My OperaBarbed wire, grassroots art, atomic ballistics, and everything in between.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 4:24:51 AM
From: Wakeeney, KS
To: Manhattan, KS
Miles: 288
MPG: 49.8
Barbed Wire Museum in LaCrosse, KS
Who knew that there was so much to learn about barbed wire? We certainly had no idea.
Perhaps the oddest thing about this museum in the small town of LaCrosse, Kansas is that most of the extensive collection of barbed wire was donated from a private collector. (Proving that people will collect absolutely anything.)
Not only that, but there is also a Barbed Wire Association – with both men’s and women’s chapters! Ol’ Shotgun (pictured below) was one of our favorite members.
Phil’s favorite was the 72 pound nest actually made by crows out of barbed wire.
Just when we thought we had seen all that LaCrosse had to offer, we saw that we were on a veritable museum row! The Old Post Office Museum was closed, but we were able to stop at the Rush County Museum and the Rock Post Museum. For those not in the know, rock posts were used across a swath of Kansas back in the early days when the settlers needed something to build with but there were no trees to be found. The elderly docent was more than happy to tell us all that we ever wanted to know about the subject and more.
Lucas, Kansas
Back in Minturn, CO (where we stopped for a wine tasting) one of the locals advised us not to miss some place called the Garden of Eden in Lucas, KS. According to him, if we were looking for kooky places to photograph the flamingo, this was the holy grail. Our first glimpse of the town suggested that the helpful local had pulled a fast one on us…
…but oh, how we were wrong!
Stop #1: The Garden of Eden
Back in the turn of the last century, S.P. Dinsmoor, a civil war veteran turned artist/eccentric, decided to take his progressive political ideas public. Very public. He began constructing a concrete Garden of Eden in his yard, and through his work commented on everything from universal suffrage to exploitation of the common man. Sounds fairly reasonable, right? He also buried his wife (in concrete) in a mausoleum in the backyard and had himself embalmed and inturned above her in a glass coffin. (Sorry, they wouldn’t let us take a photo of that.)
One other note on Dinsmoor: After the death of his first wife, Dinsmoor (age 81) married a 20 year old and fathered two children before his death 8 years later. And this was before Viagra!
Stop #2: Grassroots Arts Center
It seems that, upon retirement, a lot of Kansans discover a hidden artistic leaning. Some of them carve scenes from limestone…
Some craft statues from citrus fruit and bubble gum…
…and our personal favorite – automotive vehicles made from pull tabs.
We have too many photos to post here, so for those of you who want to see more, go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=16zasldj.3eai1ojj&Uy=kaooz4&Ux=1
You can also check out the Grassroots website at http://www.grassrootsart.net, Mri Pilar's fork art site at http://americanforkart.blogspot.net, or Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Gallery at http://www.ericabraham.net
Stop #3: Deeble House
A few years back, a new artist came to town. She took over one of the old houses in town and filled it mind-twisting art forms, including Barbie dolls used in ways no 7 year old ever considered and finding beauty in plastic forks.
As an aside, you would not believe the technical difficulty of taking indoor flash photography when all of the walls are covered in tinfoil.
The original Deeble house post-card garden is still available to tour in the back yard.
Stop #4: Flying Pig Gallery
The artist in residence here, Eric Abraham, not only creates a type of art we can only describe as “folk art meets porcelain with a smattering of pink flamingo thrown in for good measure”, but he has also turned an abandoned Chevy dealership into a gallery/studio and home.
On the way out of town, we needed to stop to confirm what Jessica has always known about Jon.
He’s a dip…
And a bad dancer.
Who can pass up the chance to play a little flamingo and fork croquet?
And how could we miss the worlds largest mobile collection of the worlds smallest versions of the worlds largest attractions?
The one thing that we couldn’t figure out about Lucas is why no one has done something about the rather pedestrian grain silo. Someone alert Cristo. Stat!
After a quick lunch of very unhealthy food at the local diner, we were back on the road.
Gas Station Plus Winery
When you think of gas station beverages, you probably usually of Coke, Pepsi, maybe a six pack of Bud. Here, they not only had all of those things but also a winery. We had to stop. Location aside, the wine was much better than Nebraska, but then that’s not really saying all that much.
Greyhound Hall of Fame
Tried to make it here, but they were too fast for us. Make that early. Everything seems to close at 5 p.m. here in the Midwest.
Atomic Cannon
You can take the boy out of the Army but you can’t take the Army out of the boy.
