I'm gonna live forever: Some Halls of Fame seen along the way

THE RV/MH HALL OF FAME

Elkhart, Indiana

Past inductees Eldon Coons and Roger Reynolds.

THE NATIONAL BUFFALO FOUNDATION BUFFALO HALL OF FAME

Jamestown, North Dakota

Jamestown has the world's largest buffalo statue, the National Buffalo Museum and, of course, the Buffalo Hall of Fame.

THE OHIO BAND DIRECTORS HALL OF FAME

Akron, Ohio

Past inductees Phillip P. Gates and Glenn E. Walker.

THE IDAHO POTATO MUSEUM HALL OF FAME

Blackfoot, Idaho

Ricahard Polatis and Daniel Polatis were inducted in 2009.

One of the pleasures of stopping at eccentric roadside attractions is unexpectedly coming across a Hall of Fame devoted to an unusual subject. Potatoes, RVs, Ohio bands and buffaloes may not seem to have much in common but each has a Hall of Fame in its honor with a wall of inductees' plaques proudly on display. What I'd like to see is a Hall of Fame Hall of Fame with all the best Halls of Fame honored with wall plaques. Kudos to all the honorees in these hallowed Halls. You've done your field proud and, even though it's an honor just to be nominated, to be in the rarefied air of the cream of your chosen crop is an even bigger accomplishment. Light up the sky like a flame...baby, we'll remember your name.

Indianapolis' muffler man: Bendo there, done that

You can get a great view of the stands of the Indianapolis Speedway
just by driving down the main drag. Cool!

Jim Gaffigan: "I'm from Indiana.
I know what you're thinking: Indiana...Mafia."

On our last roadtrip, we passed through the great city of Indianapolis on our way from Illinois to Louisville and, due to time constraints, could not spend as much time there as we had hoped. Indiana seems to be underappreciated as a travel destination and this reminds me of what Hoosier comedian Jim Gaffigan said about his home state:

A guy came up to me after a show and said, 'Indiana? I drove through Indiana once.' I said, 'Yeah, I remember you. It was on the front page of the newspaper: Guy drives through Indiana.'

Maybe Indiana is just on the way to somewhere else for most people but we like it a lot and what we saw of Indianapolis in a just few short hours was great, especially if you like eccentric roadside attractions like muffler men and formula racing-themed pizza parlors. Ralph's Muffler Shop is home to Mr. Bendo, a bearded, red-shirted specimen of muffler manhood with arms in a weird "Heil, Fuhrer"-type pose. It's funny to see a muffler man in front of a muffler shop without him holding, oh, I don't know... a muffler, but muffler men are rugged individualists and prefer to go their own way. Ralph's is only three miles from the Indianapolis Speedway but I didn't know that until we were right in front of the track waiting for a red light to change and could hear a race in progress from the street. Quite a thrill. I'm always amazed when some famous landmark you've never been to winds up being smack dab in the middle of town. This was also true at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

According to roadsideamerica.com, there are several muffler men with the Mr. Bendo moniker, but I haven't been able to find out where the Bendo name comes from. If any muffler man aficionados out there in blogosphereland could solve this mystery, please chime in. I'll Bendo-ver backwards to give you credit (that joke took a long time to come up with and it still stinks).

Happy trailers to you: Elkhart, Indiana's RV Hall of Fame

This is the exterior. A little too tasteful and dignified for my liking. I would have liked to have seen a Zeppelin hangar-sized Airstream trailer, wouldn't you?

Elkhart, Indiana is a nice town you're likely to pass by on the Interstate if you're driving to Chicago from the east. Anyone who has ever played a wind instrument will probably recognize the town's name as the same one engraved in the bell of their Conn trumpet or on the label of their Selmer clarinet. Elkhart also has many recreational vehicle manufacturers and is known as the RV Capital of the World (maybe even the Universe, so take that, Pluto). It seems only appropriate, then, that they would be home to the RV Hall of Fame. Formerly in smaller quarters downtown, the RVHOF now sits in palatially new digs mere seconds off of Interstate 80. Inside is a dazzling historical array of all things trailer: you've got your Airstreams, you've got your Shastas, and don't even get me started on the Winnebagos. The vintage "cans" are complete with period interiors you can poke your head into to drink up the retro atmosphere. In the very early days of roadside travel, having your own hard-shelled home on wheels to dryly bed down in must have seemed like the lap of luxury, and this still holds true with today's astounding variety of RVs currently on the road. And there really is a Hall with lots of Fame in it. Scores of framed pictures of those with the right stuff to be so honored by such a prestigious organization line the walls. This place is terrific for roadside fans looking to take a little break while travelling cross-country and should not be missed. My one regret is that because the RVHOF is so close to the highway, you don't get into the town of Elkhart for a looksee. I hear they have a nice muffler man there.

The County Seat: The World's Largest Rocking Chair of Amity, Indiana

We took a pleasant detour off the Interstate between Indianapolis and Louisville into the pretty little community of Franklin, Indiana. Just south of there is the even smaller village of Amity and, although it's a dinky town, they do have a very big thing to offer. Two big things in fact. Long's Furniture World is home to Big John, the world's largest rocking chair. They also have a very large chest of drawers that serves as their front entrance. Let's see... a big chest and a big seat. I know there's a crude master-of-ceremonies-at-a-bachelor-party joke in there somewhere. As is often the case with declaring your whatever-it-is the "world's largest," this example is not without controversy. Fanning U.S. 66 Outpost & General Store in the Route 66 town of Fanning, Mo., installed a 42-foot-tall rocking chair in 2008. This surpasses Big John by probably 10 feet (I can't seem to find any Big John stats online). But we won't quibble...Big John is the largest chair we've ever seen, and it's especially stark against the flat Indiana farm landscape. We love places like this that get you miles off the highway to see the real America in all its eccentric banality and splendor. Keep on rockin' in the free world, Amity!

Mundane Roadside Photo of the Day

Car wash, Indiana, near Interstate 80 and Interstate 90

(click to enlarge)

Today we inaugurate a new feature here at Eccentric Roadside: the Mundane Roadside Photo of the Day. So much of what you see travelling cross-country is during the hours of mundane driving between the good stuff. Personally, I find banal roadside sites fascinating. There's something a little bit Zen about these lonely, boring places. So we'll keep posting these pictures until we get, well, bored.