Trip Report – Southern Illinois… Give Them a Break..

I have several interesting posts to do on my just completed micro-RV trip into southern Illinois. As usual I managed to avoid interstate highways for  all but four miles of the 700+ adventure.  Anyone even vaguely familiar with Illinois know that the vast majority of the state’s population resides in the extreme northeast around Chicago. I can hereby attest that there are almost no people in the southern half of the state!  OK, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit but only a little. I must have gone through 100 small towns during my two day visit. Almost none of them had … Continue reading Trip Report – Southern Illinois… Give Them a Break..

U.S. Reveals Death Toll From Airstrikes

President Bush’s use of drones and elevated them to an extreme level. We are told that the innocent lost of life because of these drone strikes are one of the primary reasons so many hate us in that part of the world.  They strike so quietly and devastatingly to strike terror into innocent citizens of those Middle East countries. Yes, we are known by some as terrorists in that part of the world. If only we could have admitted our mistakes as soon as they happened we might be in a very different place in our world.  But given the … Continue reading U.S. Reveals Death Toll From Airstrikes

Diner/Gas Station from the Past…

In the old days, during my college years that is, State Road 52 was the main route between Indianapolis and Lafayette Indiana. I know I traveled it several times going back and forth to Purdue. Since gas mileage was so poor back then it had many gas stations and such along the route. I recently took a trip that included that section of highway and came across this past gas station/diner combination that has probably been abandoned for years now. (click on any picture to see a larger slideshow) I’m sure it was open during my college years but I … Continue reading Diner/Gas Station from the Past…

Facades

One of my recently discovered passions is to document the facades of small town America before they crumble into the dust of history.  This one was found on the main street of New Harmony Indiana on a trip there this week.  I have always been fascinated about facades but this discovery will cause me to start collecting them from my archives and adding more on my frequent road trips around the Midwest. Continue reading Facades

Rust Belt

Rust Belt is a appropriate term used to describe the once thriving mill towns of the Midwest. As Wikipedia says: The Rust Belt is a term for the region straddling the upper Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest States, referring to economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once powerful industrial sector… Pittsburgh is perhaps the epitome of that term.  During my youth and beyond they were simply know as the “Steel Town”. They like many others in the area are gradually becoming a more diverse economy but Pittsburgh in particular … Continue reading Rust Belt

Reflections, Doors, Windows & More

   I discovered something very basic about me recently. I am obsessed with reflection, doors, windows and other such things.  I now have a photo portfolio that exceeds 18,000 pictures and many of them are of this genre.  As above, I love to take my photo editing tools and create something that wasn’t quite there. The picture above was taken in Ottawa Canada about 5 years ago. Continue reading Reflections, Doors, Windows & More