The Billboard & Other Signs

Billboards abound along the route from Kentucky through Missouri in a profusion I haven't seen since traveling through the South in my youth.  Offering spectacular caves, motels, nuts & candy, Indian blankets and pottery, and redemption, they appear at regular intervals, usually counting down the miles until you arrive, with a big billboard telling drivers where to exit and one following the exit, telling them to turn around! Stuckey's, a store I used to stop at in the late 50s going south, began to appear, advertising food, candy, souvenirs, and the like. I told Michael I had to stop for nostalgia's sake, but it ended up being just once because the Stuckey's of the 21st century was a different experience: gas pumps outside, a few tacky souvenirs, auto parts, and a small grill inside were its main features.

Its relative, the truck stop, figures large in those parts, giant convenience stores with huge parking areas, gas pumps, restrooms, hot and cold fast food, soda and coffee machines, t-shirts, local memorabilia, and....showers!  One spot advertised six showers that one could reserve, and when we were there, an announcement told of the availability of one that was free. Eighteen wheelers abound on this route, which offers few other pit stops or chain restaurants, and the truckers travel long distances, sometimes with dogs, spouses, and occasionally with children. My favorite--viewed only from the highway--was the Jesus-is-Lord-Truck Stop. A few more exits along the way, we saw an 18-wheeler with the same name emblazoned on its side. 

An increasing emphasis on religion, particularly Christian religion, was apparent everywhere.  My favorite billboard on that topic read "Eternal Rest--Exit Now!" Other billboards would sport Bible quotations and warnings about sinful behavior and its consequences, and souvenirs with Christian themes and icons were offered in the truck stops. Another shift from what we see in the East was the prevalence of ads related to farm animals, fireworks, and guns. Mention of stockyards, horses and cattle for sale, and the Happy Horse Motel were a few of my favorites, the latter being a kennel-like stable for horses to be  bedded while their owners were away.  I also spotted The Rifleman Pawn Shop and multiple Guns & Ammo stores, and a couple of other amusing signs: one called Truck Wash, and the other the Stuff It Taxidermy Store. I fully expected to see Burma Shave signs, those famous rhyming and punning adages that used to grace the roads of the south, but they, like the product itself, have disappeared.