Dead Critters EVERYWHERE!!

YAY!!  I got to make RoadsideAmerica #26 with my folks and nephews!!  That's pretty cool, since I make a lot of these by myself.  This one was Bud Jones' Taxidermy in Tallapoosa, GA.  Just like many of my other RoadsideAmerica stops, this one was off the beaten path, attached to a private home, and had owners that loved to talk.  Bud and his wife have been in the taxidermy business for 60 years.  He joked that he started when he was 5, and she said she did the things that nobody else wanted to do, so I guess she does help with the stuffing!  They had one room set up as display/museum, one with heads for sale (there was a bison I wanted SO BAD), and then his work shop.  It was pretty cool.  As we left, they gave my dad CASSETTE TAPES of them playing and singing folk music!

There were several big animals, and at a closer look, there were smaller animals in the fake trees and on the fake forest floor.

Most of the animals could be found in the U.S., but he did have some that were from safaris.

Me and Mommer.

This elephant was shot in 1929 by Asa Candler, the guy behind COKE!  How cool is that?!?  (I realize this is not a great pic of the elephant, but trust me - it was HUGE!!)

Ok, me and one of my nephews pretending that we're terrified.  (This actually turned into a 'thing' for the rest of the day - we'd take one picture nice and smiling, and we'd take a second pretend one, depending on the surroundings.  For instance, there was an old slot machine in the museum, so we took one nice and smiling, and one all depressed like we'd lost our life savings.)

After this we went to the museum in Tallapoosa, where all of the stuffed animals on exhibit had been donated by Mr. Jones, and a point was made to mention that they had not been killed for the display, but were mostly roadkill.

Final day of 1st leg!

Safe in Carrollton! 

Yesterday really was pretty uneventful, except for breakfast; the continental breakfast at the motel was super lame, but across the street was a Chick-fil-a.  Now, I know there was also some drama in the news yesterday about Chick-fil-a, but here's a riddle for you - I order a breakfast sandwich and a Coke, and then quickly change my drink order to a Dr. Pepper.  Get my meal, sit down and proceed to eat and drink.  What's the problem?  (If my friend Julie C. is reading this, she's probably already got it.)  I AM IN SWEET TEA COUNTRY!!  I should be ordering nothing but sweet tea from Tennessee to South Carolina!!  (The ONLY exception to this rule is when eating at Waffle House, and then it is allowable to order a vanilla Coke.)  I was so sad when I realized what I'd done.

Oddly enough, I ended up eating at Chick-fil-a for dinner, too, because they were doing a benefit for the girl who lost all her limbs to the flesh-eating bacteria.  That's got to count for something, huh?

I took my time getting started because I didn't want to get to Nashville until the Willie Nelson and Friends museum opened and get a smashed penny with Willie's face that says "Always on My Mind" - aww yeah!!



And right next door was Cooter's, where I got a smashed penny with the General Lee on it.  I used to have a MAD crush on...Bo...Duke?  The blonde one.  John Schneider.  I even have (had?) an autographed picture from him!!

Other than that, I only made one other stop at Ruby Falls.  RoadsideAmerica said it was 10 bucks, and I thought 'oh, I'll spring for that', but it was 17.95 !!!  Umm, no thank you?!  Erich said it was pretty cool, but I don't know about $17.95 cool.  I got a smashed penny at the lower level, but I don't think that's a cheat since it kind of looks like the road signs you see for miles and miles on the highway.

And now I'm in Carrollton!  The next 10 days or so will be family stuff, culminating with a family reunion in Delaware the first weekend in August.  I'll post randomly if you're interested in that kind of stuff.  The 2nd leg of this roadtrip, though, will start back Sunday, August 5th.  I'll leave Delaware and head up through New England.  I should be able to fill my smashed penny book by the time I get back!

Uneventful?

I initially thought this day was pretty uneventful, and I didn't make good mileage at all, but then I looked at my pictures and realized it was a pretty good day!!

 I ended up LOVING Booneville, MO!  Missouri?!  Who would've thought?  Anyway, I wanted to get some extra cash this morning at 7'ish, and the ATM was down this alley.  (shrug)

 RoadsideAmerica stop #19 - 'The Awakening' in Chesterfield, MO.  Ok, just when I thought I'd had all of the statues I could take...I visited this one.  HOW COOL IS THIS?!?  It's a giant coming out of the ground!  The only problem is that by the time I got there, the statue was HOT, so I couldn't take all of the goofy pictures that I would have like to.  But I still managed to get some.

 I was trying to make an angry 'awakening' face like the giant.

