James Dean and other Giants

[Mr442]

This past Saturday, the wife and I took a little excursion through central Indiana.  Since I am participating in two AMA Grand Tours this year, Color the World and American Roadside Attractions, I have plenty of things to look for and photograph.
 
In the Color the World tour I have to locate cities/towns, or counties with specific colors in the names and get a picture of a sign or something with the name on it, along with my bike in the photo.  Black, brown, blue, green, gold, orange, red, silver, white, and yellow.  Only those colors can be used, so a little research and planning is required.  In a couple of instances, some longer rides are required to get to the location.  It's definitely going to take more than one weekend to get them in.

The American Roadside Attraction is much easier.  I just take pictures, with the bike, of the oddities I have found.  Oddities in this case are anything unusual, as you will soon see.

We started the day in Indianapolis, where the wife has an apartment to stay in during the week while she is at work.  I rode up Friday evening, spent the night, and we headed out on Saturday morning after a couple of errands.  Since we were heading north and east of Indy, this made it easier on the wife, since she didn't have to drive the two hours home on Friday night.  She is a much more pleasant riding companion when she is rested.

Our first stop was the little town of Goldsmith, just south of Kokomo.  As usual, the town was so small it didn't have a city limit sign, so after some riding, we found a church with the name on it. 



From there, we headed north to Kokomo for a couple roadside attraction shots.  We ended up getting three.  In this case, we were not able to include the bike, but not a problem.  The tour's organizers had sent along a business card to get in the shot, just for times like this. 

Our first pic was of Old Ben, an extremely large steer who lived about 100 years ago.  Standing 6'6" at the shoulder, he was massive.   http://www.cityofkokomo.org/department/division.asp?fDD=13-76



The second pic was that of a large Sycamore stump from the area.  It was estimated to be around 1500 years old at the time it fell.



The third was of a Civil war era cannon, one of three of this particular type known to exists.  http://www.cityofkokomo.org/egov/docs/121000899396.htm



After all that excitement we made a stop at the local Pizza Hut for some lunch.  While there we plotted out the rest of our day's journey on the GPS.

Our next stop was at James Dean's grave site in Fairmount, IN.



When leaving Fairmount, we spied these items.  Now the plane and helicopter are not all that unusual by my standards, but it was the ship's propeller that caught our eyes.





On down the road to the first of our giants.  This one was holding an ice cream cone.



Back on the road, trying to stay ahead of the rain, we headed to Montpelier for another giant.  This one of an Indian Chief.  Interestingly, this was originally built for Tom Wood Pontiac in Indy, and had stood in front of their dealership for a number of years.  http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1DB5



Back on the road, we made a quick stop to catch the county line sign, informing us we were leaving Blackford county.



We continued on to Redkey, IN and found a nice sign welcoming folks to the town.



From there we headed southwest back towards Indy and hopefully out of the ever darkening skies.  But before getting too far, we found a little duck in Albany, IN.  It was a good catch by the wife, since I was watching traffic and was too focused to see this one.



Heading on southeast and trying to avoid the rain, we found ourselves in Fortville, IN.  The longtime home to this fellow.



After more evasive maneuvers we made it back into Indy, and not far from the apartment.  Mr. Bendo was right there waiting for us to take his picture too, so we stopped and obliged him.



A short time later our ride was over, we had covered 255 miles for the day and avoided the rain, other than a light sprinkle or two.  We still had to get home though, and looking at the sky gave us some concern.  The wife would have it easy from that point, since she would be in the car.  I had my raingear, but still prefer to avoid the wet, especially the stormy stuff.  I made it almost home before riding into a wall of water.  I had hoped to make it to one more exit, then head south.  I was ½ mile short of my goal when the bottom dropped out.  The RT may have excellent weather protection, but when it's coming down in buckets, it can only do so well.  I took the exit, shut her down, and sat in the car while the wind, rain, and hail passed.  The hail was pea sized and pretty soft, so there was no damage. 

I took that time to put on the rain gear over damp clothing.  It was one of those damned if you do, damned of you don't deals, but I didn't want further soaking as I had another 30 miles to home.  As it turned out, the first 15 of that 30 was a little damp, so the rain gear was nice.  The last 15 was a different story.  I rode directly into dry, hot conditions, and steeped in my dampness the rest of the way.  I could have stopped and stripped down, but at that point I just kept going.  The shower at home felt good.

I still have many more towns to visit and photograph, as well as more oddities along the way, so stay tuned.

[Palehorse]

Excellent report and awesome pics 442. I'm happy to see you got up to see the Chief! 

[Henry Hawk]

Thanks for sharing the pics Mr442!!....it looks like a great time...

[me]

Looks like you had a great trip.  I've heard that Duck Inn in Albany is a good place to eat but I've never eaten there.  A Dr. I used to go to who has passed away used to go there once a week to eat and loved it. 

[Mr442]

The Duck Inn appeared to be fairly busy, even at 5 or so.  Next time I am in the area we may give it a try.  Thanks for the info!

[me]

The Duck Inn appeared to be fairly busy, even at 5 or so.  Next time I am in the area we may give it a try.  Thanks for the info!

Must still be good then.  I've never managed to be in the area when they were open.