From "Out of the Ordinary" to "Out of this World"

“Stop!”     “ Why?”     “Because it’ll be interesting - and you might learn something!”    Ever have this conversation - or some variation of it?  Stopping at a roadside attraction has, for many people, become a thing of the past, in large measure because of our “hurry up and get there” mentality.  We hurry to get to an over-crowded tourist Mecca so we can stand in line and wait with other frazzled folks.  Zipping along at 70 miles per hour has turned anything even a short distance off the freeway into a blur.  We have welcomed homogenized restaurants, experiences, and views; mediocrity is accepted or even sought so that our travel experience is expedited.  Kids are too often plugged into the celluloid world (OK, I realize DVDs aren’t celluloid but I’m using a little literary license here) instead of the real world.  Why not turn off the freeway and onto a blue highway and experience some “Americana”.

The iconic Route 66 was once home to many roadside attractions which have disappeared. Ironically Route 66 has itself turned into an “attraction”.  The once-ubiquitous full service gas stations have disappeared along with the dinosaurs. Neither Dino nor dinosaurs are visible along the interstate.  But here are a few places that we’ve discovered…

Bill Shea opened his private museum in what was once his Texaco and later his Marathon gas station. The museum contained a vast quantity of petroleum-related memorabilia from original gas pumps to oil cans; from advertising posters and signs to wooden telephone booths.  For a mere $3.00 admission fee you could immerse yourself in fifty years of service station artifacts and hear first-hand commentary of the glory days of “fill ‘er up and check the oil” from the maestro himself.  In December of 2013 Bill Shea passed away at the age of 91.  Late in 2014 his family put the museum up for sale.  It is unknown if it will reopen.  Though locked and fenced, some items can still be viewed from the exterior.  Anyone interested in a new business venture?

Shea’s Gas Station Museum                         
2075 N. Peoria Rd. Springfield, Illinois
http://www.oldgas.com/info/sheasroute66.html

Bill Shea's gas station on the original Route 66, the "Mother Road"

The station / museum is for sale if you are interested

What does a despondent Boston Red Sox fan do when his team loses a World Series?  Barry Levension wandered the aisles of his local grocery store late one night when suddenly, in the mustard aisle, he had an epiphany.  “If you build it they will come” worked for the Field of Dreams.  Why wouldn’t it work for his brainstorm?  The idea was formed in 1986.  Six years later, Levension left his job as an Assistant District Attorney in Wisconsin to open the Mustard Museum.  The museum is home to a wide variety of mustard-related items, including an extensive collection of antique mustard pots, advertising and merchandising material and memorabilia.  In the gift shop you can buy over 5,566 different types of mustard!  There is a mustard product from all 50 states and 70 countries.  All manner of items from T-shirts to hot pads can be purchased.  There is currently no admission charged, so use that extra cash to buy your favorite extra-spicy yellow condiment

The National Mustard Museum     

(formerly, the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum)                               

7477 Hubbard Avenue, Middleton, Wisconsin
http://mustardmuseum.com/

By the way, the former home of the Mustard Museum, Mount Horeb, is a great small town.  Take time to visit it, too.

Need a gluten-free, low cholesterol, high protein, easy to prepare, inexpensive dish that most people will like? Just grab that can of Bush’s Beans off the shelf.  The Bush Bean story started in 1904 when founder A.J. Bush partnered with the Stokely Brothers to open a tomato cannery in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee. That was just the start of a very interesting history of tasty products that included the 1934 addition of Pork and Beans and the 1969 addition of baked beans.  The regional brand expanded to a national provider during the 1990s, accompanied by an advertising campaign that included Jay Bush (great-grandson of the founder) and “Duke”, who is always trying to sell, give away, or otherwise expose the secret bean formula.  Discover all of the fascinating details at the Visitor Center, located on the site of the original general store founded in 1897.  There is a short film (“Roll that beautiful bean footage.”) that includes a welcome from Jay and Duke as well as a brief history and an overview of modern methods of processing.  The walk-through timeline highlights production history and couples the information with cultural history which is very informative. You can get your picture taken with Duke as a free memento of your visit.  The general store also includes the requisite t-shirt and other paraphernalia.  If you have a “hankering” for a fried bologna sandwich, stop in at the Bush’s Family Café.  Admission to the museum is free and it was a fun place to spend some time.

