Free Wheeling.

Hello.

Today’s micro Gene Pool is mostly a photo essay from the middle of our mini-vacation on a road-trip with Lexi to Wheeling, W. Va. The photo above is what appears to be the entirety of Wheeling’s Red Light district. When we drove by the awning, we screeched to a stop to get this, just for you.

In addition to having one of the more unfortunate slogans a Gentlemen’s Club might come up with, this club’s main attraction appears to be a “shower show,” which the internet informs me is a naked lady taking a shower in a plexiglass cube on stage. You throw money over the top of the plexiglass, and it gets soggy, and she sticks the bills to her body. This type of show has apparently been extinct for roughly 30 years, almost as archaic and hokey as a balloon dancer:

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West Virgina is the most Trump-besotted state in the Union, having gone for him with 70 percent of the vote. It must be hard to live here if your enthusiasms lean leftward. We found a car with these forlorn but pugnacious stickers:

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In the same vein, we think that the proprietors of this Wheeling store might also be liberals contemptuous of their neighbors:

And while some local businesses are not booming,

… there ARE elements of the town’s economy that are doing splendidly, such as the financial market for sugar-glazed snack pies sold at gas-station convenience stores. These photos were all taken at the same convenience store, on a shelf far too wide to encompass all of them in one non-panoramic shot:

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Signing off from Wheeling. It’s a nice, friendly, weird place.

Today’s Gene Pool Gene Poll:

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Wait. I wrote the above on Thursday night. But this morning, there was a Development. It snowed overnight. So I took Lexi out to greet snow, which she had not seen for the longest time.

This creates a Christmas triptych of additional pictures!

Lexi Explores

Lexi contemplates how to best spend her time in the new wonderland.

Lexi chooses a course of action.

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Please send your Questions and Observations and Complaints to this COQ button. We will respond to them ad nauseam next week:

And please reward us with a symbol of your high regard, tempered only by the justifiable feeling of indignation from a person who is being rudely importuned:

See you all on the Weekend Gene Pool on Saturday.