Drawn the Road Again

Category: Weirdo

  • U.F. Uh-Oh

    U.F. Uh-Oh

    When the Tailor and I drove to Texas last year, we planned our return route around my decades-long desire to visit Roswell, NM. I was so excited to see what kind of alien-themed kitsch would be waiting for me that I banned myself from looking online to see exactly what was there. I just didn’t…

  • Heaven and Hells

    Heaven and Hells

    I never pass up a chance to visit my friends Sarah and Jesse. Not only are they some of my favorite people on the planet, but they also happen to live in one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco: Dogpatch. (How could I not love a place where my friends live on the same…

  • Chicken Little

    Chicken Little

    Of all the “world’s largest” giant fiberglass animals out there, this isn’t exactly one people make cross-country pilgrimages to see. Yet for some reason, it’s one of my all-time favorites. Actually, I think it’s because with the help of the surrounding landscape, this chicken would make for one hilarious monster B-movie. If only Ed Wood…

  • Culture clash

    Culture clash

    You know, I stopped to sketch this guy (and suffered my least favorite sound in the world) because the bizarre combination of Scots and Salish is exactly the kind of melting-pot absurdity that I love. But then afterward, it occurred to me that if I had to pick just one sketch to sum up Victoria’s…

  • Head table

    Head table

    Well, I wouldn’t recommend this place to a vegan, but if you like Wild West kitsch (or you use antlers in all of your decorating), this is the place for you. The Buckhorn Exchange is the oldest restaurant in Denver: it holds liquor license number one! It has served dinner to both Teddy and Franklin…

  • Speechless

    Speechless

    There really are no words for this one—except that ever since I saw this sign, I’ve found ways to work in the term “ho-made” to as many things as possible. Comedic gold. As an aside, I didn’t sketch it, but just a few blocks away is a bait shop that sells wine and spirits. Read…

  • Towering guilt

    Towering guilt

    You know, if you think about it, a place that lets you pay money to drive your car through a hole cut into a centuries-old living redwood tree is kind of the perfect illustration of the bad side of American culture. The first time I was (literally) in this neck of the woods, the guilt…

  • Four corners

    Four corners

    The Tailor and I make for an odd pair on a road trip. I’m likely to put enormous thought into the road tunes, to cue up the exact perfect song to play as we pass through certain landscapes (I am also usually the only one who notices or cares, no matter who’s with me on…

  • Where the Heck?

    Where the Heck?

    I was born 50 miles west of Wall Drug. True story. I think, therefore, that my undying love of roadside attractions is imprinted on the genetic level. Even if you don’t have this place in your DNA, it’s pretty hard not to be curious about something hawked by a hundred billboards as you drive through…

  • Have sketchbook, will travel

    Have sketchbook, will travel

    You know when you’re on a road trip, and you see a highway billboard that says something like, “World’s Largest Two-Headed Calf, Exit Now!” and you consider stopping, just for a moment? And then your spouse looks it up on the map, and you discover that yeah, it’s this exit, plus maybe another 140 miles…