Winn-Dixie #184 - Quincy, FL

Shards in the Mirror of the Past

Winn-Dixie #184

Quincy Plaza

1632 West Jefferson Street

Quincy, FL 32351

Scroll Down for today's convenience post on exprezit!

Much to my chagrin, the future does not look bright for The Beef People.  Yes, yes, they have come a long way in the months since I first wrote this introduction, but they still have an uphill battle to fight.  I would love to see the remodels and conversions that I mentioned in my last post continue beyond five locations; however, The Beef People have multiple other fronts that need to be addressed.

 

One could argue that they haven't influenced much of my life following my formative years; however, that is likely just the reason why Winn-Dixie means something to me.  If it wasn't for those ingrained memories or the shock of passing by a store that appeared to be from a bygone era, the company would likely be dead to me.  It's just that, like a cockroach (in the most affectionate and nostalgic sense), the storied brand somehow continues to cling on.

I long wondered if ALDI had a grand plan to revive the acquired brand to its 1990s glory and start a nation-wide building spree of "America's Supermarket", but the cards seem stacked against that unlikely vision (well, considering how ALDI sold Southeastern Grocers to C&S Wholesale several months ago).  The company is far from dead, yet the future has seemingly never seemed as misty and uncertain as it does now.  The fact of the matter is that even during the 2005 bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie still operated over 900 stores at the time and didn't yet carry the baggage of the trials and tribulations it has since endured during the Twenty-First Century. 

I have certainly grown fond of the brand due to my blogging adventures over the last four years, it's just that my excitement for covering a store (or chain of stores) tends to have an inverse relationship to a given shopper's satisfaction for the appearance of a space.  To be blunt, most customers likely only shop at the places I seek out because it is one of a limited number of options.  I'm not saying that these stores are all bad; some of the nicest employees I've interacted with were at some of the most forgotten supermarkets.  Furthermore, some of the cleanest spaces I've seen were stores that haven't been graced by a paintbrush in 20 years.  It's just in general that the older, ill-cared for stores are traditionally the ones that shoppers flock from rather than flock to. 

Today, we'll be examining one of those shards in the mirror of Winn-Dixie's troubled past that the company has yet to shake.  There are many times when people thought it was making a turn for the better, and heck, even the company admitted its faults with slogans like, "Getting Better All The Time," or corporate identities like those of the Transformational era, but in the end, WD was still haunted by its older, run-down stores that it couldn't let go of.

I mostly know of the issues leading into the 2020s; however, Winn-Dixie has seemingly been battling the problem of aging stores since at least the 1980s.  Some articles I've read point to how the company's complacency at the time forced its hand of massive remodels during the 1990s which ultimately led to overspending and bankruptcy.  In any regard, between the "Project 2023" remodel goal, as I'll call it, and the ALDI acquisition, it seemed like those long-dated stores would soon be a thing of the past; thing is, they still won't seem to die!  Ever since I began to closely follow Winn-Dixie in 2022, I thought that each succeeding year would be the last that the Marketplace name would grace a WD, yet here we are.  At the time of the merger last year, Winn-Dixie continued to operate 10 stores that I would consider to be "unreasonably dated," which included fixtures and décor dating back to the prior Millennium.  That list was:

 

#0169 | Bainbridge, GA | Rose & Teal Marketplace | Closed November 2024 to become ALDI

#0184 | Quincy, FL | Rose & Teal Marketplace | Closed September 2024 to become ALDI

#0210 | Tamarac, FL | Marketplace Refresh | Closing in several weeks to become Festival Supermarket

#0478 | Eufaula, AL | Rose & Teal Marketplace 

#0496 | Jasper, AL | Marketplace Refresh

#0509 | Chelsea, AL | Marketplace Refresh | Closed March 2025 to become ALDI 

#0579 | Auburn, AL | Marketplace Refresh | Closed July 2024 to become ALDI

#0580 | Theodore, AL | Rose & Teal Marketplace

#0609 | Avon Park, FL | Marketplace Refresh | Closed October 2024 to become ALDI

#1513 | D'Iberville, MS | Marketplace Refresh | Closed August 2024 to become ALDI

#2342 | DeLand, FL | Marketplace Refresh

 

Of those 10 stores, ALDI has already closed six of them to convert, with a seventh being sold to Festival Supermarkets last month.  I would say that the other four are living on borrowed time, but like a cat with nine lives, they just keep on purring.  I'm certainly not reassured by rumors I keep hearing about stores being sold off in Alabama or Georgia, but then again, I heard last year that there was supposed to be a massive auction of every remaining location in the Central Time Zone (there is a chance that the rumor was true and that the deal was only walked back following the breakdown of talks between Kroger & Albertsons). 

