News from the offbeat tourist attraction landscape of Roadside America.
Sightings Vol. 10, No. 13 - December 30, 2014
Sightings

Robots Are Living The Dream

Clayton Bailey has been building robots out of scrap metal since the 1970s. You can see them in his museum (along with a twitching cadaver and a cyclops Bigfoot). As we bid goodbye to 2014 and say howdy-ho to 2015, we think maybe the artist/robot-builder is on to something. His minions are strong enough to snap our necks in a second, but instead they wave clanky appendages in welcome. Those robots seem happy. And you can be, too, if only you’ll obey our happy robot programming and read this newsletter...

First Moon Man’s First Flight

Wolf's Museum of Mystery.Neil Armstrong, the first human being to walk on the moon, was airborne before he was six years old. The spot where he took his first flight -- now wedged between a Kmart and a McDonald’s -- has been turned into a mini-moon in Neil’s honor.


Smile Before I Knock You Out

Meteorite.With a grin as infectious as a winter flu, cigar-chomping Johnny Tocco was the think-positive ambassador for the sport of boxing -- at least on the hand-painted mural on the outside of his gym. He’s surrounded by legends of the ring, also all-smiles.


Hardest Working Man in Alabama?

Church with Rock in it.Milford Howard starred in a Hollywood movie about a telepathic mad doctor, met Mussolini, tried to run for President of the United States, built a church with a giant rock in it — and then had himself entombed inside the rock.


Petticoat Thrills for Windies

Gone with the Wind museums.Gone With The Wind, that sweeping Technicolor melodrama (it’s also a thick book) of Scarlett and Rhett and Mammy in the Civil War South, has enough stuff associated with it to fill two museums, only a half-hour apart in Jonesboro and Marietta.


No Problem a Machine Gun Can’t Fix

Machine Gun AmericaThat appears to be one of the pro-firepower messages being broadcast, full auto, by the newly opened Machine Gun America. Just down the road from Disney World, you can let loose on paper target versions of all of your (and America’s) favorite bad guys. Shred ‘em!

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Spotted by Tipsters

Traffic Control Tower.Climb the Traffic Control Tower: Frequent tipster Anthony B noticed a Connecticut town's long obsolete traffic light tower could be entered from below. "An alarm went off but it wasn't because of me," he claims.


Gas Guy.Welcome to the Gang: Bruce Kennedy, a kind of tipster-collector, has added Giant Gas Guy to his growing brood of fiberglass colossi in Hayward, CA, which already includes Big Don the Cowboy, a Hollywood Happy Halfwit, Santa, Paul Bunyan, and Big Mike: the Muffler Man who started Bruce on his journey to the gigantic.


Einstein.Knowledge is Power: Einstein is emerging from the folded space of a giant bronze book in Glassboro, NJ. And say... isn't that the top half of Charles Darwin? Laurie Z. sent us photographic proof of this improbable south Jersey wormhole.


TeapotA Teapot Lady In Her Teapot: Jane B. was lucky enough to get in touch with Sybil Boland, the Teapot Lady, who drove over from her home to give a personal tour of the Teapot Museum in a Big Teapot in Elloree, SC. Over 3,000 teapots!


Thanks tipsters, for another year cram-packed with discoveries! For more updates from the road, head over to the Latest Tips.

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Latest News on Roadside America

Heart of Howe Caverns.The Big Donut of Long Beach has been restored - with chocolate and sprinkles. The “Nutty Narrows” squirrel bridge was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places. The recent thaw in US-Cuba relations promises to increase traffic to the long-lonely Cuba Friendship Urn. The venerable Howe Caverns wanted to build a casino on its property; state officials said the idea had “heart” but rejected it. It’s now estimated that it could cost $6 million to repair the Watts Junk Towers, which Simon Rodia built for free. The Bunny Museum of Pasadena will be moving to a new warren in 2015. The well-known parking lot tomb of a dead real estate developer has been removed for a real estate development. Canada’s giant Wawa goose may flying south this winter (to Toronto) for repairs. The daughter of Dr. Evermor, who built the massive Forevertron, wrote to let us know that her father’s creation is open, and it looks great in the snow.

Keep pace with important attraction updates on the Roadside America Twitter feed.

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Ah, the robot life. Happy New Year!
The RoadsideAmerica.com Team

Apps & Tools

Top 10 iPhone Paid Travel App (U.S. App Store)
Summer 2014

Roadside America iPhone app Roadside America for iPhone: v. 1.8.8
11,000+ USA/Canada offbeat attractions, inc. new research targets, interactive "Near Me" maps.

$2.99 on the App Store (incl. access to 1 region); addtl. regions or "All Access" unlock is optional in-app purchase.
iPhone, iPod touch (iPad compatible)

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Roadside Presidents App for iPhone: v. 1.3.8
Find US Presidents, VPs, First Ladies, even assassins -- where they lived, worked, played, died!

$2.99. iPhone, iPod touch, (iPad compatible). Available on the App Store.

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Roadside America iPhone app My Sights Route Planner
Save places you read about on RoadsideAmerica.com to your computer, create a trip, and then email it to friends or export a .cvs file to upload onto a GPS device (Garmin, TomTom, etc.). Learn more and try it!

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Main image: Clayton Bailey's Robot Museum, Crockett, California