"In 2013, I thought it would be fun to start a website to include town signs and slogans," said Solsma. "This started in Humboldt as I was traveling in the area there to cover high school sports. Most of the roads in that part of the state are two-lane roads that pass through a lot of towns I'd never been in before."

Solsma was intrigued by these wood and metal welcome mats. He began picturing and posting their images on his website while asking others to submit their favorites as well.

"The first one was the sign for Pilot Mound, Iowa," Solsma said. "I was heading from Humboldt to Boone (Iowa) to cover a baseball game and I went by the town sign for Pilot Mound, in Boone County. It had two slogans on the sign: 'The Friendliest Town Around,' and 'Where Every Day is a Hollar Day.'"

Solsma wasn't sure what the "Hollar Day" meant, but it meant enough to him to motivate him to snap a photo and post it on a fresh web page.

The website attracted eyes from overseas, apparently, because Solsma was contacted by filmmakers in Sweden who put together a documentary on those who left Sweden for opportunity in the U.S., people who often established their own communities in a "new world."