 Picking his nose...

RoadsideAmerica stop #20 - Haunted Lemke Mansion in St. Louis, MO.  I had a ton of options in St. Louis and had to make some decisions.  The two big visits were the Budweiser Brewery tour, or...this.  (My thinking was that I don't like Budweiser, so although it was probably super cool, it wouldn't have been as cool as a haunted mansion.)  Well, this was pretty much a bust.  They were serving lunch while I was there, no tours, and a lame gift shop.  A waiter came over to talk to me, and I guess the one cool thing is that they don't capitalize on the ghosts, but they do own up to them.  Kind of like, 'yeah, we're haunted, so what?'  On Tuesdays they do an evening walk through with some ghost hunters, and the waiter said people have run out crying.  This is the public restroom, and that is a bathtub smack dab in the middle of it.  Tell me if you see any orbs.

RoadsideAmerica 'stop' #21 - Big Unloved Indian statue in St. Louis, MO.  I'm going to call this one a 'stop' because I WAS at a red light...  Parking meters everywhere, and I didn't think it was worth pulling over for.  Apparently everyone - including the artist - thinks this is an ugly statue.

 Ok, so I wanted to get some smashed pennies.  My first try was at Union Station, but you had to pay for parking, and I didn't want to pay to spend my vacation walking around a MALL.  So I thought, let's just knock out the Arch.  I've been in the bottom, but never taken the elevator ride up, and who knows when I'll get the chance again?  Well, it didn't happen today!  It turned into the scene from "European Vacation", when Chevy Chase can't get out of the traffic circle?  Traffic was really not that bad, but I missed parking the first go-around, and then it didn't seem worth it to me. 

 RoadsideAmerica stop #22 - National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, IL.  I stopped here because (according the RoadsideAmerica) you could type in prayer requests and they would be electronically transmitted to heaven.  Talked to an old priest, and you used to be able to do this!  They built a lit spire several years ago on top of the grotto to encourage prayer, and yes, you could type prayers.  At this point, the priest wanted to make sure that I understood that this was symbolic -they didn't REALLY have an internect connection with God.  Anyway, because of the height, the FAA made them turn off the lights, which kind of took the fun out of sending up the prayers.  He blessed me for my trip.  I then ate in their cafeteria, thinking it would be a nice, reflective place -  nope, it was like Disneyland.  But the food was good.

RoadsideAmerica stop #23 - Road Sign Art AND mini Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon, IL.  Crazy mess of road signs.  There was a woman who was OBVIOUSLY not used to taking pictures of herself, so I offered to take one for her.  We got to talking.  She was there on business.  She asked how much further I planned on driving today?  I mean, it kind of sounded like she was asking me to hang out!  But it was only 3 in the afternoon; I needed to get some more miles in.

 See, look how tiny it is!

 RoadsideAmerica stop #24 - Tree Head, Paducah, KY.  I'm calling these things what they were labeled as on RoadsideAmerica, not their official names.  So I drive around this city park and finally stop at the public pool to ask where the 'tree head' is?  They looked at me like I was crazy, and then realized I must be talking about Chief So-and-So (that's not what it's real name is, either).

 I'm sure this is on RoadsideAmerica, but I'm not going to give them credit for it!  Stopped in Metropolis, IL and took the obligatory picture with Superman.  ALMOST bought a t-shirt.

RoadsideAmerica stop #25 - Edgar Cayce's grave in Hopkinsville, KY.  Edgar Cayce is called the father of holistic medicine, and founded ARE.  I don't know the significance of the pennies on the top of the tombstone, but I added one so I didn't miss out on anything.

 Staying in a chain tonight which I'm not excited about, and USING A HANDICAPPED PARKING SPACE which I am REALLY not excited about!!!  But the next closest space was at the other end of the building, and I've got a month's worth of crap in my car.  I warned the guy at the counter that I was doing it, and he just laughed.  I don't think I've ever parked in a handicapped space before.  Seriously.

NE, IA, MO, and...KS (?!?)

Omigosh...  The stories I could tell if I knew my mother wasn't reading this!!  What we need to do is set up a code word, like 'tippy toe' ("Seinfeld, anyone?), and everytime you read 'tippy toe', you know that there's the REST of the story on another, secret blog!  No...  First of all, I don't want to keep up two blogs, and second of all, she already knows the password!  ...sigh...  Ok, here's what what we'll do - Mom, everytime YOU read the word 'tippy toe', you quit reading, ok?  Ok.

TIPPY TOE!!!

