Pink Motel

The Pink Motel, classic neon motel sign, in Cherokee, North Carolina

How We Travel On The Cheap

   We try to go on one big road trip each summer. It hasn't always been possible but we at least go somewhere, even if it's only to the Smoky Mountains(three hours away). I thought I would answer some questions about the basics of how we do this as cheaply as possible. I have always been a penny-pincher and there was no way I was going to let my love of road trips take up too much of our budget. 

Signs, Everywhere Signs, Old Motel Signs

Another "sign" that I was born in the wrong decade(or perhaps have intense feelings from past lives), is the feeling I get when seeing old motel signs. There almost isn't anything that evokes life on the road quite like a kitschy and googie architectured motel sign. The giant arrows, "vacancy" neon, and bright colors-all now fading into nothingness. The old "motor hotels" along Route 66, Dixie Highway and other roads that were the interstate before the interstate. There aren't many left so I try to get snapshots when I can. New motel/hotel signs are so boring now. 

Give me the past anyday.

Etowah Motel in Etowah, Tennessee. I've been told it's gone now.

Scenic Motel, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

411 Motel, Maryville, Tennessee

Tuckaleechee Village, Townsend, Tennessee

Canal Motel, Old Route 66, Chain of Rocks, Illinois

Bel-Aire Manor Motel, Old Route 66 Springfield, Illinois

Overton Motel, Livingston, Tennessee

Sands Motel, Van Horn, Texas

Bridgeway Motel, Smithville, Tennessee

Ragland Motel, Indian Mound, Tennessee

Along Kentucky Back Roads

Broadbent B&B Foods factory building near Cadiz. Reported to have been built in the 1940s by World War II Austrian prisoners of war from a nearby camp. Unique architecture. The company recently moved and the building is empty.

More from Kentucky after the jump...