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I'm leaving for Peru for a month, staying in remote village schoolhouses and camping a lot. If the Shining Path doesn't find me, I'll be back in a month.

Then I need to plan a coast-to-coast trip in July. I'll be driving my Scion xB, and trying to avoid the Interstates, while driving from San Francisco to Miami and back, via Prattville, AL. I'll be using roadsideamerica.com's map feature to look for oddball and interesting sights to see and places to visit, as that's the kind of stuff I find interesting. I plan to stop for the nightly flight of Mexican Freetail Bats from the Congress Street Bridge in Austin, TX, for example. I'll have a couple of weeks to get to Miami before the cruise ship leaves for the Caribbean. So what interesting sights do you know of along my route? I've visited most of the national parks en route. I've driven the Loneliest Highway, and Hell's Backbone. I'm looking for really neat, little-known stuff, like giant praying mantis sculptures, dinosaur fossils in riverbeds, historical signs for the U.S. Camel Corps, etc.

I'll also be flying to Connecticut and renting a car to drive to New England for a week. I'll take a boat trip to Machias Island, Maine to see Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills. What else do you recommend to see in New England?

Your ideas? Routes? Things to see?

Since you'll be (sort of) in the area, check out the giant 70-foot Sam Houston statue just south of Huntsville TX.

7600 Highway 75 S, Huntsville, TX‎ - (936) 291-9726‎

Thanks. That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for. I hope to see a string of other suggestions by the time I return, to help me in my planning.

In southern New Mexico I really think White Sands is great, especially on a moonlit night, Carlsbad caverns is also really cool, you can also check out the bat flights there every evening. In Las Cruces be sure to check out some of the New Mexican restaurants, there are some really amazing ones here. Double Eagle or La Posta are both recommended. Both have amazing New Mexican dishes and margaritas. El Paso is a great place to go clubbing if you're into that, and I can recommend places depending on your taste in music.

As far as off-beat kind of stuff, I know a great place to go cliff jumping in the Jemez in northern New Mexico. If you're into camping check out the Gila hot springs near Silver City. Also check out the ditch in Silver City. There's nothing more satisfying than walking a riverbed with old cars, washers and dryers and all other kinds of random crap in it.

Don't stop in Roswell; the area 51 stuff is (IMO) very overrated.

This is what I plan to do next year: http://www.justsaygo.us/GAS/index.html

Well, I'm back from Peru. What an adventure! We were refused passage through the village of Pucacocha. The villagers there had heard rich foreigners were trafficking in body parts (eyeballs of young boys), and they blocked the road. Then they demanded to inspect every piece of our luggage. There were 100 of them, and only five of us, so they did just that before they sent us back from where we'd come.

I like the idea of cruising slow roads like US 50, the loneliest highway in America. I'm starting the trip planning this weekend. Carlsbad is one of my favorite parks.

Welcome back Darrell, glad your safe.

Looking for the strange and interesting? I couldn't resist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUWETHlMxZk&feature=player_embedded from "House of a 1000 Corpses" Best horror movie ever. This clip is tame, unlike the movie itself.

And this site is for real, near Amarillo, TX known as the Cadillac Ranch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtT-7jYvWM&feature=player_embedded

GPS coordinates, and history of this popular Americana art site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch

I'll add some good ones when I get home tonight like:

http://www.oregonvortex.com/

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle

. :D - Dale

More. I want more ;).

I'm purposely not going to the RoadsideAmerica website as I figure you've already covered it well. So some of these if not all of them may already be on that site.