Y'all...last night's motel...  (head shaking)  You've all seen "Big", right?  (If you haven't, quit reading this RIGHT NOW and find it somewhere.)  Last night for me was like the scene where Tom Hanks spends his 1st night alone as an adult.  Please tell me you know what I'm talking about.  It was AWFUL!!

It doesn't look too bad, does it?  Well, nothing looks too bad at 5:30 in the morning!!  I got out of there as soon as there was enough sunlight for me to feel safe to get to my car!

I took lots of pictures, but this one might say it all - WTF is that rag on the night stand??  EWWW!!

Based on my experience, I've come up with a new reality show idea - it would be called "You Stayed WHERE?!?", and contestants would have to spend a certain amount of time in a motel and complete tasks to win something.  Unfortunately, I would NOT have won anything last night if the challenge had been to take a shower, because that thing was GUH-ross!  I slept totally clothed.

RoadsideAmerica stop #14 - Backyard zoo in York, NE.  Just a bunch of stuff and signs that this guy made.

Seward, NE.  I took a picture because I can drive that!  4135 miles?  That's nothing!  Looks like I've got next summer's trip idea...

RoadsideAmerica stop #15 - World's Largest Time Capsule, also in Seward, NE.  They've got a car and a motorcycle and all kinds of stuff in there, and they'll open it in 2025.  I guess they'll have to destroy the pyramid?  That's a shame.

RoadsideAmerica stop #16 - grave shaped like a desk in Wyuka Cemetery, Nebraska City, NE.  Now, I know I felt weird about taking a picture of Evel Knievel's grave, and I took two more today, and one tomorrow, but here's how I look at it - someone's thinking about these people.  Does that make sense?  I mean, I visit these graves initially out of curiousity, but then I always take a minute to think about the person.  I don't know.  I just want to make sure that everyone realizes that I mean no disrespect by taking these pictures.  Shoot - if I were to be buried, I'd want something different.  But I don't want to be buried, I want to be put in a field and the FBI can use me to study decomposition time under different circumstances.  (They do that, you know?)  I will HAUNT somebody if I end up in a cemetery with a lame marker.  ANYWAY, this grave is sure enough shaped like a desk, and there are TEN names on it.  Most of them are pretty young, and most of the dates are from the 1800s.

RoadsideAmerica stop #17 - Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, MO.  I debated on paying admission and going in, but the guy gave me a discount, and it was worth the four bucks!  Creepy stuff, and of course I ended up in the morgue by myself...  Brrr.  One of the employees told me it WAS haunted, but I didn't get any details.  I like the way this water torture is depicted with cellophane.  I BOUGHT MY FIRST T-SHIRT HERE!!!

After this stop is when I believe I...HAD WAFFLE HOUSE!!!  Sat at the bar, and the waitress said she'd bring me a menu.  I said, "You can bring me a placemat, but I don't need a menu!"

It was also in this time frame that I tried to visit Kansas City's public library for my librarians friends (the parking garage is decorated like a HUGE bookshelf).  Well, something/someone screwed up here - either Garmin or RoadsideAmerica or me.  What do you want to bet it was me?  Anyway, I typed the address I had into Garmin for the library, and I ended up in the residential area of a teeny, tiny, CUTE border town of KC.  (shrug) and onto next stop.  Well, then I finally SEE Kansas City (it was somewhere in here that I also took a quick trip into Kansas, which I don't think I was supposed to do), and O M G - Kansas City is HUGE.  And traffic was CRAZY!  So it's a blessing in disguise that I DIDN'T get the correct directions to go into downtown freakin' Kansas City.

Rest stop somewhere in Missouri that had this washer/soaper/dryer thing!  You just stick your hands under and POOF - it's all done!  Crazy.

RoadsideAmerica stop #18 - Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Garden and gravesite, Marshall, MO.  I cannot do justice to the story of Jim the Wonder Dog, but the park dedicated to him is beautiful with plaques all the way around a path that tell his story.  By the last one, I was bawling.  Oh, and I bought a Jim the Wonder Dog t-shirt, but only because the proceeds go to maintaining the park.

Also in the garden was this box for people to take and/or leave books - how cool is that?  (NO, I didn't take any.)

Jim's grave.  He was originally not allowed to be buried in the town cemetery, so his owners buried him just outside of it, but then the cemetery had to expand and he's right in with the people.

Me and the Missouri River in Boonville, MO.  MUCH nicer than last night.

