Roadside America

Aiken, SC – Day 27: Allman Brothers Not Live At The Rose Hill Cemetery

Rose Hill Cemetery


 
Today was a short day, but I wasn’t in a hurry, as the lunch I wanted to do with my Edward Jones crew was moved to Friday. I stayed up until 11:00 PM and slept for only about 3-1/2 hours. I tossed and turned but couldn’t get back to sleep. I turned the temp down to 67 in the room and put earbuds in to listen to an Everyday Driver podcast. Somewhere in that hour I nodded off but woke up when the podcast ended. I got up, went to the bathroom, turned off the alarm, and got back into bed. I woke up at 7:30AM. Somehow I ended up with a good night’s sleep out of it.

My route took me right through the city of Macon, and I remember one time way back when I thought I should stop in and visit the graves of 4 of the 6 founding members of the Allman Brothers Band. I never had the time until today. Using the info from Roadside America, I knew sort of where the graves were located in the cemetery, but it took 2 passes and then a third, after returning to the entry of the Rose Hill Cemetery, where there were explicit directions posted to the grave sites. There is a fence around 4 graves because people were doing things to and sometimes on the graves.

Little Martha Ellis

Another grave with an Allman Brothers connection is that of Martha Ellis, who died in 1886 at 12 years old. It is believed to have inspired the band’s song ‘Little Martha.’ While looking for the band members’ grave sites, I happened to just stumble on her grave site. I picked out the statue easily enough while wandering around because I had seen the picture on Roadside America. Plus it was right along the road, unlike the band members’ site, which is in a small hollow in this very hilly cemetery.

Auburn, AL – Day 26: Red Brick & Red Tails

I set my alarm for 5:00 AM because I wanted an early start, but I woke up on my own at 4:30 AM. So I got an earlier start. The hotel breakfast didn’t start until 6:00 AM, but as with most “free” breakfasts, they aren’t really worth the money, so my breakfast started at 6:30 AM at a Waffle House in Starkville, MS, about 90 miles away.

World’s Largest Brick Made Of Bricks

Today’s Roadside America photo is of the World’s Largest Brick Made of Bricks in Montgomery, AL.

After the big brick stop, and after traveling through this town probably 4 times in the past, I had enough time to stop there because of that early start. I spent an hour or so at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Alabama. I didn’t stay long enough to watch the main movie because I just missed the start. But I did view a few of the short movies around in Hangar 1. I walked up the stairs to the tower to have a look around. After walking through 3 or 4 doors with signs warning of wasps and not seeing them, as I went to open the door to the outside deck, I could see a few buzzing around. Nope, back down I went.

There was no admission fee and no drop box at the front desk, so I was going to go to the bookstore and buy a few things to support the place, but even though the sign said it should be open, the door was locked. Sigh.

Greenwood, MS – Day 25: Hot & Cold River Boat

Morning in Paris


 
This is my favorite Roadside America photo of the day, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas. I took a few yesterday and even posted one on Instagram last night. So I won’t put this on there, but I will add the other two Roadside America photos.

The first one is the Washington County Welcome Center just over the Mississippi River in the town of Greenville. It is in the shape of a paddle wheel riverboat. When I pulled in to the lot, there were no other cars. There were several cones on the wheelchair ramp and a lot of caution tape. There was also notes posted on the entrance door, but I just assumed it was closed, so I took the picture and moved on.

The second photo was only a short detour to the small town of Ruleville before arriving at my stay for the night in Greenwood, MS. Two out-of-service water towers, with one labeled HOT and the other labeled COLD.

Paris, TX – Day 24: A Giant Rabbit & Another ‘Henge

World’s Largest Jackrabbit

The first stop of the day was to take this photo of the World’s Largest Jackrabbit is in Rails, TX, a town so small Google Maps doesn’t know it exists.

I have been to a few Stonehenge wannabes in my travels; of course, the first was the grand automotive one, Carhenge, in Alliance, NE. There is also a more thoughtful one on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, TX. And I’ve also been to America’s First Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, WA.

Today I got to see a Pickup Truckbed Henge located in Stamford, TX. Amazingly enough, it isn’t listed among the nearly fifty Henges on Roadside America’s website.

