First, we stopped at the Fire Museum of Texas in Beaumont, Texas, because it has this:

That is the world’s third largest fire hydrant (it’s 24 feet tall).

We continued on I-10 to Louisiana!

We then visited the Frog Capital of the World, Rayne, La.

We had dinner at Prejean’s in Lafayette before heading down to our Days Inn in New Iberia. We have some exciting things planned for the next few days, but we may not have internet until after the weekend… so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us. We’ll be back!

But of course that’s not just any pile of trash. That pile of trash is part of the world’s largest roadrunner!!!

He’s a bit strange since he just hangs out at a rest stop all day with no plaque or anything. I don’t know a thing about his story. But he’s pretty great, obviously!

We then headed back into Texas!

As we drove east on I-10, we waved to Mexico. (I-10 follows the Mexico-U.S. border, so everything you’re seeing in the distance below is Mexico.) Hi, Mexico!

On our way back to Marfa, we encountered our UFO again. This time, it was grounded!

We stopped for dinner at Pizza Foundation in Marfa (again, delicious) and then headed south toward Big Bend… and then things really got interesting.

I had made a reservation at the park lodge (a first for us as we usually stay in a town outside of a national park) since our time in Big Bend will be limited, but since I’ve never been to this park before, I didn’t really know much about where things were located and the like. I assumed we would just find out from the park ranger at the entrance station when we arrived, but I started to get worried when we weren’t on our way until fairly late.

And then the storm started.

It was a completely crazy storm with bouts of intense rain and very bright, very strong lightning everywhere. It was really dark (except when the lightning flashed), so we would just get these occasional glimpses of the huge mountains or whatever was going on right next to us. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s just an unsettling experience to be in unfamiliar terrain in the middle of absolutely nowhere with really tall rocks right next to you that you can only see when the super bright lightning that is flashing in every direction around you — particularly when you don’t really know where you’re going or anything. We started to get scared that the park lodge would be closed when/if we ever arrived and we wouldn’t be able to get in… and of course there was no way to call since we didn’t have any cell service and there were no towns or people anywhere!!

Anyway, we did make it to the park, which was a big relief, but it was probably around 9pm at that point, so the entrance station was unmanned. We had to just hope for some signage to help us find the lodge. Yikes! Fortunately, there was a clearly marked sign eventually, and the road took us over some sharp switchbacks, and we saw a huge sign warning us about being in BEAR AND MOUNTAIN LION COUNTRY USE EXTREME CAUTION OMG!!!!!! I think that was when Brian informed me I would no longer be allowed to make in-park reservations.

Thankfully, we did find the lodge. Unfortunately, it was pretty dark and nothing really looked open. Luckily, someone was bringing trash out from the main building (the lodge here is kind of a mini-complex with a few different buildings with guestrooms, a restaurant, store, etc.), so I jumped out of the car to ask how we could get into our room. She directed me to a bulletin board that had an envelope pinned to it with my name on it. Seriously?? I would NEVER have known about that! The envelope contained our key and a little map to show us how to get to the room. Then, on our way to the building where our room was, we noticed the power go out in the adjacent building. We hoped it was just people turning off their lights for the night, but (spoiler alert) of course it wasn’t.

The rain had stopped at this point and we just saw occasional flashes of heat lightning; the clouds were moving by very quickly, but when the moon wasn’t covered by them, it was really bright. We were finally starting to relax at this point since we had a key and a room and everything and we had survived the drive and the storm, so we decided to hang out in the parking lot of the lodge and take a few pictures of the stunning moonlit landscape…

While we were hanging out there, a couple of other lodge guests came by to chat about the power situation. Apparently something had been damaged by the storm out by El Paso (!) and everything was completely off. One guy told us they were expecting to have it back on in two hours. Sooooo we got out our flashlights and got our stuff into our room without really being able to see very much. What an evening!!

We didn’t stay long today, though. But we’d like to come back since Marfa is chock-full of really interesting looking art galleries and the like. We also had a deeeeelicious breakfast this morning at Cochineal. I mean, what was that about? I was really not expecting that level of awesome in the culinary department in rural west Texas. Good job, Cochineal!

