Holy cow! Road signs spotted in Pope County, Illinois

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the lack of road signs in Southern Illinois, joking, "I've heard rumors that road signs exist in Pope County, but I've yet to observe any of these creatures in the wild.

I visited Pope County over the weekend and nearly fell out of my truck when I saw this:

That's an honest-to-goodness road sign, not a Photoshopped demo.  Amazing!  I was trying to find the turnoff for Sand Cave, so this sign was actually helpful.

I discovered that most intersections in Pope County were marked by these shiny new road signs, which must have been installed since I last visited in November. 

I did notice some problems -- road signs that didn't match my maps or GPS navigator -- but this is definitely a step in the right direction.  It's still way too easy to get lost in Southern Illinois, but with consistent street signs, it's possible to give useful driving directions now.