Despite all of this doom and gloom (and the lack of plans to remodel any of the remaining 4 Marketplace locations), Winn-Dixie has proven us wrong before.  After all, I saw stores go from not to hot to not in a matter of months.  Mama June ain't got nothin' on them!

As for the topic of today's post, Quincy is a special store, and likewise, we’ll have some special coverage of this place.  Unlike Tamarac, it didn't feel depressing.  Forgotten, sure, but not unsightly.  It felt much more cared for than #579 in Auburn did before it closed and reminded me a lot of #168 in Chiefland or #169 in Bainbridge considering the small towns they served and the dedicated (albeit, captive) customer bases they had.

The Valdosta Daily Times (Newspapers.com) - March 3, 1955

Does this ad look familiar?  Well, it should!  

The fact of the matter is that Quincy's Winn-Dixie customer base has been around since long before the name "Winn-Dixie" existed.  The store we will tour today can trace its roots back to two different Lovett's locations from at least the 1950s.

The former Lovett's is now an AutoZone at the corner of West Jefferson and Slappy Streets, which property records indicate was built in 1945.  Along with a store at 128 Jefferson Street (I'm not sure if it was East or West Jefferson).

I'm almost certain that I took this photo to capture the outdated Flowers Baking Company logo, but it just so happens that I framed Quincy's third Winn-Dixie / Lovett's location perfectly in the background.  Located at 315 West Jefferson Street, this Dollar General has made a home out of the former supermarket following a brief stint as an Eagle Family Discount store beginning around 1978. 

The Tallahassee Democrat (Newspapers.com) - April 2, 1959

The Dollar General building was constructed sometime around 1956 and presumably replaced the two other stores in town considering their absence on the above ad from 1959.

The Tallahassee Democrat (Newspapers.com) - December 8, 1976

WD was on the move again by the mid-1970s as it constructed a new store in Quincy Plaza that was paired with a TG&Y Family Center.  The new location had its grand opening on December 1, 1976 and offered specials such as a chuck roast for 78¢/lb. or Campbell's tomato soup for 17¢ a can.

By 1994, Winn-Dixie had again outgrown its shell, but this time it simply moved across the plaza and built a new store on top of the previous TG&Y parcel.  Winn-Dixie #184 officially opened on June 23rd of that year.

Now that I have bored you to death with my ramblings about Southeastern Grocers, let's take a bit of time to talk about new changes for the blog.

 

I'm not sure if Open Live Writer, which I had mentioned as trying for my last post, will make the long-term cut for crafting blog posts, but it was a nice experiment.  If anything, it will be a useful arrow in my quiver for next time I am traveling.  

The attitude for change got me thinking, though:  which other portions of my workflow can I improve?  Well, photo preparation takes, in my opinion, much longer than it should.   From editing, to uploading, to organizing, and formatting, I probably spend at least two hours per post dealing with pictures.  A lot of these tasks are quite tedious, thanks to the lackluster CMS known as Blogger, meaning that I feel like I am wasting time that I could otherwise use for curating my next creation.

Over the last week, I decided to look to AI (Gasp!) for some help (Help!) and was surprisingly pleased by what I found.  I'm one of the most technologically-savvy Luddites out there; however, it sometimes pays off to learn from your enemy.  No, no, this also doesn't mean I'll start using AI to write image descriptions.

What it does mean, though, is that Copilot helped me (read, did it for me) write a script to automate some of mind-numbing tasks.  I don't exactly trust AI to process my data, but I don't have a problem getting it to hand over a working code prototype.   Anyhow, I seem to have found a new, faster process for three of the tasks above, and the only one left for me to tackle is Blogger's age-old problem of uploading images in reverse order.

In addition to leveraging AI, I've attempted to automate some of my tedious image resizing and formatting steps by tweaking my Blogger template.  Please bear with me as I work through this process because it seems like I will have to update the formatting on some of my older posts.  In the end, though, it seems like I may no longer have to resize  each. individual. picture.  

