2010/05/27 Day 39

Oddsters,

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.  

2010/05/25-26 Day 37/38

Day 37:
    We met my long lost (not really, just missed) niece met us for lunch in lovely little town of St. Mary's. We met in the old part of town by the ferry to Cumberland Island. The lunch was good but hanging with Leilani was great but far too short.

    We found a lovely campground at Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's. It was nice and with few fellow campers. There the ever-present RVs but we had an area to ourselves - except for the hoards of flying/biting insects from Hell. We did have a visit from the local fauna. A vicious foaming at the mouth beast stumbled into our camp looking for human flesh. Actually this was far from a Marlin Perkins moment as our "wild" beast sauntered up to our picnic and immediately went into the doe-eyed (really) long lashes winking mode of begging. Carrots not nearly as appealing as a chocolate chip cookie. This treat made her our best friend. This delicate little creature was so tame, she actually followed us on a walk. A fellow camper even asked us the name of our "puppy".
    After a night of perpetually waking up to scratch our connect the dots nightmare of bug bug bites, we woke to a sunshine that was soon followed by a fairly steady deluge. An hour or so in the cab of the truck took us to the Land of the Wimps way of thinking. We decided to bail on camping another night. At the first gap in the storm, we quickly packed the tent and hit the road. After a quick blast of civilization (went to our first movie of the trip, Robin Hood) we landed in Statesboro for the night.

Day 38:
   Finally off toward a specific Oddasee target -- the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Harlem, GA. Our route took us through the rolling and gorgeous hills (hadn't seen a hill for well over a week) of back roads Georgia. This museum is in this small town due to the fact that is was the birthplace (trivia: he weighed in at over 14 pounds) of Oliver Hardy. It was a treat to see all the memorabilia and ephemera from those long ago film days. One perfect example of our laid back Oddasee attitude is that we just sat and watched "The Music Box" from 1931. It was great to laugh at the pain and silly foibles of these two comedic marvels. The museum guide also informed us another must see site -- the automobiles and art of artist Gary Russeth.
   A few blocks away we were met by the Russeths for a journey into their special garage/world/museum. We knew we were blissfully back in the Oddasee mode again when we got to see the amazing work of yet another outsider artist. Gary made medical equipment by trade and was a wood carver by passion. He started off small with figurines and wall reliefs. His most common thematic choices were automobiles and his film idols; Laurel and Hardy. Somewhere along the line, he jumped from small sculptures to doll houses to life size figure and incredibly, full size automobiles. Now let me explain -- life size cars accurate in every detail. Even the hardware and fittings are wood. The upholstery is sawdust and resin. Even the engines are made of wood. Awesome. The painted ones are so real that even when you touch them, it's hard to believe that they are not steel. He owns one "real" auto. You can see sitting next to the unpainted one. There are five or six full size vehicles in his museum with another in progress in the shop. Again, as cool as the objects were, the real treasures are Gary and his wife, Jean. They were so friendly and excited about Gary's creations. She was proud and he was modest. We loved it all.
   More info:  www.laurelandhardy.org/harlem.html  www.geocities.com/grusseth 

Our Oddasee souls were rejuvenated and Georgia has already been a peach.

Love and deep sighs of re-found visions of wonder and gratitude,

Rodney and Susan

2010/05/24 Day 36

Odd-Devotees,

Well the time has come to leave Florida in the rearview mirror. We did not venture very far south and are sure there is much to see but little compelled us to wade through the swampy dreck of cheesy tourist spots. We didn't even sniff the fiberglass worlds of Orlando nor the Don Johnson pastels and lil' friends of Tony Montana in Miami but can leave knowing that we may be better for not doing so. The new and entertaining are certainly more celebrated than the old and unique. Please oh Floridians.... don't take this missive as a trashing of your lovely state, it just simply does not match our "odd-a-tude". 

Okay, that may be a bit harsh travelog-wise because we did find some wonderful spots. St. Augustine was definitely a highlight and Applepepsicola (Apalachicola) was a place we could have lingered in for much longer. Many of the beaches were pristine white sand nice and many of the backroads presented some postcard views. The moss hanging from the trees and the abundant greenery is far different from the pines in CO and red deserts of NM and AZ. There, now was that better? Or was I just feeling guilty for the glee in having said "Ta Ta to Florida"?

Love and bug bites,

Rodney and Susan

Note: Here's a photo album of silly sights from our Florida journey. No notes attached just pics that sum it all up. The last two are my favorites - the Pirate guy is so WTF? And the orca with nearby signage will always be how I will fondly remember Florida.  

2010/05/24 Day 35

Oddaseers,

Hello to all you most faraway. 

Today was about exploring the northeast corner of Florida. We did not find any Outsider art but we did see some wonderful sights and came upon a few surprises. The highlight was definitely St. Augustine; it tried hard to compensate for the low brow tourist trap explosion of the FL areas we have seen thus far. It has some great architecture and the place is oozing with history. 

Jacksonville is where Susan once called "home". She took us to her old neighborhood places in the older parts of town with grand mansions and small neighborhood commerce zones of little shops and restaurants all near the St. John's river. Later we had a wonderful dinner with her friends Janet and Jerry. There was lots of reminiscing and eating mixed in with interesting conversation and laughs; good. 

Here are a few of the high points:

Jacksonville -- very new and "golfy" with housing developments everywhere. Down by the ocean it was bars, bikini babes (not all should don the thong - there needs to be a screening process and especially for those riding bikes), beach bubbas and beer mixed in with high-rise hotels..... yuck.

 

1. The Castle -- along the coast we saw some remarkable homes and cottages. The most amazing being the Otttis Castle. Not much info on this one and alas, no one came out and invited us for a tour.

2. Field of Aero-Derelicts -- couple of acres of long abandoned airplanes. Just guessing that they were WWII or later and mostly Navy - there are numerous Navel bases nearby. Okay, our first crime of the day was ignoring the "No Trespassing" signs. Got a few cool pics.

St. Augustine -- beautiful town but we avoided the tourist traps like the "Fountain of Youth", "Ghost Jail" and the wax museum. After touring a museum and college, we walked for miles and settled in for a nice meal on a balcony above the ever increasing throng on the streets. The people we referring to this being the "off season". That means the place must overflow with the tourii soon.

3. Villa Zoradaya -- After a bit of research, we sought out the one museum that fit our Oddasee spirit best. This was a very out of the ordinary former home now museum. The somewhat garish exterior paint was a precursor to the overtly Alhambra inspired decor and architecture within. Very magical, unique and hard to imagine being someone's home. 

Note: No photography allowed. The second crime of the day was R. taking a few clandestine shots with fairly sad results. The flash was just not available for my sneak photos.  Oldest rug in the world -- Egyptian, made of cat hair, and came wrapped around a foot of the mummy it originally enclosed.

4. Flagler College -  an old four star hotel transformed into a 4 year liberal arts school. This place makes the Broadmoor look like Motel 6. The area we saw was the entry way to the women's residency, dining hall and lounges. Ooooh ahh! We had to do a bit of Google research to satisfy our curiosity about this incredible educational edifice.  Henry Flagler brought the railroad to the area & helped develop it in the 1880's.

5. On our wander around old St. Augustine, we came upon a Greek Orthodox shrine. Beautiful and serene; we agreed it would be a nice place to live - not available we fear.

That sums up Day 35. It was off to Georgia and yet another uninspired motel for a few zzzzs. Tomorrow we will leave the Sunshine State.

Love and still longing for the Fountain of Youth,

Rodney & Susan