In 1982, William Least Heat-Moon's road diary, "Blue Highways" chronicled his journey on America's back roads. Older U.S. road maps often showed less traveled routes in blue. Recently divorced, his excursion in a crudely converted Ford Econoline van was mostly therapeutic. In his quest to discover America, he also discovered the desire for those he met to reach out and share with others. His work created a yearning that would simmer within me for over a decade.

In 1993, a personal tragedy, coupled with a neglected passion for photography became the catalyst for a continuing series of road trips to document architectural, scenic, and auto-related artifacts on old U.S. highways. These "Neon Highways" are less homogenous than the interstate highway system that replaced them. Modern interstate exits often appear identical, regardless of location. Many of our regional and ethnic differences have been lost, replaced by a corporate facelessness that pervades our new roadside culture. In the interest of uniformity and predictability, too often, we have accepted mediocrity.

For the most part, these images were captured with Fuji Professional medium format rangefinder cameras and printed in the darkroom. Some negatives and/or prints are scanned and printed on Fuji Crystal Archive papers, while more recent prints may utilize Canon DSLR cameras. Whether photographed on the "Mother Road" (US66), the "Great River Road" (US61), the "Loneliest Highway" (US50), the "Pacific Coast Highway" (US101 and/or CA1), the "The Old Spanish Trail" (US80) or some nameless backroad... the journey, as always, is the destination.