 

🦐✨ Sunshine, seafood, and Southern charm! Caught this stunning shot of a Winn-Dixie Marketplace basking under a dreamy Florida sky. From fresh catches to friendly faces, this local gem never disappoints! - Copilot

I ended up adding a bit more detail after taking this screenshot.

I have to say:  that caption made me chuckle.  I ended up having to give it quite the extensive prompt by basically telling the computer what to write about, but it still managed to twist my words into something coherent.

In short, AI shouldn't control the creative aspect, but I have no problem handing over the mundane! 

It is still hard for me to believe that Winn-Dixie #184 never received a remodel.  Ever.  Then again, part of that shock comes from the fact that this building looks like it was constructed in 1984 rather than 1994. 

As the years went by, signs were slowly removed from the front of the building.  The first to go advertised this store's business hours; I've seen a store or two showcase being "Open 6-12," but it looks to me like this location may have said, "Open 24 Hrs."  The next sign to disappear mentioned the "1 hour photo" service and used to reside below and to the right of Marketplace.

These, of course, were followed by  the pharmacy sign on the far right side of the store.  I just happened to take my first set of photos before the 2023 ALDI-induced department exodus.

The balance of this store's exterior signage lasted until the Germans pillaged this place in early-2025.   

Ooh, look at the rims on that Malibu!

One small exception to the ALDI wipeout will likely be found in the parking lot.  Just like we saw back at #104, the old shopping cart return signs survived to see 2025; I wouldn't be surprised if at least one lives on to see 2026.

Another thing that caught me off guard was being able to see the neon tubes inside of the exterior signage.

I had uncovered a cutaway of some Marketplace signage a while back in some old building plans, but it was neat to see the plans in action here in Quincy.

Stepping inside, we find a picture from my second photo tour of this store showcasing the cart coral.  I remember hearing that early on in the conversion process there were supposed "counters" placed at the entrances to various stores to tabulate how many customers entered the supermarket.  I wasn't sure if this was real until I stopped in Quincy for this 2024 adventure.  I distinctly remember a lady standing adjacent to the shopping carts for the entirety of my trip; she was holding a price scanner or phone but seemed to simply be watching as people entered and exited the building.  She didn't look like asset protection, so I'd imagine that she could have been in the role of gathering foot traffic.  Anyhow, it is a moot point now, considering that this Winn-Dixie has already reopened as an ALDI.

Beginning our counterclockwise journey, we find something that is particularly out of place (well, other than the outdated interior):  the dump bin advertising Plenti bonus points.  Plenti, if you'll remember, was Winn-Dixie's second rewards program from the 2010s, which replaced what was simply known as "Winn-Dixie Rewards" in 2015.  It was launched as a joint venture between American Express, Rite Aid, Exxon-Mobil, Southeastern Grocers, and a few other companies, but ultimately dissolved within three years.

Isn't it crazy to think that this ad held on for longer after the program was discontinued than the entire run of the rewards card?!

Moving on, we begin to see this store's Rose & Teal Marketplace décor in its full glory.

While dated, this store was well cared for.  The floors were generally clean, the ceilings mostly free of stain, and the shelves well stocked.  

Fancy seeing you here!

I've said this time and time again, but despite the fact that the notorious Marketplace interior is desperately dated, the designers went all out with the theming.  Quincy may have only received the middle grade of the package (since it lacked the slatted texture at the top of the wall); however, all of the coral and teal trim, accents, flooring, and signage still simply enveloped you as you entered this space. 

Oh, and these Hussmann produce coolers looked like they are straight out of 1994 (because they were).

One of my buddies has recently been on a guava kick, and when I saw fresh guava offered at this store, I couldn't resist giving one a try.  I was caught off guard by the fact that it was wrapped in Styrofoam mesh.  Anyhow, I decided to, nonetheless, tote one from Quincy around the Southeast until I ended up in Jackson, Mississippi.  It was there that I convinced Retail Retell to sample it with me, and we both came to the same conclusion:  too many seeds and not a pleasant taste.  I don't know how guava flavored items trace back to this fruit, but they must change a whole lot of something!

With that, how many guavas, dragon fruits or coconuts do you think this rural Florida Winn-Dixie sells?  Sure, they all last longer because they are refrigerated, but it seems like most would be thrown out before they could be sold.  These are even more extreme than my typical subconscious test of how much volume a store does based on its eggplant crop (and the ones at #184 were looking past their prime).

