Month: June 2025

Springfield – Day 1: Yurtle the Turtle & Reincarnation

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Yurttle the Turttle

Today’s Roadside America is of Yurtle the Turtle which is part of the Dr. Suess Amazing World Museum and Sculpture Garden. Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield in 1904.

The next three photos are from my own personal Roadside Brian collection. All these were also taken in Springfield, Massachusetts, where Brian William Bogardus was born in 1955. The story of these can be found in my post Can I Have “70s Movies” For 1,000 Alex? from back in March where you can see the matching screencaptures from the movie, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.

While in Springfield, I also visited the Basketball Hall of Fame for the first time. I wandered around and took several pictures that aren’t worth posting. Probably the most interesting things there are life-size photos of a dozen or more men and women basketball players. They are posed with their arms outstretched straight out to the sides. I think the only one I was taller than was Mugsy Bouggs who is 5’3″! If you didn’t read the signs when you pulled into the parking lot you would be hard pressed to it was a pro sports hall of fame, that signage on the building is easy to miss because all the restaurants inside have much larger signs. Max’s Tavern, Cold Stone Creamery, Subway, UNO Chicago Grill and Plan B.

Basketball Hall of Fame

New Britain – Day 2: Animal Statues & A Car Wash

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Today John and I tooled around the stomping grounds that surround our shared hometown. We rolled through our old neighborhood and it looked, not looked the same; the houses were still there, but they had all updated dramatically. Then took a tour of the town that looked recognizable, not recognizable at the same time. A final loop that took us by our old high school, that was where we spent 10th and 11th grades, and our old new school where we spent our senior year. I say old new school because the first year it opened was 1973.

After the nostalgia tour, I talked him into driving to Hartford so we could go to the Riverview Park because there was a photo there to be had, Jack, First Presidential Pardon Turkey. The Roadside America story of Jack differs from the plaque text, so who knows if any of it is right or myth? After that adventure John remembered that there was a flying cow on top of a local dairy. Not as large as yesterday’s dinosaurs, but larger than the pardoned turkey. Super Cow the mascot of Guida’s Dairy.

When we started our adventure, we passed right by a charity car wash that looked like some teenage kids and I said, “If they are still there when we get back, I’ll bring them the Miata.” “It hasn’t been washed since Aiken.” Well, sure enough, they were still there. But there were no teenagers; it was just adults. It was for a girls’ soccer team, and they were out trying to drum up business. The Miata was almost finished, and they showed back up. Good thing too, as I’m not sure they had ever washed a car before; it was almost 3 Stooges funny watching them try to wash a big SUV. Best $10 dollars spent so far.

25 Years Ago – Volume 11, Issue 3

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The Four Truths Of Youth

– Barbara Beach

Having just returned from Chicago attending our daughters’ high school graduation and a friend’s 5Oth birthday party, I found myself in an introspective moment. Exhausted after flying into San Diego from Chicago via Minneapolis-St. Paul, I was elated at the prospect of climbing into my 1990 Miata for the 30-mile coastal ride back home. Even after a full decade, I never tire at the prospect of a topless-sun-in-my-face-wind-in-my-hair ride to anywhere. While so many things in my life have changed. (remember, I am feeling reflective and introspective at this moment), the one thing that has remained the same is the car that set the stage for the last decade of my life. Six Miatas, two RX7’s and eleven years later I have a husband of 10 years, 5 adult children, none of whom were adults when I purchased my first MX5, one is starting college, and another is finishing high school. The child of 9 who was known to steal my RX-7 is now 21, and doing autocross. The child of 11 who would wear pillow case veils on her head has now donned the real thing as a June 2000 bride. As for the older kids…well we now have 4 grandchildren and a baby of our own…Miata Magazine. It seems as though our Miatas and Miata friends are one of the few elements that have remained constant.

As I mused over the activities of my Chicago trip, especially the 50th birthday celebration, I reflected upon the many friends that attended this party. 1 thought to myself, (again, I am having an introspective moment) as I’m driving north on the coast highway. I ask myself the question: If I been walking down the street today, and encountered anyone of the folks who were my close friends 25 years ago, would I have recognized any of them? I concluded, all of them with the exception of myself had aged excessively. As a group they looked middle aged, bald, financially comfortable, and generally 50 plus. The parking area was filled with Lexus coupes, Mercedes SUV’s, and the occasional Ford Taurus. Once again, I pondered upon the phenomena of having maintained my own youthful appearance and perpetual good nature while everyone else at the party had so ungracefully aged, to put it politely. I concluded that it must have had something to do with my love of sports cars, and my intimate relationship with my Miatas.

I have clearly come to recognize over the course of time, that there are four primary truths associated with youth:

1. Youth is wasted on the young……but, we never realize it until it’s too late. Try to explain that to a twenty year old.

2. Youth is relative depending upon your age…..My Miata driving Mom and infamous back issue lady Gwen is almost 80 and thinks I am still an adolescent.

3. God is kind to us by not allowing us to see ourselves as we may appear to others when we attend long time reunions.

4. Youth is closely correlated to fun……sports cars are made for fun, and the Miata is the embodiment of freedom and joy that every modern sports car has tried to emulate.

Pulling into my driveway, astounded that I had already arrived, I found my parking spot in-between our three other Miatas and reflected for just a moment more. I happily walked into my house feeling young again and again.

Copyright 2000, Miata Magazine. Reprinted without permission.