Anyway, we continued on our merry way down the road.

Wait a minute. What is that?

OMG A UFO!!!!!!!!!

Oh. Just kidding. It’s a weather blimp. But we are in UFO country over here, so you have to keep your eyes peeled!

So, after Marfa, we drove through a little town called Valentine, and then we happened upon a Prada store. Alas, it was closed.

More desert landscape followed:

Then we drove through El Paso. And I have to ask, El Paso, what is your deal? Why are you SO HUGE and sprawled and spread out and full of soooo many strip clubs and strip malls?

And then…

Wait, what? Yes! We decided to go to New Mexico! We have our reasons! You’ll see. We weren’t even deterred by this!

First of all, we went to Hatch, New Mexico. Hatch is the home of the famous hatch chiles that show up in late summer and immediately begin making everything more delicious. The tiny little town hosts a big chile festival in September.

We were a bit late for the festival, obviously, but there were still lots of chile stands lining the road into town.

We also got to see the famous chiles growing in the field!!

As if all that awesomeness weren’t enough, Hatch is also home to Sparky’s, which not only has delicious food but is also a roadside-attraction aficionado’s dream, with statues of Uncle Sam, some weird cartoon family holding burgers and root beer, a metal robot and pig, etc:

After Hatch, we shot straight up to Albuquerque’s charming Sandia Peak Inn (by the way, I think this is the only hotel we’ve patronized on Route 66 in all our travels). We enjoyed seeing the lovely harvest moon on our way!

Why the heck are we in Albuquerque, you ask? You’ll just have to come back tomorrow to find out!

First of all, we went through Louisiana, and I owe you this:

Also, remember how I mentioned that it was snowing in Vicksburg? Well, here you can see some snow falling on the Super 8 pool (which was open, of course, since the day before had been 80 degrees or something!):

We did eventually get to Jackson and had to continue recovering from being sick. I had a little relapse, etc. I won’t bore you (or gross you out) with the details… but it did, unfortunately, prevent us from attending most of the events we had come to Jackson to enjoy. Alas! We still had a really nice visit with my aunt and uncle, and they took us to a very cool art event hosted by the Mississippi Museum of Art’s New Collector’s Club. It was a talk and studio tour at NunoErin studio in Jackson. They make very cool swamp-inspired, interactive artwork with thermoactive materials — basically, furniture, pillows, and wall panels that change color when warmed by body heat. Here is one of the artists demonstrating how to use a hair dryer to get the color change effect on some wall panels:

It was fascinating and really fun. Thanks, NunoErin!

Eventually we got back on the road to DC… and I have a few more state signs for you, including the elusive Virginia sign!

(By the way, we went through a little corner of Georgia, but they don’t bother to put up a welcome sign there. What gives, Georgia??)

In Virginia, we stopped at the Natural Bridge Exxon and saw this tiger:

It’s a far cry from the Itasca Wampus Cat, eh?

This tiger was made by Mark Cline, a fiberglass artist whose work we always see everywhere. In fact, we have several stories about Professor Cline… but they’re stories for another time.

Anyway, we’re moving to Austin. Wait, what? No, seriously. We are. I got a job. We got an apartment. Movers are coming a week from Tuesday. Soooo things are pretty busy and crazy. But we’ll keep you all posted as much as we can. Keep checking back!!

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!

Woo hoo! Six states to go…

Anyway, before we knew it, we had arrived at our first destination… the Creation Museum! I don’t think I can really articulate our experience there, so I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly) and you can draw your own conclusions. Okay?