Turning around, we find a whole lot of the 1990s in one shot:  the refrigerated produce islands, the blush-colored fluorescent light tubes, and of course, The Florist sign.

Let's circle back to that and instead look across the front of the store.  The thing that I find odd is how this Winn-Dixie lacks any sort of ceiling adornments.  We know, thanks to Poinciana, that WD had already begun to use their familiar "wedding cake" ceiling (thanks to Anonymous in Houston for that description) as opposed to the old light boxes.  The only problem is that this store has neither of those, which makes me think it was intended to be a "neighborhood" store rather than a full and flashy Marketplace.  The 1980s-styled exterior would certainly bolster that claim, but the size and signage contradict it.  Who knows.

Anyhow, what this store lacked in ceiling decorations, it made up for with flooring designs.  Check out these crazy diamonds spicing up the produce patch!

The vibes are immaculate.

The floral department sign has to be one of the coolest parts of this package, and that may be partially due to the fact that it is rare to find one hanging in the 2020s.  Sure, it isn't as rare as Cheese World was (R.I.P.), but I still only saw it at two out of the ten remaining Marketplace locations.

Another rare find was the original set of aisle markers.  Winn-Dixie used to be notorious for having these suspended signs with faded product photos and cracking category markers, until the company slowly began to break enough of them so that stores would receive "upgraded" models.  

"Upgraded" signs at Winn-Dixie #169 - March 2022

Quincy ended up being the last Winn-Dixie to use this old '90s stock, which makes me especially happy that I was able to witness it.

What also makes me happy is that I got to see and photograph the floral department sign up close . . . and I got this nice shot from behind the counter!

Stumbling on, we find that beer and wine have conquered the old Deli Café and Cheese World spaces . . .

. . . Except for that fact that somebody forgot to take down the old sign.  Oops.  Luncheon Meats are certainly not the same as beer, although, the former would make much more sense in this location.

Speaking of the deli, we find it closed up for the day, with only the Dietz and Watson cold cut case on display.

This store's neon looked impeccable for being 30-years old; I seem to remember that all of it still worked, to boot!  The 10-foot-wide delicatessen sign was lit up on full display for this photo adventure.

Turning around, we'll take one final look toward the Produce Patch before continuing on.

How refreshing:  the Chek Cola aisle.

Things are going swimmingly, wouldn't you say?  Other than the temporary displays, one of the only anachronistic signs in this store advertised the meat department's customer service bell:  it hailed from 2004 rather than 1994!

Seeing that window into the butcher room also brought back a buried memory of mine from the old Auburn store – I was standing about this far away from the glass as I witnessed a forklift violently shatter it to pieces.  More on that story at a later date . . . 

In the meantime, let's just bask in the glow of the neon.  I would just love to take home that "Meat & Fish" script, wouldn't you?

The snack, cracker, and popcorn foodstuffs on aisle 5 are paired with a photo of spices on the aisle marker; I'm a bit salty about that one.

At least that isn't as bad as having a column smack-dab in the middle of aisle six.  You would think they could have planned better!

I think I may be in for a late one considering how I am scrambling to write this post on Friday again.  Oh well, at least we can talk about the Kmart stocking tactics this store used on aisle eight.

Aisle nine was simply enduring an identity crisis; baking supplies had no (mismatched) stock photo to accompany them.

Things clean up on aisle 10, where the product actually paired with the picture, for once.  

It is also interesting to note the color differences between these last two photos.  The former was captured with my current Galaxy S24; however, the latter is from my S10.  Don't you think the older photo looks much more saturated? 

The saturation may be bit of overkill in my aisle 10 shot, but I don't mind the extra pop on my shots of the wall signage.  Check out the subtle "Beef People" text on this one.

It's really unfortunate how that column was in the way because this otherwise would have been a great shot of the "Thank You for Shopping at America's Supermarket" tagline.  C'est la vie.

Let's take a quick intermission and glance back toward the produce department.  Doesn't this store remind you of somewhere else?

Next, we'll turn our attention toward the unsigned customer service counter (and a hell of a lot of bleach & water).

I'd say there is no caption needed here.

Well, maybe "frozen in time" would be appropriate!  My oh my, do the pink fluorescents really complete the look!

 This "Quality Fresh Beef, Pork & Poultry" sign looks like it has an extra "y," but that is just me.

