Drawn the Road Again

Author: Chandler O’Leary

  • Front Range from the front seat

    Front Range from the front seat

    There are some roads I have traveled so often that I have permanently etched into my memory every landmark, every sign, every single geographical feature along the way. The seventy miles between Colorado Springs and Denver is one of those stretches. When I was a kid, I knew exactly how far we were from our…

  • Perfect panorama

    Perfect panorama

    For the many days of the year, these mountains are invisible. If you showed up in western Washington in November, you might not even know we had mountains here. Our rainy Northwest climate makes these peaks disappear into the clouds on most days—even, sometimes, when you’re right there, standing amongst them. Not in the summertime,…

  • Stones and subdivisions

    Stones and subdivisions

    The very same day the Tailor and I breezed by a sign painter’s version of a petroglyph, we also got to see the real thing, up close. Of course, they were beautiful and fascinating—but what really got me was the fact that the remnants of an ancient pueblo civilization were perched above a modern suburban…

  • Sanserif petroglyphs

    Sanserif petroglyphs

    Now, I’m already going to be on the look-out for interesting signs or bizarre billboards when I’m on the road—but I have to admit, this is pretty good way to get my attention.

  • Quick Draw McGraw

    Quick Draw McGraw

    What can I say? Sign says “Draw,” I reach for my pen. Save

  • Serial signage

    Serial signage

    I’ve driven across Kansas enough times that these signs (which are repeated several times along the road, reminiscent of Wall Drug ads) have become like old friends. I haven’t yet succumbed to the temptation to pay six bucks to see any five-legged steers, but that’s okay—that’s not why I like these so much. They remind…

  • Buggy ride

    Buggy ride

    Now, commuting by cowboy hearse or by dinghy might seem a little unusual to us, but for some people, just a family station wagon would be downright outlandish… This sketch was a complete—and happy—accident. The Tailor and I happened to pass through Amish country on a Sunday, so I figured nobody would be out and…

  • Water taxi

    Water taxi

    Now, Texas might be home to an outlandish vehicle or two, it’s true, but at least it was in keeping with the whole Texas theme. In Nova Scotia’s fishing villages, you’re more likely to see boats “parked” behind houses than cars. Since it took me three times as long to drive to this spot as…

  • The “steer” in steering wheel

    The “steer” in steering wheel

    If I saw this big boat sailing through Seattle rush hour traffic, it would completely make my day—gridlock or no. I guess it’s sort of a moot point for me, since I work from home, but if I had any sort of morning commute at all, I could totally see myself rockin’ it with this…

  • Perennial pagoda

    Perennial pagoda

    This Sunday my town is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the pagoda at Point Defiance Park. Originally a streetcar station, the building features an Arts & Crafts design, Japanese-style roof and Welsh ceramic roof tiles. A teenage arsonist nearly destroyed the structure in 2011, but the subsequent restoration brought back several of the original features…