Here goes but they aren't all on your way:

*The paper house in Rockport, Massachusetts
http://www.paperhouserockport.com/interview.html
(I made a recliner size chair out of Budweiser cans and superglue 20years ago.:Banane35:)

*Watts Towers, Los Angeles, California:
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Watts_Towers.html
He made these out of junk. Worked on it for many years, when completed he said "it's finished" and walked away, giving the property to a neighboring friend. It avoided demolition by the city after being found structurally safe by an architectural engineer many years later.
better link: http://www.wattstowers.us/

*Pirate Days in Alexandria Bay, NY
Bill Johnston and his band of pirates invade Alexandria Bay. Bill Johnston was a renegade after the patriots war, who blew up the British steamer, Sir Robert Peel, hid among the 1000 Islands, and was wanted by both U.S. and Canadian authorities.
This has the coordinates and phone numbers:
http://www.faires.com/EventRecord.php?Id=441

*Lighthouse near Portland, Maine and the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth, Maine:
http://lobstershacktwolights.com/ Get there at least an hour before close or you won't get lobster. The view in the evening is incredible: http://www.portlandheadlight.com/home.html

*The Lost Colony of Roanoke, Manteo NC:
Elegant costumes and award winning theatrics of a true story of early American settlers in an outdoor theatre:
http://www.thelostcolony.org/ English settlers landed in 1587 and within three years the only clue to their fate was the word CROATOAN carved in a tree (and some blue eyed indians, I know what happened.;) <1stIndian voice: Hmmm, men folk gone over edge in big canoe many seasons, let's go see if pale women need help with tee pee poles. "Word my brother!" says 2nd slightly ghetto Indian> I took some unartistic license with my reenactment.
1409 National Park Drive
Manteo, NC 27954
(252) 473-3414 Tickets

*worlds largest roadside attractions:
http://www.wlra.us/ Seems appropriate.

and this

http://www.weirdamerica.com/
I'm getting lazy, you look these up. :D - Dale

One more:
Burning Man http://www.burningman.com/

and another link

Festivals and Renaissance Faires Map:
http://www.faires.com/WorldMap.php with clickable info.

Dale,

It's too bad you're delivering pizzas, instead of being my co-pilot. Thanks for the great links!

Dale,

It's too bad you're delivering pizzas, instead of being my co-pilot. Thanks for the great links!

Like everyone else, I gotta win the lottery first I guess.

Did you ever do the Bumbershoot in Seattle? I was there in 2007. Originally funded by the city of Seattle, the year 1971 marked the beginning of the Bumbershoot tradition, known then as The Seattle Arts Festival. In 1980, One Reel, a local non-profit arts and entertainment production organization was invited to produce the Festival. They began ticketing the event in order to invite world-renowned artists along with the finest the Northwest has to offer, and introduce a variety of new artistic outlets to the program. Today, Bumbershoot is one of the largest music and urban arts festivals in the world:

I went from Concord, NC to Seattle WA to see a Concord band called the Avett Brothers...and about 60 other bands too that year. The Avetts are getting Amphitheaters and stadiums now, playing with the Dave Matthews Band, Wide Spread Panic and others. I go to a small garage every Tuesday and listen to their dad Jim play with about 6 or seven other guitarists. Good times! :Banane35: - Dale

The Avetts: http://www.theavettbrothers.com/music/second-gleam-ep

http://www.bumbershoot.com/

Oh here's a local one (to me:o) Reeds Gold Mine:

http://www.reedmine.com/ Location of the first documented discovery of gold in America, about 12 miles from my house. Here's the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Gold_Mine

I can co-pilot that one on Mondays or Tuesdays and of course there is the live music on Tuesdays, if your round these parts one day, I'll promise not to bring my banjo, fiddle or guitar, I play them all equally bad. ! :D - Dale

A friend of mine worked for the city of Seattle, and volunteered for the local Democratic Party machine. He has photos of himself, like Forrest Gump, with Bill and Hillary, Al and Tipper, Nelson Mandela, etc. He's taken us to various arts events in Seattle, but I don't remember one called the Bumbershoot.

I'll check the other links. The first gold mine sounds neat. Thanks. I'll definitely let you know if I'll be in your area. Dinner's on me.