Dairy products round out the remainder of the rear wall, which is surprising given that we typically find frozen meats over here.

Greetings, aisle 14!  What news have you to share with us today?

News about the pharmacy?  I see!

Oh, I see that the pharmacy happened to close during the 2023 market sector exit.  Well, that stinks.  

I am just shocked by how well they removed the old neon lights and patched the wall – I have no idea how the plastic "prescriptions" part was easily removed (trust me, I have experience with these matters). 

I'd also like to point out something I learned from a recent auction:  the product shelves we see covering the windows are simply the old prescription shelves from inside the pharmacy.  That was some convenient adaptive re-usage!

Looking from the bakery, we can tell that something obviously used to be here.

I just noticed this, but don't you think having secondary signage to advertise the "bakery" is a bit on the nose?  I feel like that is what the neon light should have been for.

Wow, more working neon!  Quincy really had it together!

Perusing down aisle 19, we find juice and tea in the former home of beer under the "beverage center" sign.  At least OJ still falls under that category unlike the midday and late-night mashup on the opposite wall.  Then again, as AJ says, It's Five O'clock Somewhere!

Is it safe to have loaves of bread sitting on the floor?

Health department, shut this place down!

Oh wait, ALDI beat you to it! 

I'd say we need to check out that bleach once more . . . you know, they say it works wonders at killing Corona Virus!

(Gah, it is so crazy to go back and read news articles from the spring of 2020.  So many things that we thought would be the end of the world as we know turned out to be another strange chapter of life.  I'm not trying to downplay the impact of COVID-19: I had friends who died from it.  I am saying, though, that it merely seems like just a twisted dream after five years.)  

The other thing that stops the 'Rona dead in its tracks is the plexiglass sneeze guard attached to every cash register. I'm honestly surprised to see those still hanging around over two years after the start of the Pandemic.

Returning to our present state of the past, we'll see one more overview of the registers, including the original teal conveyor belt assemblies, before bidding farewell to our time capsule.  Isn't it odd how there were no register lights or numbers here?

 

Well, unless you count these.

If you felt lucky about the odds of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's wedding surviving "'till death do them part," then you probably shouldn't have bought a Powerball ticket back in 2022.  (Spoiler alert: Bennifer got divorced in 2024. Update: I stand corrected?). 

I had never seen one of these self-serve lottery stations before this, but I remember Winn-Dixie #184 had them at every checkout line.  They seem to do the job of getting one's attention!

 

 I wouldn't say that much grabbed my attention out on the sidewalk, though.

Back out front, we find the sun setting on the supermarket that time seemingly forgot.  

What's even crazier, though, is that this store still used the original "tuning fork" sign post from 1976 up until its closure in 2024.  It may have even been the last operational Winn-Dixie to do so!

That sign was very cool to see in person (especially before the pharmacy descriptor was unceremoniously covered), but I am a bit upset that I missed out on seeing what was here before Hurricane Michael hit in 2018.

That is, of course, the original supermarket and shopping center signs from 1976!  Had it not been for the devastating winds of the Category 5 hurricane, there is a good chance that these would have survived to see the days of ALDI.  Wouldn't that have been crazy?

I suppose I can't win them all, and I am still content with the fact that I got to photograph this store at all.

Turning our attention toward the right, we see the section of the shopping center which housed the original 1976 grocery store.  

USGS Earth Explorer - 1976

Winn-Dixie ended up tearing down the original TG&Y space and reorienting the parking lot 90-degrees during its 1994 store replacement.

Google Earth - March 1994

What's even crazier is that Google Earth's satellite imagery shows the new store as it was under construction (shown above with the black roof).  How often do you get a date confirmation like that?!

We'll also take a quick look across the street at Quincy's first Wal-Mart, which was most recently divided into a Citi Trends and a Roses Express.

The last part of this post is dedicated to another nostalgia trip I had while driving around Gadsden County. 

 

---

 

Lost to Time

Former exprezit!

Convenience Store 

2982 Pat Thomas Parkway / Florida 267

Quincy, FL 32351

I was minding my own business, when out of the blue, I spotted this abandoned convenience store hiding behind the trees off I-10 exit 181.  It's faded purple, red, and yellow paint may have weathered, nonetheless, I still knew instantly what it was. 

