I’ve decided to go with this batch of wintry goodness: a November, 2008 trip to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
It was a dark and snowy night…
Don’t eat the orange snow. Distant municipal lights provide the mushroom-cloud effect. I took this picture by the side of US-45 in Michigan.
The US-41 bridge in Houghton, Michigan.
Oh, nothing to see here, just the last embossed cutout US shield in the wild. Both that and the M-203 date back to the 1930s, and have definitely been repainted several times.
The oldest shield in Wisconsin, complete with old-style CITY banner. This one, and one just like it further down the same road, date back to about 1958.
Sunrise on the third day, along US-51 in Wisconsin.
Somewhere over the midwest.
State-named shields in Minnesota are getting harder and harder to find.
Passing by the airport on our way out of town.
Wisconsin is not known for paying much attention to shield shape. This one is correctly identified as US-8, yet it appears in the triangle-and-rounded-rectangle state route outline. The “US” dates the sign to the 1970s.
Just several intersections away is this 1962-spec US-8 shield! Good old Barron County, which figures that if the sign was good enough for Kennedy, it’s good enough for you and me.
This is what a correct 1970s US-8 shield looks like.
This one? Not so much.
You guessed it – we’ve reached US-45.
Leave it to the moose to get it right.
The very last county road before the Michigan state line features this very old county route marker, made to a 1950s standard.
The very first reassurance marker features Michigan’s custom font.
We’re in nimrod country.
Snow-covered trees in the high beams.
Another view of the bridge in Houghton.
Grain elevator at sunrise.
Highway 41 heading into the sun.
Well, so much for getting drunk while getting clean.
An old embossed county marker still stands here.
Close-up of the old shield.
We’re back in Wisconsin now, and find this oddly-fonted assembly.
A somewhat older US-141 shield.
State-named I-43 shields float around, but aren’t all that easy to find. This assembly dates back to 1987.
I have no idea who is responsible for this one.
Here we go again mixing up state and US routes.
Somewhere just south of Green Bay.
This gantry is on the road coming off the US-10 ferry at Manitowoc.
Heading into sunset on US-10.
What’s hidden in that tree?
This classic shield is in Sheboygan.
Can’t all be winners.
Here is why we can’t find a state-named I-39 shield in Wisconsin: all the old trailblazers predate the number! Only I-90 trailblazers exist buried in towns.
What does Wisconsin seem to do a lot?
The other old US-14 shield.
Apparently, squirrels come in black outside of Washington, DC.
Squirrels, guide signs …
The state route shields with “WIS” date back to between 1962 and, officially 1982, though new ones still pop up on occasion.
Outline shield and inverse shield on the same gantry.
The only older style US-10 shield I found.
Two blocks over, we get this one.
The rustic route system follows everything from state highways down to goat paths.
One last state-named shield before the airport.
That’s all, folks!