Sign log with TINY initials. All logs with large signatures will be deleted!
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In the mid-20th century and four highways converged near here: U.S. 60 U.S. 70, U.S. 80 and U.S. 89. These roads once led travelers through the main drags of Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix before diverting west of the city to Los Angeles and San Diego. After World War II there was a massive increase in car travel for families with expendable income. The air conditioned southwest, "where it's June in January," became a big attraction.
In the late 1940s, motor courts, restaurants, gas stations, RV parks and other roadside hospitality and service outlets mushroomed on Main Street in Mesa. They all featured the best advertising vehicle of the time, the energy efficient cousin of fluorescent lighting: NEON!
"Imagine in the night, coming down the highway from the dark of Arizona, when suddenly there's this strip of bright neon? It's like seeing the Vegas strip now," said Mesa historian Victor Linoff. Picture clean vibrant motels and sparkling swimming pools. Signs of Indian heads, palm trees, creature cutouts, and slim neon girls diving to swimming pools, were bright beacons to cross country travelers, high in the night sky. They lured people in for fun, food, and a comfy place to sleep.
Now, with all but U.S. 60 having been decommissioned, many of the businesses have gone and their neon glow is forever stilled. But there are enough signs remaining on Mesa's Main Street to create a neon open air museum, a half-century old show and tell, to take you on a nostalgic trip back in time.
New to Wherigos?
Here are some tips:
To play the Wherigo, you will need a Wherigo-enabled device. (For Andriod the app is called "WhereYouGo") info here First upload the Wherigo application to your device, then download the cartridge you want to play from the Wherigo web site, using the app.
As with all Wherigos, make sure you have uploaded the most recent version of the cartridge before you go. Often COs sometimes make changes to the cartridge and if you have the older version you will have glitches when you go to use it. So just upload it again just before you plan to go.
While using the cartridge, if you are at a zone and there is a glitch of some kind, step 30 feet away and try to enter the zone again. (Wherigo dictates the zones are only 10 feet around.) All zones/ locations are located on public property.
Save frequently during cartridge use.
Choose times of low traffic. Bring paper and pencil to jot down completion code (or take a screen shot) and to sign the log.
Unique to Wherigos, there are two places to log them once found. Post a find on geocaching.com as usual. Groundspeak created another web site just for Wherigos: http://wherigo.com. Note there are no GC codes on this site; you have to do a search by area. You can also log it there (but not required), and give the cache a rating of 1-5 stars, but you will need your completion code to do so. The cartridge will give you this code after the very last stop of the cartridge. Have a pencil and paper ready, or take a screen shot. Be ready as it is only given once!
Thanks again to Ranger Fox for his easy-to-use Wherigo kit! RF WIG kit
GCRM
Sources: --http://archive.azcentral.com/ent/calendar/articles/2008/07/22/20080722neontour.html#ixzz3TIBJEe15, http://archive.azcentral.com/ent/calendar/articles/2008/07/22/20080722neontour.html<
FTF: Clemchaos, tugies!