Bush’s Bean Museum                     
Chestnut Hill, TN                           
http://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/about_us/visitor_center/

Jay, Duke and Yvonne

Walk through the giant bean can to learn the history of Bush's Beans

Bush's introduced "Baked Beans" in 1969.  I would have thought they were
produced much earlier than that, and perhaps they were by other companies

Duke looks innocent, but he was trying to sell us the Bush's Beans secret recipe

The Bush's Beans canning plant in Chestnut Hill, TN

The Aviation Trail in Dayton, Ohio covers a multitude of sites and events related to the history and development of aviation.  One small museum is devoted to the invention, development, and current applications of the “free fall Parachute”. Prior to the invention of the “free fall” ‘chute, all parachutes were activated by a static line.  A rope or cord was attached to the airplane or balloon, and it literally “pulled” the parachute out of its pack in order to open and inflate it.  Inherent in this arrangement was that, in a damaged or crashing plane, the pilot was at risk of his line becoming entangled or severed.   A far more reliable parachute, which allowed the pilot to get clear of the plane before pulling the ripcord, was developed right after World War I at McCook Field in Dayton.  This museum was established to honor David Gold, who had one of the most comprehensive parachute and parachute memorabilia collections in the world. There are exhibits, artifacts and photographs that capture the importance of the free fall parachute from its initial use by Lt. Harold R. Harris on October 28, 1922 to current applications.

Parachute Museum  (part of the Aviation Trail)                                  

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park           
Dayton, Ohio
http://www.aviationtrailinc.org/

Yvonne bailing out

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”    But wait…you ARE in Kansas, and Kansas offers a surprising number of “Oz” related sites from wineries to museums.  One can follow the Yellow Brick Road to visit the Great and Powerful Oz (or at least his film double.)  This small but worth-a-stop private museum offers a plethora of Oz artifacts, from the 1939 film adaptation with Judy Garland, to the earliest editions of the L. Frank Baum books, to today’s collectables.  There are over 25,000 artifacts.  My personal favorite is one of the flying monkeys from the 1939 film.  Immerse yourself in everything Oz – in fact, expand the magic and your knowledge of Oz with one or more of the other books in the original series of fourteen penned by Baum about Oz.

When in Washington D.C., visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to view the ruby slippers that Dorothy wore in the 1939 classic.  Of course, you recall the slippers were originally silver in the book but were changed to ruby in the film because…??              

Oz Museum                                             

Wamego, Kansas

Admission charged, gift shop on premises
http://ozmuseum.com/

Yvonne's collection of miniature Wizard of Oz characters

We bought this collection at a toy store in Stanton, MO.  Either Dorothy is from
"The Wiz" or we have the only African-American Dorothy Gale in existence

In July 1947 something happened northwest of Roswell, New Mexico. People and entire institutions are still arguing over what exactly did happen.  Weather balloon…UFO…or???  On July 8, 1947, U.S. Army Public Information Officer Lt. Walter Haut issued a press release under orders from the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field, Col. William Blanchard.  Essentially, the release said that debris gathered by rancher W.W. “Mack” Brazel on his ranch was in fact remnants of the crash of an extra-terrestrial vehicle and the Army basically had in its possession a flying saucer.  The next day another press release was issued, but this time from Gen. Roger Ramey, stating it was a weather balloon.  That was the start of what some believe to be a still-on-going government UFO cover-up.  The event known as The Roswell Incident, the crash of an alleged flying saucer, the recovery of debris and bodies, and the ensuing cover-up by the military were of such magnitude and so shrouded in mystery that 60 years later there are still more questions than answers.  Believe what you will, but the eyewitness accounts that you can read at this museum can’t ALL be wrong.  Too many people saw and heard things; too many stories have striking similarities, to be totally incorrect.  This institution opened its doors to the public in 1992. It is a 501c3 non-profit educational organization. The museum “maintains its position as the serious side of the UFO phenomena.” 

International UFO Museum and Research Center

114 North Main Street, Roswell, New Mexico
http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/index.html

The UFO Museum and Research Center is housed in
an old movie theatre. 

Mike with the Aliens

Have some roadside fun!  Give up Disneyland?  Gracious, no!  But the next time you are in Orlando to visit Mickey, take some time to stop along the way at Gator-land, too!  Maybe you’ll discover your own Road Stories.

(New to our blog?  Read about some of our other fun and funky roadside discoveries that we wrote about on August 30, 2013 in Funky, Fun and Fascinating Museums Worth Getting Off the Highway.)