Ohio's last Superior bus

Superior was a manufacturer name commonly seen on school buses up until the early 80s.  Superior Body Company (later Superior Coach Company) began building buses, among other vehicles, as early as the 1920s.  Sheller-Globe acquired Superior in the late 60s.  On April 1, 1977, new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were rolled out for school buses, which increased manufacturing costs.  Add to that the fact that districts across the US were buying fewer buses and the fact that there were at least 5 other major manufacturers who were also building school buses, the company was faced with lower profits.  By 1980 or 1981, Sheller-Globe liquidated Superior buses.  Superior as we knew it was basically dead.  The name was revived by another company a few years later, but their buses were nothing like the classic Superiors.

School buses typically have a service life of somewhere around 15 years, but it wasn't uncommon for the older buses being in service for up to 20 years, even in Ohio's climate.  That all depends on quality and maintenance of the buses.

By about 2006, there were still 4 of these buses running around Ohio, owned by a district for the purpose of transporting school students (I am not counting buses owned by collectors or for non-school use).  Kenton Schools had two, Hubbard had one, and Apollo Career Center had one.

Then around 2009, Kenton City Schools retired a 1972 model (37 years old!).  Sometime in 2014, Hubbard Public Schools retired a 1976 (38 years old) and in early 2015, Kenton retired their other Superior, a 1980.  As of February 2015, there was one Superior left in Ohio operating as a school bus.

In September 2015, I got a text from one of my buddies:

"The 1976 IHC Superior in Lima has been retired"

That's it.  No more Superiors.  To be fair, 39 years was a good run.  Here's a look at Ohio's last Superior school bus with photos taken in 2009.

This bus had many of the features I remember on a few buses I rode to school.  When I started in the 1980s, my district still had a handful of Superiors around.  I miss the red-only warning lights that made the "tick-tock" sound as they flashed, along with Superior's fiber-optic light monitor.  It was somewhat crude, yet ahead of its time.  Another one of my favorite features of this bus is the BACKING sign.  They fell out of favor within the last 10-20 years due to maintenance and rust issues; many districts that had them opted to remove them altogether.

Let's step inside:

A couple of my other vintage bus memories include the stanchions rather than the commonly-seen barriers in front of the front seats, and the marble-style flooring (which might still be available, but very few operators get it):

(Superior info source: Wikipedia)

Wayfara/Ludy's, Wolcott, Indiana

This post's beginning originated on the same chilly November evening in 2014 as the abandoned hotel adventure.  But I didn't know it at the time...

At the time I left the rest area on 65 south outside of Wolcott, I had two things on my mind..."I gotta check out these wind turbines," as well as, "Where am I going to get gas?"  I wasn't dangerously low, but I knew that sooner was better than later.  Especially if I was going to go traipsing around to points unknown.  I was hoping for a Speedway but I didn't have a GPS unit to help me, and since my phone is about 5 years behind the times (I could search for a place, but getting directions is nearly impossible), I was just better off stopping at the first place I came to.

That place happened to be a Wayfara/Ludy's/BP station at the Chalmers/Wolcott exit off of I-65.  I fueled up the car, snapped a few photos of the windmills, and an abandoned supposed-Dairy Queen across the street.  I took off a little ways down the county road, then turned around and headed back for my adventure down US 231.  As I was headed back up the county road, I snapped a quick photo that contained most of the gas station in it.  I was more concerned with the wind turbines at the time and wasn't that big into retail stuff yet (especially that which wasn't closed/abandoned), so taking a photo of the station itself wasn't something I gave a second thought to.

Now I wish I had...

In early June 2015 I found myself headed back to Illinois and as I approached the US 231 exit, I found that a construction project had traffic routed off of the highway and onto the exit lanes, essentially sealing off US 231.  I wondered about the station, whether or not it was still open, but it was a passing thought and I soon became distracted by something else.  I ended up going a different way back home, so I didn't get a chance to pass by the Wayfara.  It didn't matter anyway because I couldn't get off the highway.

Two and a half weeks later, I was AGAIN sent to Illinois (not that I minded, because I don't) and I ended up passing by the station.  Construction by that time had ended, and the exit was open once again.  I didn't get off on my trip up, but flying by on the highway I had the same "I wonder..." thought that quickly faded.  So as I approached the exit on my return trip, I made it a point to stop.

Desolation is about the only word I can use to describe the scene.

Aside from me, two other vehicles were around; one with a couple of kids presumably to ogle the windmills, and another stopped off for some unknown reason.  The pumps had been covered with trash bags and caution tape was wrapped around the islands.  Three signs indicating that surveillance cameras were in use were prominently displayed on the door.

After I got back home, I looked up the gas station to see if there were any plans to re-open and I found this article relating to the closing of the business.  The I-65 bridge over US 231 was due for resurfacing.  INDOT decided the safer option was to route traffic onto the exit ramps to complete the project.  This would deal a huge blow to the business, with nothing else around and not good way to get to it.  The article states that the idea was floated to modify the closure to accommodate I-65 northbound traffic to the business, but that didn't happen.  INDOT even shortened the closure to 23 days and avoided the Memorial Day and 4th of July holidays as a way of helping out the business (according to INDOT's news releases, it only took 19 days from close to re-open).  Since Wayfara gets nearly all of its business from the interstate travelers, every day the exits were closed meant basically no money for the store.

But the story doesn't end there.  Four months after my last stop at the station, I was again sent to Illinois, and I noticed the billboards along I-65 claiming that the business is open.  I pulled off and made a stop at Wayfara.  Still closed.  I only took a few photos and messed with the color settings a little bit to try to capture that melancholy look.

I think I better captured that melancholy look, however, on my return trip home.  It was after 9 PM, and I pulled off the highway in order to get a good nighttime shot.  The power hasn't been shut off yet; a few lights still burn brightly as a security measure.

