There were a number of photos from my Route 2 trip that didn’t make it into the blog. I’m including some of them here, as a bonus feature. Enjoy!
Epping, ND (pop: 100). Practically a ghost town, the only businesses showing any signs of life were the post office and the bar…which are in the same building.Another Epping builidng.Speaking of bars: here’s one that’s getting a little long in the tooth, in Dodson, MT (pop: 125).The Welcome Wagon went all out.Barn near Waterville, WA, built in 1906. Dr. Pierce’s concoctions were well-known quack medicines.Cool, cut-metal sign at cemetery in Leavenworth, WA (the Bavarian town). This is one of the few signs that wasn’t all tarted up in faux-German script.Muffler man sculpture in Snohomish, WA.Similar idea, a thousand miles to the east. If I only had a heart…Concrete teepee that houses espresso shop, originally built in Browning, MT, on the Blackfeet reservation. It originally opened as a gas station in 1934.Supposedly a legit livestock feed store. But what’s up with the name??In front of a dentist’s office in Bonners Ferry, ID. I wonder if they use old-timey foot-operated drills?I just love the old UP steam locomotives. This one, from 1904, is in Reardan, WAThe one-room school house that NBC news anchor Chet Huntley attended in Saco, MT. Remember him?Old Carnegie library in Malta, MT. It was originally built in 1917.Mysterious metal sculptures in Glasgow, MT.More sculptures. It’s not obvious, but the “I saw it” sign is on an old saw blade. Get it?Eight-legged calf at a classy museum in Glasgow, MTHillside cemetery…with no hill.Meyer Township School in Rugby, ND. Originally built in 1897, and closed in 1959. And still standing!Big Fish Supper Club in Bena, Minnesota. I’m told it appears in the opening credits of National Lampoon’s Vacation. Built in 1957…back when this kind of thing was de rigueur. Now it’s a little–er–long in the tooth.1952-(ish) Studebaker Commander. If you can better identify the year/model, let me know!“Fabulous Kegs” drive-in in Grand Forks, ND, built in 1935. I’m told it was part of a chain.This “psycograph” requires a little explanation. The contraption, which to me looks like one of those hair dryers my mom sat under at the beauty shop, is supposed to automatically measure your intellect and other brain-related capacity–including “faults and virtues”– using the (now-discredited) principles of phrenology. It was patented in 1905 by Henry Lavery in Superior, Wis. I saw it in a museum in that same city. More info here.That’s all, Folks!
Chasing Phantoms 