I had an experience when I went out to dinner that reaffirms my ability to make quick - albeit strange - connections with people.  The main street is only 3 blocks long, so I'm walking down to see what my options are.  About a half a block ahead of me, this guy opens a bar door, and then HOLDS IT OPEN FOR ME!  He says, "You're coming in here, right?", and when he tells me they don't serve real food I laugh and say no, and thank him.  That took maybe, what?  One minute, tops.  Well, I find a pizza place and have some pineapple and jalapeno (it was fabulous) and watch the tv for a little bit and start to walk back.  That takes maybe an hour.  As I'm walking past the bar, the same guy comes walking (stumbling) out, and he says, "You again!"  I ask how he's doing, and he says, "Girl, I'm tired!"  Then he asks where I ate, and when I tell him, he says, "Hell yeah, that's good pizza!", and we talked a little bit more.  The point I'm trying to make is that if this DRUNK guy could remember me, then something was wrong with that rest stop couple.  The last thing this guy said to me was "You look good in that pink shirt", and we both laughed and laughed and laughed, because we knew that I did NOT look good in that pink shirt, what with my dirty, straw-like hair and borderline sunburnt face.  Then he said, "Girl, you're funny" and...laid down on a park bench.  Good times.

Day #3 of SoB II

 The Wyoming Motel (where I slept last night) apparently has a lot of long term guests.  There is a sign in the room that there is a $100 fee for ANY type of cooking, and they encourage their guests to use this, their bar-b-q pit.  Can you tell that it is the former swimming pool, now filled with gravel?!?

 This is the sign that made me want to stay at the Wyoming Motel - "Cleanest - Affordable - Quite".  It was that last descriptor that got my attention - quite what??  Quite nice?  Quite scary?  Quite...  I don't know.  Anyway, it ended up being quite LOVELY!!!  I slept better than I have in ages, and remember that weird sign about the towels?  Well, it all made sense this morning when I took a shower and the towels were AMAZING.  Like, better than I have at my house.  I'd threaten someone if I had those towels, too.  (And YES, I know it was probably supposed to be 'Quiet'.)

 Me and a giant boot.  Got a smashed penny at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum.  I don't feel guilty about this penny even though I didn't visit the museum because I chose a design about Wyoming, not the museum.

 Ok...RoadsideAmerica stop #9.  Mom, you might want to skip this one.  It's called Mel Gould's Buryville in Cheyenne, WY.  Old house on a frontage road with lots of crazy metal sculptures.  Here's me and a muffler BEAR!

Sign says "Beware of Dog" with this blanket covered lump under it.  I thought it might be rigged to jump when someone walked by it.  So, at this point I was in a side yard, but the front yard was where all of the cool stuff was.  There was a sign that said "Visitors Welcome", but I still wasn't sure until... 

 Mel Gould himself walked out to give me a personal, private tour.  He doesn't hear very well or walk very well, and most of the time when he spoke he sounded like the chicken farmer that Napolean Dynamite worked for when he had to drink the raw eggs?  So most of the time I just laughed and laughed which meant that he loved me.  This Purple People Eater is his pride and joy, and was featured on the cover of Popular Mechanics when it cost a quarter (!!) and was housed in a museum for several years.  I ripped my pants getting in, but it was worth it.

He gave me all sorts of literature on it, including an entire newspaper that he said he didn't have many copies of.  I tried to tell him to keep it, because I have enough...stuff...already, but he insisted because he said I had a good vibration.  At least I think that's what he said.

 He made this for veterans, and when I told him that my brother was a Marine, he said, "Well, tell your brother this is for him", so Erich, here you go.

 He and his wife had 2 sons and 2 daughters, so this is a SIX PERSON bicycle that they would ride in parades!!  Only one person could steer or brake.

Ok, so this place is called BURYville, right?  This is where it gets weird (BUT IT ALL ENDS OK!!!).  He invited me into his house (and the ONLY reason I went is because his daughter and granddaughter were leaving, but at least they'd seen me).  It was super cluttered and looked like a grandparent's house.  In the kitchen was something that I can only describe as a school locker; it was an elevator to get to his basement.  He made one of his 3 black labs ride down in it.  Then he and I walked down some very steep stairs to the basement, where he showed me one of those old-timey excercise machines with the jiggling belt?  Well, that's pretty much all there is, so I think we're done when nope, he opens a side door, and goes down a tunnel...

 I kept thinking "SilenceoftheLambs, SilenceoftheLambs".  Down the tunnel was just more STUFF.  A collection a guitars and an old washboard and I don't know.  There was an old bomb shelter filled with records that I chose not to go in (because THAT was drawing the line!).  He did have a guest book down there, and - supposedly - the last people to visit where a couple from MT 2 days ago.  This took up about an hour of my precious drive time.  Oh, and I forgot to tell you that he insisted that I ride the elevator back upstairs.  It was crazy.  (I am laughing so HARD while writing this, because I know my mom is having a fit.)

