10 replies to this topic

[roadmaven]

One of the U.S.' many roadside curiosities resides in Alexandria, Indiana, about an hour northeast of Indianapolis. The Largest Ball of Paint recently received its 20,000th coat: A Two Ton Baseball

[Dave Reese]

Now, that is important and exciting news. Thanks for sharing that link. I will have to add that to my list of sites that Must Be Visited...

[clfritz]

Yes, that is me in front of the world's largest ball of twine, located on US 24 in Cawker City Kansas. There is also another largest ball of twine in Minn, but I have not made it there yet.

http://skyways.lib.k...wker/twine.html

[Jennifer]

Yes, that is me in front of the world's largest ball of twine, located on US 24 in Cawker City Kansas. There is also another largest ball of twine in Minn, but I have not made it there yet.

http://skyways.lib.k...wker/twine.html

That's cool! We have heard of that twine ball as well. But last November, after hearing Weird Al Yankovic's ode to quirky roadside attractions in "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota", we made a 600-mile weekend trip to see the famous twine ball. They have actually coined it "The World's Largest Twine Ball Made By One Man", since Francis Johnson was the only person who made this twine ball.

 20021112_TwineBall08_web.JPG   183.43K   147 downloads

[DennyG]

The Largest Ball of Paint recently received its 20,000th coat...

...and there have been over 400 more applied in the fourteen months since this thread was started. Guess who did 20430.

[roadmaven]

[Jennifer]

Maybe we ought to make it out there to add a coat to the ball of paint!

[DennyG]

Maybe we ought to make it out there to add a coat to the ball of paint!

Definitely! If I lived in Indianapolis, I'd try to get out there on Halloween and see the road lined with Mike's decorations. I took a chance when I went out and got lucky, I think. A phone call is probably a good idea.

[Jennifer]

Definitely! If I lived in Indianapolis, I'd try to get out there on Halloween and see the road lined with Mike's decorations. I took a chance when I went out and got lucky, I think. A phone call is probably a good idea.

That ball of paint is among the gems contained in the book "Indiana Curiosities."

Another is the grave of an Indiana pioneer woman named Nancy Kerlin Bartlett. Her grave was located in "dead center" of where road builders were planning on building a new county road. Her son guarded her grave with his shotgun - and they built the road beside without disturbing it. When the road needed to be widened, also with shotgun in hand, Nancy's grandson now protected her grave and "encouraged" the road crew to plan an alternate route. They didn't - but evidently they compromised.

The Indiana State Fair had an Indiana Curiosities exhibit based upon the book this year, but I stumbled upon this myself this weekend while I was geocaching with a friend. As I read the description of the cache location, I knew it all sounded familiar: here is the cache page, which contains some photos of the area. If you would like to see just what compromise they came to, click here and then follow the link to the photo gallery:

Rest in Peace?

Amazing!!

[DennyG]

I was aware of the grave in the middle of the road and was planning to suggest - nay, demand - that we make sure to stop there on our way to Columbus on Saturday. It's ever so close.

[Jennifer]

I was aware of the grave in the middle of the road and was planning to suggest - nay, demand - that we make sure to stop there on our way to Columbus on Saturday. It's ever so close.

Cowinkydink! It is ever so close, indeed - we should have plenty of time to do that!