First of all, there’s an outdoor garden/nature trail that leads to a petting zoo that includes a zebra-donkey hybrid. You can see here that he or she is obviously planning a grand (albeit very slow) escape…

We didn’t spend too much time outside since it was pretty cold and windy and cloudy and blah, and anyway, the main part of the museum is inside. There’s a large walk-through exhibit that depicts the early events in Genesis in 3D, often animatronic detail. Here’s our first protaganist, Adam:

Way to be strategically placed, sheep. Anyway, as with most situations, the Garden of Eden exhibit is all fun and innocent games until you add in a vegetarian raptor:

And then here are some dinosaurs boarding Noah’s Ark:

Unlike the Eden photos above, that particular ark photo is actually from a diorama-style smaller exhibit, and I reluctantly admit that those particular dinosaurs are not animatronic. In fact, I think they are action figures that are available for sale in the Creation Museum gift shop.

Aaaaaanyway, after we left the museum, we thought another Great Flood was coming because there was crazy heavy rain combined with some serious wind gusts. We made it through though and continued on our way through Louisville, Kentucky! We made a random (and very brief) stop to see this:

It’s the world’s oldest ornamental water tower; it hasn’t pumped any water in a century, but it’s now an art museum! We actually didn’t plan that stop — we just stumbled upon it, which is of course the most rewarding way to enjoy the road! But we didn’t just stumble upon this:

Yep. That’s exactly what you think it is. And if you ever visit the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, and wish to pay your respects to Colonel Sanders, enter the cemetery on the Grinstead side and simply follow the yellow line.

But… if this all seems morbid to you, don’t worry. Much like Elvis, the Colonel lives on:

We spied the Colonel alive and well, waiting for the bus in downtown Louisville. No, we did not accost him and demand the secret recipe for fried chicken eternal life.

We made it to our Super 8 in Okawville, Illinois, just barely in time to catch LOST. Tomorrow the plan involves conquering Oklahoma!

We were in New Orleans for less than 24 hours, and the entire time it was freezing cold (which was very, very surreal), but we still totally enjoyed ourselves. As I mentioned before, we stayed right on Bourbon Street — not for everyone, obviously, but we had fun. When we arrived (around 10:30pm), we bundled up in our warmest winter coats and hats and everything and strolled around the French Quarter. It was either totally dead (for the Quarter) or really hopping (compared to everywhere else in the universe), depending on your point of view. We turned in just before our noses froze off and were lulled to sleep by the party noises from the street below.

In the morning, we did the same thing, basically, but we also got food (from Acme Oyster Bar) and visited the New Orleans School of Cooking so I could buy some filé powder. Guess who we saw there?

Yep: John Schneider, best known for his portrayal of Bo on the Dukes of Hazzard (which I didn’t know, actually, but Brian filled me in). He looks more like this now:

He and his family (we assume) had just finished taking a cooking class and were in the shop buying things while we were there. Yee-ha!

And also:

We actually managed to work in two beignet visits in our 15 (or so) hours in NOLA… once when we first arrived (thanks for being open 24 hours a day, Café du Monde) and then again right before we left.

We had to cut our visit a bit short, but we still enjoyed our little taste of New Orleans. And then…

We arrived in Mississippi last night and are now fully entrenched in “family time.” Laissez les bons temps rouler, non?

Happy holidays, everybody!

Yay! We’ve now been to 43 of the 50 states, plus D.C. of course.

Now, I don’t have a state sign for Texas, but I have something even better, if you can imagine that:

Hooray! Yet again, we got to stand in multiple states at once. This is becoming my #1 hobby.

This half-and-half sign is in Texarkana, which (obviously) straddles the Texas/Arkansas state line. There’s actually a big avenue running down to this marker from I-30 called State Line Street, and it’s lined with Texas signs on the west side and Arkansas sides on the east:

Now we are holed up in our luxurious Super 8 room in Mt. Vernon, Texas. It’s really quite a nice Super 8, and they scored some big points with me for this:

Nice touch, Mt. Vernon Super 8.

Oh. Did I not mention we are on another road trip? The main event this time is Christmas in Jackson, Mississippi, with my extended family (hi, y’all!). Brian and I are adding a few extras, depending on how things go. Right now we’re en route to Austin, Texas, and we’re very excited even though apparently it takes 3 days to drive there!

Here’s today’s route log, courtesy of Brian.

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