P.S. Thanks for the heads up, Kenton!

I’m pretty into these roadside picnic tables shaped like longhorns:

We were just innocently driving along and decided to stop for a bio break at an Exxon off I-35. When we first saw this giant cat statue, we thought it must be the Exxon tiger, but we were dead wrong.

Turns out it’s an Itasca Wampus Cat. Whoever built this fine monument to the mighty Wampus Cat helpfully printed out the legend of said cat on a dot matrix printer and posted it beside the statue. We think it’s been there for a while because it was pretty faded (it stands in direct sun), but we eventually figured out how to read it. And we’ve transcribed it for you!

THE LEGEND OF THE ITASCA WAMPUS CAT
(Authors: Diane Barnes, Brian Knox, Nancy Bowman)

What is a Wampus Cat?

Maybe the best definition was given in the San Antonio Express-News a few years ago in an article about legendary nicknames. “Wampus Cat n., a fierce animal that does not exist other than in the hearts and minds of the people in the town of Itasca.” The legend of the Wampus Cat, however, began with the Cherokee Indians, who settled in the eastern hills of Tennessee. Cherokee folklore is filled with tales of evil spirits lurking in the deep, dark forests that surround their villages.

Accounts of Wampus Cat sightings also come from Georgia. For years, outdoorsmen and residents of the swamplands in southeast Georgia have reported hearing strange, high-pitched screams late at night. A few claim to have seen a shaggy, man-like “cat creature” loping though the woods. The Wampus Cats sighted there are half-man and half-wildcat. Other accounts of Wampus Cats say that they have cat eyes, only they are bigger than any you have ever seen! They also leave enormous paw tracks. One report from Johnson City, Tennessee, in the 1950s reports that “the cat was about the size of a large spaniel. In fact, my daddy did mistake him for a dog at first. Then he noticed that the animal has stripes, just like a big tabby. No dog was ever marked like that! It reached Jones-Vance Pharmacy, raised up on its hind feet, put its paws on the windowsill, and peered into the window. After the cat had seen all that it had wanted to see inside Jones-Vance, it turned and, still standing on its hind legs, continued walking down the street and disappeared around the corner. Daddy said that his blood ran cold.”

What is a Wampus (sometimes spelled Wampas) Cat and where did it come from? Surely it’s no natural creature. Some people believe that the Wampus Cat is a human who turns into a cat at night – something like the old-World legend of the werewolf. No Wampus Cat has ever been seen in the daytime. Itasca chose Wampus Cat as its nickname sometime in the early 1920s, probably 1922 or 1923. The most common account of how it came about suggests that the student body was given the task of choosing a mascot. Everyone was thinking “what would make us proud”. Then one night, after a hard-fought victory, the team was celebrating in the locker room when one of the captains, Trav Burks, shouted “Wow! We really played like Wampus Cats tonight!” Silence fell over the room, and everyone knew the mascot was born. In a tragic twist of fate, Burks died in an automobile accident a few years after graduating.

Where did Trav Burks get the idea? Had he heard the legends? Or had he seen the elusive animal in the woods in the hills outside of town? We’ll never know for sure. But, we are sure of these things: The Wampus Cat is fierce. The Wampus Cat is the symbol of athletic and academic pride that lives in the hearts of the students, faculty, and citizens of Itasca. We may all have different ideas of what the Wampus Cat looks like, but we all know how it feels to be a Wampus Cat from old Itasca High!

Way to be, Itasca High Wampus Cats!!!

After that, we ventured on to Waco, Texas. Our destination was…

The Dr Pepper Museum!

Now, some of you may not be aware of this, but Brian is kind of a soda fanatic. In fact, Dr Pepper is his favorite. So we definitely had to make a stop at the birthplace of Dr Pepper and check out this museum. They have an interesting collection of Dr Pepper memorabilia and old bottles/cans as well as vintage bottling equipment and the like. One of my favorite parts of the museum was the very large collection of vintage vending machines, including some of the oldest vending machines (and even THE oldest Dr Pepper bottle container, the washbasin). This is just a sampling; they had dozens in there!

They also have an old-fashioned soda fountain in the museum where they use syrup made in the traditional way (with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup) and have an actual soda water fountain for adding the carbonated water for each drink individually. You can even sometimes get a hot Dr Pepper (the drink was originally intended to be served hot), but alas, today was not our lucky day on that front. We did try some traditionally made cold soda, though:

I have to say, I really enjoyed the experience with the soda jerk and everything, but something is wrong with the water in Waco. It kind of tastes like… corn? We’re not sure. But it was definitely a factor at the Dr Pepper Museum and also the place we stopped afterwards for lunch. And by the way, that restaurant had flyers and posters up everywhere advertising a concealed handgun class that they are teaching in the restaurant in a couple of weeks. Texas!!!

Okay, so after our very pleasant afternoon in Waco, we headed south!

Did I mention how awesome the weather was today? It was at least 75 or 80 in the afternoon and sunny and beautiful. When we rolled into Austin around 7ish, the temp had dropped down to just 70 degrees. Yay!! (It was in the 20s in DC, so we couldn’t be happier to be here instead!)

One of the many wacky, quirky elements of Austin is its large population of grackles. They are everywhere. If you’ve seen the Hitchcock classic The Birds, you can imagine what they are like. My only hope is that they don’t turn evil and decide to rebel against the humans at some point. If the grackles organize, we are done for.

Now we’re settled in Austin for the next week. The plan is to get back on the road next Friday, so hopefully we can post an update then! Have a great weekend, everyone!

We got on the road and before we knew it, we met up with an old friend.

Brian and I both have enormous fondness for the Gateway Arch. Our first trip together (in September 2005) was to St. Louis (for a conference for Brian), and we actually went inside the Arch. It was terrifying but really fun! You guys may also remember that we passed through St. Louis on our way home in the fall. Good times!

An hour or so outside of St. Louis, we saw a sign for the World’s Largest Rocking Chair (in Fanning, Missouri), so obviously we had to go see that for ourselves. And now you can see it for yourself too:

It’s 42 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 27,500 pounds… and was just erected in April 2008! I’m sure it has a great future as a roadside attraction ahead of it. Congratulations, World’s Largest Rocking Chair! And sorry you got displaced, World’s Now Second Largest Rocking Chair, where ever you are.

Another interesting thing we saw on the road today was this:

(We think this is a Google Street View camera car. Can anyone confirm or deny?)

Then, we had our big moment:

HOORAY!

Our first stop in Oklahoma was here:

We came here because we needed to fill the gas tank, but it turned out to be a very special place. Not only does this highway-bridging rest area include the Will Rogers Mini-Museum (the “museum” consists of some posters and one small display case of paraphernalia — seriously), but you’re allegedly looking at the World’s Former Largest McDonald’s. (Brian and I went inside to use the restroom and we both find that claim hard to believe. This McD’s must have held the title a long time ago!)

We continued on to Tulsa, where we went here:

This is Hank’s Hamburgers, which is a Tulsa landmark that’s been operating since 1949. We had a really great time here. Everyone was so nice to us, the place had a wonderful authentic small-town air (despite being in a relatively large city), and they have these homemade chocolate-covered peanut butter candies that are amazing. And also they have tater tots. And they hilariously say “Hank’s” instead of “thanks” on their signage:

After that, we drove for a long time. We made it through Oklahoma City all the way to Ardmore where we are now all set up in our Super 8. Tomorrow we’ll keep heading south. Yay!