According to an article I found, exprezit! was formed in 2003 by John Friederich as the new name for North Carolina-based Convenience USA, which had filed for bankruptcy two-years earlier.  At the time, the new company operated 71 stores in Florida and 43 in North Carolina. 

The News and Observer (Newspapers.com) - Amoco / McDonalds Oil Alliance Station - December 4, 1998

Of course, I couldn't just stop my research after finding that exprezit! was formed out of a bankruptcy court, so I kept on looking.

What I found is that its former parent wasn't in the business very long.  Convenience USA was formed in Durham, NC, in 1998 by former investment banker Don Draughon, Jr.  In a matter of months, Draughon acquired 130 convenience stores, thanks to financial backing from a "geyser of new finance," and had plans to operate between 300 and 400 stores by 2000.  That ambitious start should already sound alarm bells in your head.

This ambitious expansion plan wasn't without fault.  For starters, the Raleigh-Durham area already had large regional convenience store players such as Clay Hamner (Draughon's former boss) and The Pantry (Kangaroo Express).  In addition to that, we all know how the fuel behind a spending spree will eventually dry up if you aren't making wise investments.  I always associate  exprezit! with operating older stores in mediocre locations, and I predict that has something to do with a December 1998 deadline gas stations had to upgrade underground fuel tanks.

"'If you're not upgraded on Dec 22, you shut down,' said Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores.  'So the question is, can you invest anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 to meet the standards?  There are some locations that probably don't make that sort of return,' he said." 

This looming deadline spelled disaster for smaller companies, which meant they were cheap pickings for cash-happy investors.  It just takes a lot more than new tanks and briefcases of cash to run a successful business . . .

Convenience USA ended up running into trouble, and out of gas, by 2001 as soaring fuel prices and low margins began to mount pressure on the highly leveraged company.  It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of that year.

Anyhow, Convenience USA entered the Florida Panhandle by acquiring Crestview-based Nugget Oil Company.  I found classifieds mentioning the former Nugget stations in Mariana, FL, that Pseudo3D called out in a 2016 blog post on exprezit!, and it appears that the old Shell station (now bp) on the opposite side of I-10 followed this same lineage.

During my research, I reached out to Pseudo3D asking about his old post.  I was surprised to learn that he published a new article on this exact location a couple of months ago and featured it on his Numbered Exits page; that was quite the coincidence!  He took a slightly different angle to his research than I did, but he uncovered several interesting facts that I had missed (including this cool 1994 photo of this station as a Texaco).  I won't spoil his whole post, and encourage you to read it for yourself, but he basically left me questioning my own conclusions about this store's lineage.

He also happened to pull his older post's header photo from a website that I have followed for years:  GasSigns.org.  Check it out if you haven't ever seen it!

Here in Quincy, I set out on a mission to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.  I'd say that it was a success.  

Gadsden County Property Appraiser - Notice the missing pump canopy - 2025

I'm also glad that I visited when I did because Pseudo3D reported that the canopy has since been demolished.  Somebody bought the property in January 2025, so maybe they have future plans for the place.

It looks like you could have purchased this circa 1983 convenience store for $90/sq ft.  What a steal, considering how it has been sitting vacant since at least 2008 (if not longer)!  exprezit! sold this location in July 2007 for $350,000, so that timeline checks out.

 

Likewise, it looks like the company as a whole had largely disbanded by 2008. There seems to still be a broken chain of sorts, despite this, with locations in Webb, AL, Jay, FL, Vass, NC, and Kernersville, NC.  

These stores with mixed identities are joined by an unknown number of locations featuring bits and pieces of the seemingly dissolved company along with the simply abandoned locations dotting I-10, like this one. 

I have no clue what the future holds for this old nugget, but it appears that it will live to die another day.

Courtesy of Alex Nitzman (AA Roads) - Alabama SR55 at the Florida line - November 2012

If you have never seen it, I would highly recommend you check out the AA Roads website.  It features photo guides of nearly every county, state, and US highway I can think of and many of the images predate Google Street View.  It is a nice time capsule! 

I'll close today's post with a picture of a different exprezit! that I found in the annals of the internet.  That purple, yellow, and red exclamation mark was once synonymous with driving through The Panhandle and is now little more than a memory. 

I hope you enjoyed our time in Gadsden County over the last two posts and make sure to check back soon to see what else I've uncovered.

Until then, never stop exploring!

- The Sing Oil Blogger