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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

629 National Parks Highway - Ghost Signs


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The National Parks Highway Expedition - Puget Sound to Great Lakes has been launched. Actually, I drove to Spokane today where I plan to pick the story up from a year ago, and I didn't follow the NPH all the way...so this is a mixture of National Parks Highway and old US10.

 

I drove from Olympia to Cle Elum non stop. I picked up the National Parks Highway (and the Yellowstone Trail) at the Denny Creek turn off of interstate 90, and followed it over Snoqualmie Pass. Mainly I was interested in reassuring myself that the old Yellowstone Trail sign was still safe. It is a couple of miles below the summit, and still happily pointing the way as it has for almost a century!

 

ARYTArrow.jpg

 

I drove on to Cle Elum to talk with Pat, the lady who has the 1909 letter from the fellow in the race to Seattle. She was pleased to know that I was also doing some photographs of Ghost Sign Art because she had some photos she had taken years ago, and she wanted to share them. So I agreed to come back through Cle Elum on my way back in a few weeks and see her photos and look at the letter.

 

She and another woman answered an important question for me. The 1917 National Parks Highway Motorists Service Guide identified recommended hotels and garages on the route. One of my objectives on this expedition is to photograph all the recommended hotels along the National Parks Highway that are still standing. Many are still in business. Of course many are not. Some have burned down or been razed, as is the case with the Reed and the Traveller's in Cle Elum, but the Burcham's still stands, serving new purposes. My newfound Cle Elum friends guided me right to it.

 

ARBurchamsCleElum.jpg

 

 

Across the street from the store where Pat works (which by the way is the old Studebaker Garage) is a piazza parlor with some Ghost Sign Art. I took a couple of photos, and darkened down the image at the top. What go's farther???? And the motorcycle cop and motorist are a kick.

 

ARUsedCarsCleElum.jpg

 

 

ARDarkCleElumSign.jpg

 

 

I suggest we start a Ghost Sign collection!!

 

I drove down to South Cle Elum and photographed the Milwaukee railroad \depot and power station (they used king size electric trains). A dilapidated old Studebaker sat outside a residence and I took a couple of photos. Like so often, the owner came out for a chat....bringing me some smoked fish. Nice old guy...older than me...but I wasn't in the mood for fish. He said he had another Studebaker in the garage, and that he should be working on it...but he was going fishing.

 

I declined go over Blewitts Pass and through Waterville as I have documented that segment pretty well already, and so has Eric (Sit Properly). And I figure I can get there in a half day, so I will spend my time and money now getting to where I can't normally reach. Bottom line is that I took old US10 into Ellensburg, and was delighted at several roadside artifacts. The Mobil Station was terrific, and the adjoining Red Horse Cafe is a must visit.

 

AREllensburgMobile.jpg

 

The station was complete down to a coke machine. I pulled into the pump island, but the attendant never showed up to pump me some 26 cent ethyl. Wouldn't you know it!

I drove past a drive in hamburger stand from the 50's, and grabbed a shot of the Lighthouse Motel sign. Why Lighthouse in the middle of the state? But a great sign, and a neat looking mom and pop motel. Another place to visit on a day or two outing from home.

 

AREllensburgPump.jpg

 

 

AREllensburgLighthouseMotel.jpg

 

Sorry I'm out of time....more tomorrow as I head for Missoula and beyond.

 

Dave

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Good stuff! I think Lighthouse Motels are an unofficial chain like Irish Pubs. I recently passed a Lighthouse Motel in either Illinois or Indiana and I'm confident that there are Irish Pubs near Wisconsin dairy farms.

 

Did you ever figure out what "Goes Farther"?

 

Be careful in Missoula. That's where Jimmy Buffett says the surgeons meet once a year "...and get drunk on Tuborg beer".

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Jim,

 

OK, here are the pictures you asked for!

 

Alex,

 

My guess is that in a week or so, more will be “too much.”

 

Denny,

 

I suppose Lighthouse is like Sands or Dunes. But I have no idea what “go;s farther.”

 

Buffett seems to be following me, first Cedar Key, and now Missoula, I’ll have to download that piece for the radio!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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But I have no idea what “go;s farther.”

Apparently, Signal Gasoline goes farther. "It takes extra quality to go farther -- Signal Gasoline". Here is a picture where you can see the sign intact.

 

And here on one of their pumps you can see their "Go Farther" slogan using the same font as the ghost sign:

 

sig20.JPG

 

Chris

Edited by Chris Rowland
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