As a bonus, right across the street from Pickup Truckbed Henge is another Roadside America site, Isetta With Spider Legs, which the original tipster identified the car as a VW Beetle. Which is understandable, as there are several Beetle Spider art pieces around.

Ed Note: I had to recreate this day’s adventure because I accidentally overwrote it in creating Roadtrip – Day 11’s post.

Lubbock, TX – Day 23: Faulty Memory & Bombers Away

ND3 and a B-17


 
Today’s Roadside America picture is of the Flying Fortress of the Plains A metal cut-out sculpture of the B-17 bomber on the site of the WWII Hobbs Army Air Field. I had been here before, back in 2023, too bad I didn’t remember where here was.

Today’s destination was Lubbock, TX, which is a little over 300 miles from Santa Fe. It was a short driving day with only about 5 hours in the saddle. I had picked out a lunch spot in Fort Sumner and a Roadside America stop in Muleshoe, TX, to see the world’s largest mule shoe.

This route took me right through Clovis, NM, where I thought the above B-17 was located. I remembered that it was not far from the airport and was visible from the road. After taking a circuitous route all around the airport, I never found it. Plus, nothing seemed familiar.

In 2023 Donna and I took a road trip over to Laurel, MS, to visit the Hometown town of Laurel, MS. Our route was through Hobbs, NM, on the way there and Clovis, NM, on the way home. All three towns were in the running for us to possibly relocate to.

Turns out the B-17 sculpture was in Hobbs. With the planned short day of driving, I decided, what the heck, and would head south. But first, lunch. I fired up Google and searched for a place. The first one up was Mom’s Cafe with a 4.7-star rating. I headed that way, and as I started up the bridge that went over the railroad tracks, I had a hit of déjà vu. I already knew where I was going, Donna and I had breakfast at Mom’s Cafe back in 2023.

Instead of just the 100 miles I had left to go to Lubbock from the start in Santa Fe, I turned it into 240 miles with the Hobbs detour.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 22: Bombs Away

I Always Thought Matt Damon Was Shorter


 
Sally and I drove up this morning to visit Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Well worth the visit if you ever find yourself in Santa Fe and have a free afternoon. There are plenty of buildings worth seeing, including the Fuller Lodge and the Hans Bethe House that you can go in. You can peek in the windows of the house that Oppenheimer lived in, and someday you will be able to tour the inside. They are currently working on getting it museum-worthy.

We also went to the Bradbury Science Museum. When I first saw the name, I thought, that’s cool, they named it after my favorite science fiction writer. But, no, it’s named after Norris Bradbury, an essential Manhattan Project scientist who would become the second director of the Lab, transforming it over 20 years from a military outpost to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

We had planned on eating at a place called Blue Window Bistro, but as we walked there was a prominent sign on the door that said Help Wanted, and practically in unison we said, “Uh oh.” We opened the door, and there was a crowd waiting to be seated, so we turned right around. Ended up back home and finished up the shrimp etouffee from the other day.

This is my last night in Santa Fe; tomorrow I turn east and head towards the old stomping grounds of Aiken, SC.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 17: I Despise I Forty

Sunrise Shovel

Back to an actual Roadside America picture that you can find on the website, this is the Largest Shovel in Texas. How do they know? Just because the construction company that put it up says so? Texas is pretty big; maybe there is a bigger one in the eastern side of the state. They estimate it is 15′ tall, and to me, that doesn’t sound that big. And even if it is the largest, someone will take that as a challenge and make one 25′ tall somewhere else in the state.

From Bowie, TX to Santa Fe, NM is approximately 550 miles, and almost exactly one half of that drive was along I-40. Today there was a pretty stiff crosswind, and it seemed like 80% of the traffic was 18-wheelers trying to stay in their lanes. Lone truck drivers hauling ass, corporate drivers who might be speed limited, and any others that might be worried about many points they have on their driver’s licenses. Mix in pickups hauling giant camper homes and skittish auto drivers, and you make for a very exciting, AKA tense, drive.

When I do head east next weekend, I will only cross I-40 once on my way to get on US-60 & 84 to get to Lubbock, TX where I’ll pick up US-82 to finish off Texas. I’m sure I will run into plenty of big rigs, but it should be easier to pick them off (pass) one at a time than when they are in a big formation like B-17s on their way to bomb Berlin.