You're going to Miami?
Well, go through the Clearwater area(Tampa Bay) and go to the Whistle Stop in Safety Harbor. It's not a mega tourist attration, but they have good food and it's a great place to eat :)

Not to mention I live about a mile from it. Meet up?
But I'm on my trip starting tomorrow, June 25, until around July 13ish.

Thanks for the tip. Tampa Bay is on the wrong coast of Florida, but I'll see how much that will take us out of our way. It sounds like we'll be two ships passing in the night. You'll be gone when we go down, and we won't have any cushion time on the way back north, as my wife flies home out of Jacksonville the day after the cruise ship returns to port.

http://www.justsaygo.us/GAS/index.html is a planned trip across the US on route 50 in 2010. The initial plan was a Fiero event, but although I own three Fieros, I plan on taking my HHR as it has more room and may be more reliable then my 20+ year old Fieros. Anyone in any car can pick up this tour at any point.

This would be similiar to the HOT ROD POWER TOUR of going to various spots in the country.

Well, I've crossed the country in my xB. When I started, I'd put in 6 tanks of gas and averaged 46.5 mpg over 1500 miles. Now I've accumulated over 5000 miles in the car, and my average is down to 44.2 mpg.

Yesterday's tank was typical. It was E10, so there's a 5% FE penalty starting out. I had four people in the car, and drove the 70 mph PSL I-95 from SE Georgia to Rat's Mouth FL with cruise control set at 55 mph, coasting down the few available hills (mostly artificial overpasses) to break up the boredom. Net result for the day was 39+ mpg.

Before that, I picked up my middle granddaughter in Alabama (and got called into shuttle service to drive her older brother and sister to and from work and school - short hop, low mileage driving for 15% of the tank). Then I picked my wife up in Jacksonville, and drove into Georgia to pick up her grand-niece. The four of us are on the way to the cruise ship terminal today.

The trip started off on the wrong foot. I left at 4 a.m. June 29, and discovered I had no speedometer illumination. I pulled into a gas station to check my lights, and had no exterior lighting except headlights. That set me back a day while the dealership traced the broken wires. Apparently another mechanic had clipped two wires while helping me move a wiring harness to install cruise control - or I stretched the wires moving the harness.

I got back on schedule by day 3, after a detour to Albuquerque to get the cruise control working.

I saw the bat flight out of Carlsbad Caverns NP. Did the 2.5 mile walk down into the cavern via the natural entrance and around the Big Cave. Went birding with friends in Austin TX. Stopped at the Natchez Trace to absorb some of its history. Averaging 46 mph on back roads.

Bon Voyage! :Banane23:

Buon Viaggio! :Banane23:

Haben eine gute Fahrt! :Banane23::Banane30:

Thanks, Dale.

I'm currently on a good tank, between 46 and 46.5 mpg. I dropped my wife at the Jacksonville airport, and her grand-niece in SE GA. Then I took US Hwy 82 across GA and did HS P&G the rest of the day. Even with the E10 fuel I've been using in GA and FL, this is a good tank.

We were in the Caribbean last week. Visited the Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize (British Honduras) and Cozumel Mexico.

Wednesday I start Phase Two of the trip, flying to Boston and driving to CT, ME, VT, and NH. The latter three states will complete my visits to all 50 states. All I need is to visit Antarctica, and I'll have visited all the continents and oceans in the world.

Due to calibration error, that last tank only came out at 44 mpg, but my SG showed 51.5 mpg on the 165 mile drive to the ATL airport Wednesday morning. The current tank is off to a great start.

I rented a Toyota Yaris for driving around New England. I'm getting about 41.3 mpg with it in mixed driving under a wide range of conditions.

We've done some exploring the past two days. Found the world's second longest-running drive-in theater, in Saco, ME! Found a 50' tall Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor. Saw the LL Bean HQ in Freeport, visited the world's largest revolving globe, Eartha, at the DeLorme HQ in Yarmouth. Saw a 1700 lb. chocolate moose "Lenny" at the Len Libby Chocolate Co. in Scarborough ME. Also visited a company called Classic Convertibles, and went ga-ga over the gorgeous cars.

