277 Stuff Seen Along the Way (cont.).

This is my ALTERNATE title for posts focused on  “roadside pictures.”  It, like “Signs From the Road of Life,” can include signs, but this version, generally, tends to include more of a focus on various bits of “weird” stuff one encounters (or MIGHT encounter) while driving about the countryside, which MAY NOT be just signs.  It’s been a while since I had posted about that sort of thing, although I have done so before.  So, I decided to see what I could find on my hard drive to make up a post.  This is the result. 

I didn’t take this first picture, although I could have because I drove by it countless times (it always gave me a chuckle) on the road from Sylva to Waynesville in western North Carolina just on the Waynesville side of Balsam Gap.  I believe that the business is gone now, but I will probably always wonder if the owners ever really understood the humor(?) of the idea of a “Hemlock” nursing home, considering that, according to tradition, at least, Socrates committed suicide by drinking hemlock.  For those doubters among my readers, here is an actual picture of the sign.

See!  It really DOES (did) exist!

I didn’t take the next picture, either (actually I didn’t take any of these, I don’t think), but I’m reasonably certain that I have encountered extremely similar signs along interstates which were obviously put up to help support the local economy of wherever it was, but no business felt it worthwhile to pay whatever the fee was to advertise on it.  Somehow the idea of such a sign existing amuses me considerably.

I’ve encountered variations on the next sign several times in real life, but, since I’m often driving, I haven’t made a point of stopping to get a picture.  That meant I was quite pleased and happy that somebody actually did!

As one can see, this was shot in Tipton, Indiana, although I have actually seen similar signs in other places, as well.  I understand that it makes sense to combine a diner with a gas station, especially in a relatively small town (Tipton seems to be a not atypical rural Midwestern county seat with a population of 5-6000 located between Indianapolis and Kokomo).  It’s probably a nice place and I’ve driven through a “zillion” of them.  Still, the idea that one should “Eat Here & Get Gas” seems humorous, at least to me.

This next one is, actually, perfectly reasonable and proper.  It just amused me, probably because the town changed its name due to an old radio (remember radio?) show, which later became a TV show.  I mean, a place name is just a way of identifying a location and its population are entitled to call their “town” whatever they like.  Still, it amuses me that this little town in New Mexico chose THIS name, but that was their choice, and I say more power to ‘em.

As long as I’m picking on rural folks and the Great Plains, etc., I might as well include this variation on some “city slickers’” notion of what passes for a highway rest stop in non-urban areas.  I confess that I find it amusing, but I also wish to hasten to point out that (at least on the Interstates that I have tended to use) the “facilities” are substantially more “adequate” than this suggests, leading me to bet that this setup was created for the funny picture and has little, to no, bearing on reality.  Of course, I COULD be wrong…

Now the person who posted this next picture where I found it, claims that it was taken in North Carolina, although I have no way to authenticate that statement.  After all, mistakes CAN happen anywhere and there’s nothing that I can see to suggest that this came from any particular part of the country.  One can see, if one thinks about it, understand how easy it would be to make a similar mistake, if one were in a hurry.  It has been known to happen.

Just to make sure that I don’t get picked on for just making fun of rural people, I offer this example from a big city.  Now, I will admit that it’s highly likely that whoever is responsible of posting this in Boston intended for it to be both amusing and informative.  I found it both and had a good laugh when I first saw it.  One could suggest that it requires some familiarity with the stereotypical “Bahstan” accent, but it does show that even the staid New Englanders do, in fact, have something of a sense of humor.

On the other hand, this, next, sign demonstrates a kind of rural(?) naivety which many people associate with the mountains of the mid-south.  That area was, after all, where NASCAR began, and legend suggests that IT was, essentially, founded by “moonshine” runners who had developed ways not only of hiding quantities of “moonshine” in their cars, but of making what appeared to be “stock” automobiles go a lot faster than actual “street” models.  This, eventually, led to racing these “stock” cars, which are described in the movie Days of Thunder by a car builder saying something to the effect of “… there’s nothing stock about a stock car.”

In any case, I would question the person who put up this, final, sign as to whether, or not, he really felt it would be a wise and effective way to advertise his "moonshine" business.  I have my doubts….

I’ll be back!

🖖🏼 LLAP,

Dr. B