The game is back on. We have once again hit our stride in finding and enjoying the uncommon.
We started the day with a quick jaunt across town to visit the Uncle Remus Museum -- Eatonton, GA is the birthplace of Joe Chandler Harris the author of over 186 stories; many with Brer' Rabbit and his friends. The museum was not much but interesting -- no photos allowed inside; not a big loss.
In Athens (Wow we drove all the way to Greece and didn't even get wet - not sure why Georgia has towns named Athens, Sparta and Rome; what no Constantinople?) we visited "The Tree that Owns Itself". This curious site presents a tree that inherited the ground around it and it's freedom. Kind of an Elm-ancipation Proclamation.... har.
Late in the day we found the home of Outsider artist Harold Rittenbury. The yard environment was tucked onto a corner of a quiet non-descript neighborhood. We did not get to meet the artist and it did not look like new work had been added in quite some time. The figurative pieces and the cut-outs were the best.
There are times when our research falls short and many circumstances that prevent us from seeing what our Oddasee hearts and eyes desire. Sometimes the timing is off -- Joni Mabe's "Everything Elvis (including his wart) in Cornelia, GA is closed until September. Sometimes the needed connections are not made -- we never got the required call-back for an appointment to see the Smithsonian Institute Tick Museum in Statesboro, GA -- drat! We were hoping for some sort of petting zoo. Many times we have arrived at our destination point only to find the site, artist or museum have simply disappeared..
Our journey to the Bruce Weiner's Micro Car Museum in Madison was yet another one of the times when what we expected was significantly different than reality. We thought that this collection of mini-cars was not likely to be open. Our information said the hours were very limited (1-4 on Wednesdays and Thursdays) and the Russeths (wooden car guy) had warned us that he is seldom there. The venue seemed likely to be a small garage filled with Hotwheels and toy cars on shelves or arranged in street scenes. We decided to press on and given our lucky timing mojo, we thought that even though we were not arriving at the prescribed time we might be fortunate enough to find Bruce unexpectedly around the place and willing to open for us strangers from faraway NM.
We put the address into the GPS and meandered in that direction. After coming over a hill we knew we were close. Then I saw a little car suspended high in the trees on a pole with a small "Dubble Bubble Acres" sign with the address we sought. So after a full on tire squealing tourist turn, we pulled off the road to a sight completely unexpected..... before us was a Colossus of a building that would best best described as an enormous airplane hangar. Our next treat was a tiny little automotive delight called a "Goggomobil" - no really that is the manufacturer's name -- parked at the front door. Then, after a quick scan of the parking lot to find a couple of other hopeful, we saw the open sign.
Upon opening the door, the only words that come close are "Holy S*@%!" The explosion of glistening auto-iron was mind boggling to put it very mildly. It was a blitzkrieg of color and chrome. After our last experience with required $15 admission to the auto museum in Florida, we were thrilled to pay the mere pittance of 5 bucks for entry into Willy Wonka's Auto World. The smiles were on as we practically skipped down the aisles. The place is a treasure trove of "micro" cars. To be considered a micro-car the vehicle must not have an engine larger than 700cc and have two doors of less. Really, we had a
blast for a couple of hours. We had fun deciding which one we each would like to drive away into the sunset. See photos below for our picks (Rodney is #4 - Susan with her pick in #13). In reality it would be very hard to pick if given such a grand opportunity.
There were a couple of cases filled with Hot Wheels etc. and we felt silly for having expected such a small reward. This place was so far beyond anything we could have ever imagined it completely re-energized our somewhat weary Oddasee bones.
Love and I want the yellow or peach or green or salmon colored one..... Yippee!
Rodney and Susan
ps: Note to Bonnie, Todd and Mark - NEENER NEENER!!! ....... look what we saw and you didn't! Wish you were here; really we would have spent the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment