American Road Trip Talk: Mermaid Revival

Mermaid Revival

To inaugurate a new era and look at American Road Magazine, we are reviving a feature that has helped our readers dig deeper and enjoy more fully the articles that appear in our quarterly magazine. Just over 10 years ago we published our first podcast. American Road Magazine has been noted for its great photography and prolific prose. Therefore It was a novel thing, at the time, to introduce a spoken segment as an offering to its readers. In the brief decade since, podcasts have become more and more prevalent forms of communication for everything from newspapers to budding gurus.

Therefore we are launching our shiny, new website with a new series of regular podcasts. They will focus on the people and places that we visit in the magazine. Today we travel back to conversations recorded in 2007 when editors Thomas and Becky Repp toured the country; this interview took place in Florida with retired Mermaid, Barbara Wynns, whom you can see pictured in her heyday at Weeki Wachee Spring.

We hope that you will enjoy these conversations and join us here often.

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Sinful Sidney Sesquicentennial: Heather Hausmann

In the rough and tumble days of the late 1800’s, the little town of Sidney, Nebraska was an important military and commercial outpost on the railroad lines that were becoming the arteries of American expansion. It was indeed the Wild West, populated by such colorful characters as Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane and earned the moniker, Toughest Town on the Tracks.
In 2017 what was once called Sinful Sidney is celebrating its Sesquicentennial ( that’s 150 candles) between Aug. 18-20 with a double extravaganza. One is man-made and the other is Mother Nature made and utterly unique. Our guest Heather Haussmann, Cheyenne County Visitor and Convention Bureau, which is based in Sidney, has all the details for both events.

Check out this gallery of images from the 150 anniversary celebration.

Voices From The Backstairs: Tom Grantham

The Glenn House, a restored Victorian mansion with views of the river on Spanish Street, has been a classic part of Cape Girardeau, MO since it opened for tours in 1980 after a substantial restoration and regularly offers tons of reasons to visit, from their Christmas tours to their inclusion in First Friday with the Arts, Pumpkinpalooza, whiskey tastings and everything in between. Now the folks at the Glenn House are bringing the stories of the domestic staff to life with their new Voices from the Backstairs tour.

When Christmas 2016 wrapped up, instead of returning the decorations to their second floor storage room where they’d been kept for decades, they were moved off site and the restoration of the servant’s room began.The Historical Association of Great Cape Girardeau operates the Glenn House, and members rolled up their sleeves and went to work fixing damage to the plaster ceilings and walls, painting, tracking down a period correct light fixture and rewiring it and selecting furnishings at local antique shops that would speak to the experiences of a servant from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s.

Members also researched and created an interpretive program, so when you tour the Glenn House, you can hear what life was like for domestic help at a time of great change for our nation. The servant’s room will be included on normal tours of the Glenn House, and stay tuned for special “Voices from the Backstairs” tours that will enter the home in the back, just like a servant would have, and focuses on the kitchen, wash room, servant’s room and the rest of the home through the lens of those who worked there.

The Glenn House welcomes guests for tours Saturdays and Sundays from 1 – 4 p.m., May – October. For more information, see VisitCape.com/Discover/The-Glenn-House

Check out the gallery for a glimpse of what you’ll see there.

Rachel Flynn, Veils, Vettes And Vows

One of the great American Road annual events is the Woodward Dream Cruise held each year on a stretch of Woodward Avenue in Detroit, MI that runs from Detroit city limits to the suburb of Pontiac nearly 30 miles to the north. The day features classic cars that have been lovingly cared for traversing some of the oldest paved road in the country. Hundreds of thousands of classic car enthusiasts and curious fans line the entire route. Some large parking areas a reserved for special displays by companies that serve this audience.

Our show today focuses on a unique display that was part of the 2016 Woodward Cruise. The classic car insurance company Hagerty, based in Traverse City, MI, created a drive thru display called Veils, Vettes and Vows. Our guest, Rachel Flynn, the Hagerty Youth Advocacy Coordinator, will fill you in on this fun and popular site. You won’t want to miss this interview.

Check out the photos from the 2016 Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, Michigan and the drive thru wedding chapel,.

Roxie Yonkay: Land And Sky Byway

In our recent volume 15, number 1 there was a story in the Friends in the Fast Lane column about the National Scenic Byways Program 25th anniversary. The Scenic Byways 25! event was celebrated at the US Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, DC. That same month in Kansas a brand-new byway was inaugurated: The Land and Sky Byway.

Our guest on this American Road Trip Talk is Roxie Yonkay, byway coordinator and PR manager for the Goodland Visitors and Convention Bureau. Roxie will describe the highlights of this brand-new byway which has a unique claim to fame: it’s the only agriculturally focused byway to date in America. Check out the gallery from NW Kansas Land and Sky Scenic Byway.

Video of the inauguration of Land and Sky Byway

Rusty Davis: Michigan’s Underwater Byway

Credit the dedication of passionate volunteers like Rusty Davis for finding the links to Michigan’s first highway, Hull’s Trace. It was part of the road carved out of the wilderness called Michigan and Ohio that followed well worn Native American trails and figured in the failed attempt to hang on to fort Detroit during the War of 1812. Some of that road, also known as Hull’s Trace, follows existing highways, like M125 in southeast Michigan along the western shore of Lake Erie. Other parts of the old highway can been seen poking out of the shallows of that shore when the water is low.

Our guest on this American Road Trip Talk is Rusty Davis. He is a volunteer at the River Raisin Battlefield Park in southern Michigan who has dedicated himself to uncovering and recognizing this historic byway. Rusty will uncover the fascinating story of Hull2019s Trace, a road that figured into the history of the War of 1812 and the development of Ohio and Michigan. Click here to see a photo gallery of images associated with this podcast.

Billy D. Abner: Lil Abner Motel

Our Summer 2016 issue was dedicated to the theme of Comic Strips and the American Road. Our Memory Motel column focused on the Li’l Abner Motel in eastern Kentucky. You might imagine a rustic and rugged haven of rest that matched the cornpone antics of Al Capp’s famous characters like Mammy Yokum, Daisy Mae and Lil Abner himself. But as you will hear from Billy D. Abner, the current proprietor, that is far from true, although the motel is still nestles in the beauty of the Red River Gorge and some of the finest rock climbing in the country. Billy’s accent may be a bit thick but I think that you will enjoy getting to know his down home hospitality and make the Lil Abner Motel a favorite stop on your journey. Click here to see the Lil Abner photo gallery.

The American Road TripTalk is brought to you by Marinette County, Wisconsin where you’re invited to visit the real north.

Jim Cassler: Three Roads Tour 2016

Road tours have become immensely popular with our readers and listeners. What better way to enjoy our great national than along its classic two lane arteries? Roads like the National Road, the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 evoke childhood memories for many of us following WWII and the postwar baby boom leading to the arrival of motor courts/motels and wonderful roadside attractions.

This year the National Lincoln Highway Association has organized another wonderful road tour. Organizer Jim Cassler is our guest on this podcast and he spells out the route for the Three Roads Tour 2016. The trip begins in Cumberland, MD on June 17, 2016 and ends 8 days later in Joliet, IL near the Route 66 Museum in downtown Joliet. Jim describes what goes into one of these tours and, while membership for this one is closed, it might just whet your appetite to look for the next road tour you find on a favorite stretch of two lane majesty through the heart of America. You can follow the Three Roads Tour progress by visiting www.lincolnhghwayassoc.org.

Cory Jobe: Presidential Travel

The state of Illinois has long been known as the Land of Lincoln because of the wealth of tourist attractions around the 16th President throughout the state. However, Cory Jobe, Illinois’ Director of Tourism, would like you to know that there are three other first executives who call the Prairie State their home. In this edition of Trip Talk, Cory will reveal three main locations for those sites in hopes that you will include them in the itinerary for your next Midwest road trip. Check out the Presidential Travel in Illinois photo gallery.

Erika Nelson: Think Bigger

It’s a brand new year for American Road Trip Talk. We normally use this podcast to introduce you to the people and places behind the stories in the magazine. In this edition we are going to meet one of the authors who has given us a unique view of the American Road’s roadside attractions for over a decade. Erika Nelson is a traveling artist who has chronicled bigger than life attractions along our nation’s highways. Everything from the biggest duck on Long Island to the largest baseball bat in Louisville, Ky and an enormous catsup bottle that serves as the water tower in Collinsville, IL Erika has collected all of these and miniaturized them into…the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.

In this conversation Erika will explain her recent hiatus from the magazine to work on a project in Georgia. She will also share some very special memories of former President Jimmie Carter in Planes, GA and her vision of what is coming up in this year’s Think Big column. To learn more visit the World’s Largest Things photo gallery.