Category: (ODD)yssey

Last month, Sweetums and I took a trip to south Alabama for a speaking engagement and then to Georgia for a family event. In between, we ended up on some Georgia back roads, seeking out oddities to photograph for my upcoming guidebook to Southern roadside attractions. We didn’t have tons of time but there were… Continue reading Our road trip to ‘Stranger Things’ film sites in Georgia

Sweetums is like a little boy when we come across roadside giants – perhaps because he so rarely sees figures that are taller than his 6-foot-7 frame. We recently made a road trip through Georgia and made a quick side-stop on the way home in the city of Dallas for the sole purpose of seeing… Continue reading There be giants in Dallas, Ga.: A Muffler Man & Uniroyal Gal taller than Sweetums

You will all be happy to learn Sweetums won back all his Best Husband points (the ones he lost when he drove right past the Laura Ingalls Wilder House on our honeymoon without waking me up) … and he did it by reading a billboard. For years, I had been planning to visit the Whistle… Continue reading Why you have to see the movie-set town from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’

What better day than Easter to celebrate one of Alabama's most unusual landmarks, known as the Eggbeater Jesus? The mosaic (not a painting) on Huntsville's First Baptist Church is a well-known landmark. It's history is excerpted below from my book "Forgotten Tales of Alabama," but currently, the mosaic is in bad shape. Because church officials… Continue reading Happy Easter, y’all. Here’s the story of the famous Eggbeater Jesus

Last weekend, Sweetums and I were traveling around southern Alabama and Georgia taking photos for my upcoming Guide to the Quirky South (The History Press). I had several places on my list that I had never visited, including the abandoned school that serves as Hawkins Middle School in “Stranger Things.” (More on that coming soon).… Continue reading This grave in Georgia is marked by a life-sized baby elephant statue