These and other photos can be seen in my Flickr album, Wayfara, Wolcott, IN

Wolcott & Lafayette, Indiana - including a former Days Inn

It was a chilly Friday evening in November 2014 and I was returning from a trip to the Chicago area.  Temperatures in the daytime were in the 30s, which was a welcome change from the temperatures in the teens & 20s earlier in the week.  The area I live in was hit hard with snow AND cold; I guess I was fortunate that the Chicago area was only brutally cold.

For the drive up on Sunday, I left at night, so I couldn't get any good photos of anything.  Even if I wanted to try some nighttime shots, it was no use...central Indiana was being hit with snow and driving through it was such a nightmare all I wanted to do was get to my hotel and just be done driving.

So on my return trip home, I left the Chicago area around 1 PM.  The sun was nice and bright and the 30-degree temperatures were like summer time compared to earlier in the week.  I knew of a wind farm along I-65 in Indiana and I remember seeing it as I passed it on the way up, but dealing with the dark and the snow was more important to me than a bunch of windmills (or wind turbines, to be more PC).  I know there's a group of people that absolutely HATE these things, but I'm of the group that loves seeing them.

view of the wind turbines from the I-65 SB rest area near Wolcott

I pulled off in the rest area just outside of Wolcott.  It's actually pretty well in the middle of nowhere, but Wolcott was the city shown on all of the informational sheets at the rest area.  Yes, they're that big of a deal.

informational sheets at a rest area

Armed with a free map from the rest area, I set off on a side jaunt to see them from the back roads, as opposed to zooming by them at 70 miles an hour.

US 231 south, just south of I-65

US 231 & Indiana state route 18

After photographing the some of the wind turbines and the cool older Econolite signals (retrofitted with LEDs) at the 231 & 18 junction, I COULD have hopped on 65 from route 18, BUT there was some more windmill action on the opposite side of the highway.  Naturally, I had to continue on 18 to see more.  That led me into Brookston, which wasn't much to write home about.  My free map showed me that I could take Indiana 43 south back to the interstate, so I did just that.  As I was coming up on the 43 and I-65 interchange outside of Lafayette (more accurately, Battle Ground), I noticed this:

I had already passed by the sign and was about to head onto the freeway, but my sense of adventure wasn't finished yet.

"Don't pass it.  You'll regret it"

So I turned around.  And boy was I glad I did.

the front of the hotel

As I drove up the driveway, this is what I was greeted with.  I love abandoned stuff; it's great to imagine the story behind these buildings...especially buildings (like hotels) that were once so full of life but are now reduced to silent boxes that most people drive on past without giving them a single thought.  This particular hotel is barely visible from the road, as a person has to drive up a small hill and a long-ish driveway to reach it.  Even on subsequent trips past this hotel, I've found it's hard to notice from the freeway.

the rear of the hotel

The bottom two floors were boarded up to thwart vandalism and a fence was erected.  Obviously that didn't help too much.  I was hoping for an opening in the fence, but I didn't see one.  I'm kinda glad though, because 1)I don't want to meet up with any vagrants, and 2)I don't need or want a criminal trespass charge.  Plus after reading an article on the hotel, it is rife with mold, which I don't need to be breathing in.

another view of the front

the hotel canopy, as taken through the fence

The hotel opened in 1972 as a Days Inn.  And it was a big deal back then, with a 12-page advertisement spread done up on the hotel.  I can only imagine all the excitement leading up to the opening and being there for the grand opening.  It would change owners a couple of times through the 80s and into the 90s, but the Holiday Inn name still stuck around until 2002.  In 2001, Holiday Inn had put the hotel up for sale, as they opened a hotel six miles to the south of this one and were about to build another one in the Lafayette area.  The hotel became a Days Inn in the spring of 2002 and in the fall, some inspection work being done revealed that the pool roof was unstable, so that area was closed.

the pool is off in the distance.  To the right with MFK, I believe was the hotel's restaurant area

By May 2003, the hotel's owners decided that it was time to throw in the towel.  The property was foreclosed upon, but the rooms were left intact in the event someone else would re-open the hotel.  Some of the furnishings and equipment were donated away, and then the property was secured (though I can only imagine how many times the fence had to be fixed).

the old hotel sign fronting the highway

After I got home Friday night, I did a little research to see if I could find anything about it.  The Lafayette Journal & Courier had a February 14, 2014 article on the hotel with its history and the fight the city is involved in regarding the structure.  Most of my information came from that article, which can be viewed here

Click on the links for more photos of the wind turbines and the hotel, hosted on my Flickr account:
Wolcott, IN Wind Farm
abandoned Days Inn, Lafayette, IN

Welcome to Ryan Road!

Why did I start this blog?
I have a Flickr account with tons of photos posted, but sometimes the photos have a story behind them that I can't quite tell in the titles and captions.  So this is a place where I can do that.  At least, I think so.

I don't plan on having much of an update schedule; it'll be updated when I have something I'm itching to show off.

A little about me:
My interests are traffic signs and signals, and lately I've gotten into retail.  Retail?  What??!!  I found myself on numerours road trips being able to point out certain abandoned or re-purposed buildings and being able to say, "Hey, that's a...!"  Each chain has their own specific designs that are quite obvious.  I also have found myself pointing out a particular site and saying, "Hey, ... used to be there!"  Something about the designs and the history, I guess.  There are a few people out there who are interested in stores, such as the people over at Dead and Dying Retail that have inspired me to take a new look at some of the places I've been or those that catch my eye.

As a matter of fact, I started out my blog-writing following the history of the Signature Inn hotels and realized that I had a few more stories outside of just Signature Inn.

So...whenever I have a story to tell, here it will be posted!