Everywhere a Sign – Some R Signs From 2018 #AtoZChallenge

Road trips can be redundant. Road trips can be real fun. Rarely is there anything dull along the way. Visit a small town on a back road and you will find something. Here are some R signs, including a collection of Roxy Theaters and Restroom signs…yes, some potty humor.  Enjoy the Read. Enjoy the Ride.

 

 

Rustic Rose Mercantile, Evant , Texas

Rustic Rose Mercantile, Evant, Texas

Don’t know a thing about this place, but sure love the sign.  Evant, Texas is a small community at the intersection of US Highway 281 and US Highway 84. I drove through here on my way from Lampassas to Hamilton.

Rover, Arkansas

Rover, Arkansas Post Office

Rover, Arkansas is a small place on Arkansas Highways 27 and 28 on the border of the Ouachita National Forest. Just a quick photo stop for me.

Red Light Garage Antiques and Restaurant, Wallace, Idaho

Red Light Garage Antiques and Restaurant, Wallace, Idaho
Red Light Garage, Wallace, Idaho

I spent the night in Wallace, Idaho on a snowy April evening.  Beautiful little town off of Interstate 90 between Missoula, Montana and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  It is one of those places I would love to have an extended visit to.  I got in late and so this restaurant was closed.  Maybe next time.

Rayne, Louisiana

Rayne, Louisiana — Frog Capital of the World

Rayne, Louisiana has laid claim to be the moniker of “Frog Capital of the World.”  To celebrate that, they have dozens of small frogs at store fronts around the town.  There are over a dozen frog-themed murals all over town as well. A fun little place.

Rayne is located off of Interstate 10 or US Highway 90 between Lake Charles and Lafayette.

Rusty Rooster, Elmore City, Oklahoma

Rusty Rooster Resale Shop, Elmore City, Oklahoma

On our way home from Texas in April 2018, we drive through Duncan, Oklahoma and then took US Highway 81 north to Marlow and then east on OK Highway 29, where we passed through Elmore City.  Loved the building that we saw there.  This is one of the reasons I always go through small towns on back roads.

Ronald Reagan Trail, Sparland, Illinois

Ronald Reagan Trail, Sparland, Illinois

I always enjoy taking labeled scenic highways and “trails.”  In early April 2018 I drove to Washington State and passed through Illinois along the Illinois River Road, which, at least in Sparland, Illinois included the Ronald Reagan Trail. The trail runs from Reagan’s ancestral home in Fulton, Illinois along the Mississippi River, where both of his parents came from, to his own birthplace in Tampico, Illinois, where one can still visit the apartment on the town strip where he was born. The Reagan Trail includes his boyhood home of Dixon, his birthplace in Tampico, his homes in Galesburg and Monmouth and the place which helped make him into a leader, Eureka College.  I took Illinois 29 north through Hopewell and Henry and followed the trail there a bit.

Roxy Theater Marquees – All Over the Place

Roxy Theater , Franklin, Kentucky
Roxy, Lexington, Kentucky
Roxy Theater, Ottawa, Illinois
New Roxy in Clarksdale, MS
Roxy Theatre in Choteau, Montana
Roxy Theatre in Langdon, ND
The Roxy Theater in Shelby, Montana

There are many theaters named Roxy dotting small towns and big towns across America.  Some of these above I have found (some were actually in 2017 travels as well).

What I didn’t know until this post, was that the name “Roxy” comes from the famed American dance/theatre/vaudeville and cinema entrepreneur Samuel L. Rothapfel, whose nickname was “Roxy.” It was Roxy that was responsible for the great appeal of spectacular movie palaces.   His philosophy:

Giving the people what they want is fundamentally and disastrously wrong. The people don’t know what they want. They want to be entertained, that’s all. Don’t give the people what they want–give ’em something better.

Roxy is also the man who created the Radio City Music Hall.  So, next time you go to a great old grand movie theater, think about Roxy!

Restrooms on the Road – A fun look at some of the places

When you are on a long road trip, face it, you gotta go.  Many places take advantage of this by creating an interesting “going experience.”  I keep my iPhone with me at all times just in case.  Here are a few that I came across over the past year.  Go with me on this potty adventure…and don’t forget to wash your hands!  And yes, I do take Selfies in the Restrooms.

I don’t care… I do take selfies in the bathroom sometimes.
King Cotton Restroom, Cotton Gin Cafe, Prosper, Texas
Men’s Room at Uranus Fudge Factory, Uranus, Missouri
Staff Must Wash Hands, Uranus, Missouri

I personally get a kick out of signs that say Employees Must Wash Hands

Employees Must Wash Hands – can’t remember where this was
Wash Hands, Hurts Donut in Katy, Texas
Another one. Can’t remember where
Yet another one…and they NEVER come in and wash my hands!!
Restrooms Sign, Star Pizza, Houston, Texas
Just one more…
Boys Restroom , Nan’s New Orleans Cafe and Po’ Boys, Mandeville, Louisiana
Sign at a gas station in Davenport, Washington
Sign in the same Davenport Gas Station, inside the restroom
Toilet Sign at the DFW Elite Toy Museum, Haltom City, Texas
Virol Sign above urinals at The Spar Cafe in Olympia, Washington

VIROL was a brown, sweet and incredibly sticky Malt Extract that was pushed as a potion for good health in the 1920s.

Sprinkle Tinkle sign in a restroom in Ola, Oklahoma
Outhouse with a toilet planter in Frenchglen, Oregon. Funny how they don’t have a flushing toilet…  And there is a “Public Restroom” sign on the door
The Sign to the Bathroom at Sunshine General Store, Brookeville, Maryland (Actually visited in 2019)
Men’s Room Door at a gas station in Ashland, Montana
Don’t Flush sign at Sunset Motel (where I stayed one night), Belle Fourche, South Dakota
Sign on a Convenience Store door in Ferdinand, Indiana. Not technically a bathroom sign, but it kinda fits the theme!!
WooHoo… I was considered a customer at the station in Davenport, Washington  Don’t think I can take that key with me.
You can hit a deer, but can’t hit the toilet… At a restroom in Ola, Oklahoma
Men’s Room at Sharkheads in Biloxi, Mississippi
Restroom Entrance at Sharkheads in Biloxi, Mississippi
Restroom Door at The Outpost, Fanning, Missouri

Well, you are probably feeling wiped out after seeing all of these.  I’ll quit here.

Like what you see? Well, there is lots more!  I currently have two books about offbeat and quirky places to take on your road trips. You can see both of my books at http://amzn.to/2ks6fQZ. Working on Book 3, coming in late Spring 2019!!

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