Roadside Americana

Tucked within the "stick" of West Virginia, that wee sliver of land between Pennsylvania and Ohio is the town of Chester. Why is this important? Well, pally - Chester is the home of the World's Largest Teapot. Now, I know what you're thinking. You can't believe you didn't know this very ...

Sometimes I will pull up a favorite in my GPS and follow it on a whim. That isn't to say that occasionally before I arrive at whatever place I'm going to that I don't think to myself, "what the hell are you doing?" Shortly before ending up at Tim's Secret ...

A few weeks ago, my friend Rosie and I took a ride to Revzilla in Philadelphia. Though I hadn't planned on buying anything, I accidentally came away with 2 new pairs of gloves. Oopsie! Since we were in the neighborhood, I asked Rosie if she'd mind if we made a ...

Just across the Long Island Sound from where I live is the PEZ Visitors Center. Yes, PEZ as in the candy with the cool dispensers. When I pulled in to the parking lot I was surprised to find a line of about 20 people waiting for the visitors center to ...

The "favorites" list in my GPS is sprinkled with all sorts of places and things that I might stop at as I'm passing through an area. I often pull up the screen and just let it stay in view. When something in the list is a short distance away, I'll ...

During my Pennsylvania rambling road trip to nowhere, I ping-ponged around the state visiting things that I'd long wanted to see but had never made time to. One of those stops was to visit my first Madonna of the Trail on US40 in Beallsville, Pa. Just look at this lady ...

The PennDOT Road Sign Sculpture Garden is an outdoor art installation located in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In July of 2015, while I was riding through Pennsylvania, I was able to stop for a visit. It was one of my "must stop" places for several years. After pulling in the lot, I ...

After deciding to hang a left at the decision point, I set off to see the Whispering Giant in Dunkirk, New York. Since I was just 'round the way, I also decided to see a muffler man or two and some other roadside gems. When I got up that morning ...

An unexpected stop at the Zippo Lighter Museum made my afternoon. After visiting the Kinzua Viaduct, I still had hours of daylight left and no particular place to go. Pulling up the list of "favorites" on my GPS showed that there was a Whispering Giant less than 100 miles away ...

Making a left off of Route 6 in Galeton, I followed PA 144 south to what the map says is the town of Clarence. That stretch yielded about 75 miles of backroad rambling on good tarmac. At the risk of sounding like a broken record... I saw little to no traffic ...

While I was cruising around the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, I stopped to visit the Rockwood, PA Muffler Man at the Scottyland RV Resort. Kenny and I passed there once before a few winters ago but the resort was closed so we had no muffler man joy. Persistence finally paid ...

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Malibu, California ...

Van Nuys, California ...

Could the giant chicken be the most popular fiberglass animal around? It seems like they're everywhere. Unless, as Ive speculated before, it is the same one donning different disguises and following me around. That fiend! Have you seen any of these big cluckers around in your travels? There really should ...

While in the city of High Point, NC during the Void Rally 9, one of my bonus locations was the World's Largest Chest of Drawers. The socks dangling out of it are apparently 6 feet tall, just for size reference. Seeing the "Bureau of Information" was unexpected. That is one of ...

In 2013, I posted a few places that I'd hoped to visit during the year. Some I managed to get to, some are still lingering around waiting for me to find the time. It should come as no surprise that more and more stops get tacked on my wishlist each year ...

Any motorcycle ride that is punctuated by seeing something totally silly, funky or ridiculous on the road is a-okay in my book. These are some of the nifty stops I made this year: Gnome on the Grange Chomsky - The 3rd Largest Garden GnomeKerhonksen, New York Hooray for Kooks! License ...

Since turning 40, it seems like I have become highly sensitive about squeezing all the fun out of each day. There aren't lots of things that I really want. Sure, "stuff" is nice but it doesn't usually set my heart on fire. My daydreams are filled with colorful imaginings of ...

Oh, hey. Yeah, that's me and my dude Chomsky. He's like... the 3rd largest garden gnome. IN THE WORLD. No big whoop. Gnome on the Grange Gnome Chomsky at Kelder's Farm 5755 Route 209 Accord, New York, 12404 Streetview ...

My life's To-Do List is a never-ending endeavor to see beautiful, fun, exciting, wondrous things in this world. Putting ideas on the list and daydreaming about them is almost as much fun as being able to mark them off as done. Almost. These photos are some of the things I've ...

Yeah, there's a giant hamburgermobile filling up on pump one. No big whoop. Are you kidding me? My head almost exploded with the total greatness of serendipitously running into the hamburgermobile a few years back. Even my generally nonchalant honeybun, Kenny was impressed. There are a few more pics of burgermobile ...

Sometimes I don't know what I'm thinking. I rode past this house last weekend and it took me about 1/4 of a mile to decide to swing back to get a better look and take a photo of it. I wonder if it's always like this or if it is ...

If there isn't, maybe there should be. I know of 3 such Air Mail boxes, all of which I stumbled across in the wild. Was there a time when these things were all the rage? I almost want to make one for my own house just because they're so silly ...

During this year’s Berkshire Big Adventure ride, like Hansel and Gretel we followed the crumbs on a route sheet in and around the forrest. Through trees and ruts, mud and rocks we traversed the trail. Little did we know that it would bring us to an actual gingerbread house! Santarella - Gingerbread ...