Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Ramblers Roost Truck Stop is on the corner of Lincoln Highway (County Road 418) and Baker Road (County Road 163) near the town of Middle Point in rural Van Wert County, Ohio.

The old truck stop's business has suffered since US-30 was rerouted from the old Lincoln Highway to a newly built freeway nearby.

 

[ChipMcD]

Ramblers Roost Truck Stop is on the corner of Lincoln Highway (County Road 418) and Baker Road (County Road 163) near the town of Middle Point in rural Van Wert County, Ohio.

The old truck stop's business has suffered since US-30 was rerouted from the old Lincoln Highway to a newly built freeway nearby.

This is going to be a much less interesting country after these once highly useful relics of the early-to-middle years of our open road, internal combustion driven culture are gone. But maybe in 70 years they'll be taking pictures of the last Starbucks as the nostalgia du jour.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is going to be a much less interesting country after these once highly useful relics of the early-to-middle years of our open road, internal combustion driven culture are gone. But maybe in 70 years they'll be taking pictures of the last Starbucks as the nostalgia du jour.

I agree.


Trucks stops still exist, but most of them now are part of big chains. They're bigger, cleaner, nicer looking...but they're all the same and they lack personality. There aren't many like Ramblers Roost still around, and their days seem numbered.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This newspaper machine selling the Van Wert Times Bulletin stands in front of the post office in the small town of Convoy, Ohio. Convoy is located in Van Wert County, about 7 miles northwest of the town of Van Wert.

The sign on the newspaper machine says: "If you're reading this, print's not dead. Subscribe to the Times Bulletin Today."

I found it amusing that the lead story on the front page is about the first baby born in Van Wert's hospital in 2019. In the big city I live in, the headlines are more likely to concern the city's latest murder!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I was saddened to learn a few minutes ago that my high school photography and art teacher, Don Goss, passed away today.

Mr. Goss taught at Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne for 56 years, retiring only because the school was closed in 2010. He was himself an Elmhurst graduate!

I had been interested in photography since I was young, but Mr. Goss encouraged me to go to art school and make it my life's work. I was just one of many of his students who went on to become professional artists, and many of us kept in touch with him over the years. Peter and David Turnley took photography from him back in the 1970s.

This is a photograph that I made of him way back in 1994, when I was a senior in high school. I snapped it while he was lecturing during class one afternoon.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This old boarded-up storefront is on the corner of Central Avenue and 28th Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.

All of the building's windows have large blue insects painted on the wood covering them!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This little yellow brick building is on Tully Street, just west of Main Street, in the small town of Convoy, Ohio. The bench in front of the building has a sign with the Lions Club logo.

It is a beautiful building. It is unfortunate that the decorations on the top of the facade is broken.

Convoy is located in Van Wert County, about 7 miles northwest of the town of Van Wert.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This tree stump was in my front yard in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it Monday morning with frost covering the grass and tiny clumps of white snow sprinkled over the top of the stump.


The sun had come out, and the frost lasted just a few more minutes after I made this photograph!


The tree was cut down in November, 2018 because it was growing in the power lines. The electric company promised to have the stump removed, but it took months before that happened. The day after I made this photograph, they came and removed the stump!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This scene is on the west side of US-33, just north of McDuffee Road in the northwest corner of Allen County, Indiana.

It is the first of several photographs that I made of the sunset here last Wednesday evening.

 

[Paulbe]

Chris---nice photo! Looks like the trees are on fire... 🙂
Thanks!
Paul

 

[ChipMcD]

Chris,

You have a gift for discerning the beautiful in your environment.

Chip

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's the second photograph of the sunset that I made last Wednesday evening (3-13-19). This one was done just 45 minutes after the first one that I posted here yesterday, but the sky had changed dramatically!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This little building was originally a small storefront, but someone lives in it, now. The sign in the front window says: "Elvis. The King Lives On."

It is on Main Street (State Road 105) in the small town of Andrews, Indiana.

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

This is a photograph that I made of him way back in 1994, when I was a senior in high school. I snapped it while he was lecturing during class one afternoon.

That's a beautiful portrait, thanks for sharing

 

[helen.HH]

Great set of Images and stories on this page Chris .

Sorry to hear of Mr Goss’ passing... RIP

 

[webOSUser]

I always enjoy your photos and the stories that you include.
My condolences for Mr Goss's passing.

Steve W

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

That's a beautiful portrait, thanks for sharing

Great set of Images and stories on this page Chris .

Sorry to hear of Mr Goss’ passing... RIP

I always enjoy your photos and the stories that you include.
My condolences for Mr Goss's passing.

Steve W

Thanks Nick, Helen, and Steve. Mr. Goss was such a big inspiration for so many artists here.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Another abstract photograph of the sky, made a couple weeks ago in rural Allen County, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Sherlock is one of the two resident cats at Hyde Brothers Books in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I made this photograph of him two weeks ago.

He is quite fat because he spends most of his time lounging and eating. He's not very sociable, and gets annoyed with me for photographing him. I think he has gotten fatter since the last time that I photographed him, though the store's staff insists that he is losing weight!

A few months before I made this photograph of him, I was shopping at Hyde Brothers when Sherlock walked past me. I said to him; "Hey fatty, did you catch any mice today?" The woman working there got upset with me for calling him "Fatty." The cat looked annoyed by the question, so I said; "Would you like me better if I brought you some meat?" The clerk then jumps in and said; "Oh no, PLEASE DON'T FEED HIM. He's so fat already and we are trying so hard to make him lose weight!" I found that amusing, since she had just told me not to call him Fatty!

Hyde Brothers is an incredible locally-owned used book store on Wells Street in Fort Wayne. As long as I can remember, they've always had at least one cat in residence.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A few minutes after I made the photograph in my last post, I went to the book store's basement (it is full of books, too!). When I was coming back up the stairs, Sherlock was up there watching me!