Like everyone else, I gotta win the lottery first I guess.

Did you ever do the Bumbershoot in Seattle? I was there in 2007. Originally funded by the city of Seattle, the year 1971 marked the beginning of the Bumbershoot tradition, known then as The Seattle Arts Festival. In 1980, One Reel, a local non-profit arts and entertainment production organization was invited to produce the Festival. They began ticketing the event in order to invite world-renowned artists along with the finest the Northwest has to offer, and introduce a variety of new artistic outlets to the program. Today, Bumbershoot is one of the largest music and urban arts festivals in the world:

I went from Concord, NC to Seattle WA to see a Concord band called the Avett Brothers...and about 60 other bands too that year. The Avetts are getting Amphitheaters and stadiums now, playing with the Dave Matthews Band, Wide Spread Panic and others. I go to a small garage every Tuesday and listen to their dad Jim play with about 6 or seven other guitarists. Good times! :Banane35: - Dale

The Avetts: http://www.theavettbrothers.com/music/second-gleam-ep

http://www.bumbershoot.com/

Oh here's a local one (to me:o) Reeds Gold Mine:

http://www.reedmine.com/ Location of the first documented discovery of gold in America, about 12 miles from my house. Here's the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Gold_Mine

I can co-pilot that one on Mondays or Tuesdays and of course there is the live music on Tuesdays, if your round these parts one day, I'll promise not to bring my banjo, fiddle or guitar, I play them all equally bad. ! :D - Dale

Dale - if you ever get a chance check out my friends band, http://www.killerfillermusic.com/Site/Home.html
Great stuff and not too far from you I think.

I just completed a 3500 mile road trip from Florida to NY and back in my HHR. Gas prices were all over the map with the low of $2.19 (in central Georgia) to $2.73/gallon. My HHR still has averaged 32.1 mpg over all. On the highway, I'll get 32+ mpg. Although on one leg I was getting 35 mpg (?). I must have gotten some 100% ethanol, rather than the 10% ethanol blended gas.

I got 43 mpg in the third tank on the rental Yaris. We saw the musical Jersey Boys in Boston last night, and visited the Battle Green in Lexington to see where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired. Saturday we met Rona Figueroa, who sang the roles of Eponine in Les Miserables and Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway. My grandson is into the theater arts, so that stuff was for him.

Tomorrow we'll fly back to Atlanta, and I'll get to drive my xB back to Alabama and see if I can maintain the 51.5 mpg I got on the drive to Atlanta the week before over the same 165 miles. Even allowing for a calibration error, that's a good tank mileage.

Friday we missed seeing the x-ray of Muhammed Ali's broken jaw, in an auto dealership in Hooksett NH. The dealership and Muhammed Ali collection owner had gone home for the weekend, and the collection is in a secure part of the dealership that the employees didn't have access to.

Our most exciting part of the trip was a knock on the door Friday night in our motel in Manchester NY. I asked who it was, and the answer was the police! I opened the door, and we saw 3 officers who had gotten a phone call that someone was being held against their will in the motel.

http://www.justsaygo.us/GAS/index.html is a planned trip across the US on route 50 in 2010. The initial plan was a Fiero event, but although I own three Fieros, I plan on taking my HHR as it has more room and may be more reliable then my 20+ year old Fieros. Anyone in any car can pick up this tour at any point.

This would be similiar to the HOT ROD POWER TOUR of going to various spots in the country.

That would be cool...I love roadtrips, my girl and I would have fun on this one. I love US 50, I was a regular traveller on it in California :D.

I'm in Shreveport, LA on my way home. I got 46.1 mpg on my tank to ATL and back - couldn't keep the mileage up on the return trip. Today's tank from Prattville AL to Shreveport LA was almost 50 mpg - 49.78 mpg.