better photo of what the sign looked like originally:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11311958@N06/3641713034/
OK — enough depressing signs and me ranting about crappy weather. Here’s the kids — obligatory photo-op with the Golden Driller. They look so different from 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/110480165/
Didn’t have Gremlin yet, Grippie had her svelte summer coat then (she still has her thick winter coat now), Fixie not so grumpy then & Nik always squinty & serious. Now he’s just a complete nutjob.
So if the weather is crappy, maybe I won’t take ANY photos at all tomorrow. I’ll just sit somewhere and pout and spare you even a posting. No, I’ll check in regardless. And try to be upbeat. But it damn well better be pretty on Thursday!
RoadArch.com companion 