Finally, here are the long ago promised additional pictures from the Forevertron in Wisconsin. Somehow, they just seemed to fit today.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=93559304503.929363418303.1152592658516&page=1
To: Manhattan, KS
Miles: 288
MPG: 49.8
Barbed Wire Museum in LaCrosse, KS
Who knew that there was so much to learn about barbed wire? We certainly had no idea.
Perhaps the oddest thing about this museum in the small town of LaCrosse, Kansas is that most of the extensive collection of barbed wire was donated from a private collector. (Proving that people will collect absolutely anything.)
Not only that, but there is also a Barbed Wire Association – with both men’s and women’s chapters! Ol’ Shotgun (pictured below) was one of our favorite members.
Phil’s favorite was the 72 pound nest actually made by crows out of barbed wire.
Just when we thought we had seen all that LaCrosse had to offer, we saw that we were on a veritable museum row! The Old Post Office Museum was closed, but we were able to stop at the Rush County Museum and the Rock Post Museum. For those not in the know, rock posts were used across a swath of Kansas back in the early days when the settlers needed something to build with but there were no trees to be found. The elderly docent was more than happy to tell us all that we ever wanted to know about the subject and more.
Lucas, Kansas
Back in Minturn, CO (where we stopped for a wine tasting) one of the locals advised us not to miss some place called the Garden of Eden in Lucas, KS. According to him, if we were looking for kooky places to photograph the flamingo, this was the holy grail. Our first glimpse of the town suggested that the helpful local had pulled a fast one on us…
…but oh, how we were wrong!
Stop #1: The Garden of Eden
Back in the turn of the last century, S.P. Dinsmoor, a civil war veteran turned artist/eccentric, decided to take his progressive political ideas public. Very public. He began constructing a concrete Garden of Eden in his yard, and through his work commented on everything from universal suffrage to exploitation of the common man. Sounds fairly reasonable, right? He also buried his wife (in concrete) in a mausoleum in the backyard and had himself embalmed and inturned above her in a glass coffin. (Sorry, they wouldn’t let us take a photo of that.)
One other note on Dinsmoor: After the death of his first wife, Dinsmoor (age 81) married a 20 year old and fathered two children before his death 8 years later. And this was before Viagra!
Stop #2: Grassroots Arts Center
It seems that, upon retirement, a lot of Kansans discover a hidden artistic leaning. Some of them carve scenes from limestone…
Some craft statues from citrus fruit and bubble gum…
…and our personal favorite – automotive vehicles made from pull tabs.
We have too many photos to post here, so for those of you who want to see more, go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=16zasldj.3eai1ojj&Uy=kaooz4&Ux=1
You can also check out the Grassroots website at http://www.grassrootsart.net, Mri Pilar's fork art site at http://americanforkart.blogspot.net, or Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Gallery at http://www.ericabraham.net
Stop #3: Deeble House
A few years back, a new artist came to town. She took over one of the old houses in town and filled it mind-twisting art forms, including Barbie dolls used in ways no 7 year old ever considered and finding beauty in plastic forks.
As an aside, you would not believe the technical difficulty of taking indoor flash photography when all of the walls are covered in tinfoil.
The original Deeble house post-card garden is still available to tour in the back yard.
Stop #4: Flying Pig Gallery
The artist in residence here, Eric Abraham, not only creates a type of art we can only describe as “folk art meets porcelain with a smattering of pink flamingo thrown in for good measure”, but he has also turned an abandoned Chevy dealership into a gallery/studio and home.
On the way out of town, we needed to stop to confirm what Jessica has always known about Jon.
He’s a dip…
And a bad dancer.
Who can pass up the chance to play a little flamingo and fork croquet?
And how could we miss the worlds largest mobile collection of the worlds smallest versions of the worlds largest attractions?
The one thing that we couldn’t figure out about Lucas is why no one has done something about the rather pedestrian grain silo. Someone alert Cristo. Stat!
After a quick lunch of very unhealthy food at the local diner, we were back on the road.
Gas Station Plus Winery
When you think of gas station beverages, you probably usually of Coke, Pepsi, maybe a six pack of Bud. Here, they not only had all of those things but also a winery. We had to stop. Location aside, the wine was much better than Nebraska, but then that’s not really saying all that much.
Greyhound Hall of Fame
Tried to make it here, but they were too fast for us. Make that early. Everything seems to close at 5 p.m. here in the Midwest.
Atomic Cannon
You can take the boy out of the Army but you can’t take the Army out of the boy.
Finally, here are the long ago promised additional pictures from the Forevertron in Wisconsin. Somehow, they just seemed to fit today.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=93559304503.929363418303.1152592658516&page=1