 This is the house...

 I'm trying to stay off major highways, and at one point a bridge was out and I ended up on (you can't tell) a gravel road.  I just thought it was funny.  Like if someone stopped me and asked where I was headed, and I'd say "Delaware".  I owe HUGE PROPS to my buddy Jeremy for letting me use his cable to update my Garmin.

RoadsideAmerica stop #10 in Ogallala, NE.  Hard to see, but it's a water tower that's painted like a UFO!  (How funny would it be to move from Walla Walla to Ogallala?)

 RoadsideAmerica stop #11.  Petrified Wood Art Museum, also in Ogallala.  Eh.  I felt bad, because it was like a real MUSEUM, and the two brothers who did all of the work were sitting at the front and as soon as I walked in one of them got up to talk to me (I think he and the fellow from Buryville probably graduated high school together), and I just wasn't feeling it, you know?  So, I took a picture (this is ANOTHER boot, but you can't tell), did a quick lap, and got back on the road.  It was pretty stuff, though.

First stop (I think) that I found on both RoadsideAmerica AND the smashed penny website!!  This is Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, NE.  I thought the guys on top of the building were funny.

Go inside, get my smashed penny, and I feel compelled to walk around, and what do I find?? ANOTHER TWO HEADED CALF!! What are the chances? TWO two headed calves in two days?? That's crazy. This one had a plaque that said it lived for 48 hours.

If you're reading this, you probably know me, and if you don't know, well, you won't be surprised to learn that I LOVE mood rings!  And check this one out!!  A mood ring in the shape of a MOUSTACHE!  Best purchase of the trip yet.  OH!!  Wait a minute!!  I didn't tell you how my day of driving started!!  Even though I have half a tank of gas, I decide to fill up before getting on the road.  Pull into the gas station...no gas cap.  How long have I been driving now?  Like ONE HUNDRED YEARS?!?  I've NEVER lost a gas cap.  I SWEAR if I didn't have to spend money on goofy/careless things like this, I'd be a millionaire.  So, 6 bucks for a gas cap.  (I've thought and thought - because I don't think anyone TOOK it last night at the Wyoming Motel - and there was a weird situation the last time I remember getting gas, and maybe I got flustered and forgot to put it back on in my hurry to get in the car.  So...wha?  You want to hear the story??  I stopped at the Wyoming State Welcome Center, and had my top down.  Both the woman and the man parked next to me commented on it, and we all laughed when I said I was calling 'uncle' and put the top up because it was hot.  I thought we had a moment, you know?  Well, two hours later I pull into one of those gas stations with the horrible lots, where you pull right into a bank of 6 or 8 pumps, which leaves no room for people who want to go to the store so they leave their cars at the pump and other people line up behind them...  You know what I mean.  It stresses me out.  Well, I pull in, and don't you know it's that guy from the rest stop on the other side of the same pump!!  What are the odds?!  So, I, I don't know, get all excited. like I've just run into a long lost friend, and he just tips his head at me, LIKE HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM.  Well, I don't even want to get out and pump gas.  How dumb is that?  I'm looking for his girlfriend, hoping she'll remember me and remind him of what a great conversation we had...  She came out of the store and walked right past me, too.  Seriously?!?!  I know I'm making a HUGE (and weird) deal out of nothing, but I just wanted to get my gas and go, and so maybe that's what happened.)

RoadsideAmerica stop #...I got all excited about telling my last story, and I've forgotten again...13.  Sod House Museum in Gothenberg, NE.  Now...RoadsideAmerica says it's open til NINE, which is kind of crazy when you think about it, so I should have double checked, because it closed at TWO.  There was a Sod House coffee shop right across the parking lot, and I asked the teenager who was working if I was missing the coolest thing EVER.  She said no, the last time she'd been was in 6th grade, and it was just a house made of...sod.

Alas, this was another RoadsideAmerica/smashed penny stop - the Great Plattes River Road Archway Monument in Kearney, NE.  Whew!  That's a mouthful!  It straddles I-80.  I was worried it would close at 7, so I raced to get there by 7:03, but it had closed at 6.  I think there was admission, so I'm not too upset about missing it.

I think I'm getting jaded, because in Kearney there was also a statue of an 'oxen pulling a schooner' on RoadsideAmerica.  I made one lame attempt to find it, and then decided to keep driving.  I am now in Grand Island, NE and headed to bed!!