I Got the Boot… Three Times

Sometimes I’m not sure if I get on some sort of unconscious jag that makes me seek out groupings of things or if I just happen to be moving across a sticky thread of the universal web that keeps putting them in my path.

What am I talking about?

Boots.

Are you superstitious? Do you think things happen in threes? Well, over the last 3 months I’ve had 3 big boots come into my life.

First there was a visit to the Haines’ Shoe House which is decidedly boot-like and all sorts of awesome.

Then on a pitstop at LL Bean in Freeport, Maine I saw the giant Bean boot.

Boot number three came rather serendipitously to complete the trifecta of footwear.

A few weekends ago I rode past the ruins of a place once called Fairy Tale Forest in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. Behind the fence of what is now a self-storage facility there was a giant boot-house was being refurbished.

You can go a whole lifetime without seeing any giant boots. Then whammo! they’re everywhere.

What does it all mean?

Sights from the Road: Zoom in for Zombies

At first glance nothing really seems out of place here in this photo. It’s nothing more than a road stretching out over a hill. Why would anyone take a photo of something so ordinary?

Well, if you happen to zoom in, my darlings – you’d see that strange things are afoot in this seemingly innocuous house.

In general I find dolls kind of creepy but this takes the cake! It’s like some kind of prison for zombie children. That second one on the right dressed like a pink fairy seems especially menacing. Braaaaaains…

Am I off base here? Does anyone actually find these dolls cute and charming or do you too think they’re hellbent on sucking out your grey matter when you turn your back?

Sights from the Road: World’s Largest Telephone

If you’re looking for a 1-2 punch of good riding and interesting roadside attractions, Maine has a lot to offer. Just a hop skip and a jump from a 3 story outhouse, a giant butterfly sculpture and down the road a piece from Rumford’s Paul Bunyan Muffler Man is the World’s Largest Telephone. It is a 14 foot tall statue of a hand-cranked candlestick model.

Plaque Reads:
“This sculpture by Gil Whitman is dedicated to the memory of Barbara & Elden Hathaway owners of the Bryant Pond Telephone Company the very last hand crank magneto telephone system in the U.S.A. They purchased the company in 1951 and operated it from their home as a family business until selling it to the Oxford Network Company in 1981, when it was integrated into the national dial system.”

I Spy: Honda CB350 Motorcycle – Daily Rider?

We spotted this lovely little Honda CB350 while we were in Maine last summer. It appears to be stock save for the windshield and highway bars. What a great looking bike. It just makes me want to go for a ride, 70′s style.

I can see it now – Me, putting on my best pair of Earth Shoes and hitting the road on a groovy adventure. I have big dreams of listening to 8-tracks, making Jiffy Pop and eating fondue from here to San Francisco. “Breaker, breaker this is Motorcycle Mama, come back. How am I hitting you? Wall to wall and treetop tall? Watch your donkey, good buddy. We got us a Kojack with a Kodak hiding in the grass.”

It just feels good. Doesn’t it?

This post is nothing without you: Bring it back, now. Do you copy?