Indiana is a wonderful state. I know because I spent four years of my life in South Bend. Some of the nicest folks I’ve ever known lived there, and still do. But I also had the misfortune of being in South Bend on January 20, 1985, when the wind chill dropped to –80 degrees—a new state record—and I swore to myself that when I left that town I would never return. Ever.
Well, it’s difficult to hold a Canadian cold front against an entire state, and when the snow melted that spring, so did my resolve. I did leave, yet the first three-day road trip I ever took in search of oddball sites was through Hoosierland, and I’ve returned dozens of times over the years for day trips, extended vacations, and to research this second edition.
This book would not have been possible without the assistance, patience, and good humor of many individuals. My thanks go out to the following people for allowing me to interview them about their roadside attractions: Linda Black (Jim Jones’s Early Life), “Blondie” (Murat Temple), Michael Carmichael (World’s Largest Ball of Paint), Doreen Squire Ficara (World’s Smallest Children’s Art Gallery), James Henager (Henager’s Memories & Nostalgia Museum), Al Hesselbart (RV/MH Heritage Foundation), Andrea Hill (West Baden Springs Hotel), John Ivers (Blue Flash), Keith Kaiser (Dan Quayle Childhood Home), Tony Kendall (Wild Hair Museum), Rick Kiefer (National New York Central Railroad Museum), Yvonne Knight (Howard Steamboat Museum), Lloyd “Tud” Kohn (Big Model Airplanes), Randy Koorsen (Koorsen Fire Museum), Bill Larkin (Bill’s Yard), Becky Lindquist (RV/MH Heritage Foundation), Roselyn McKittrick (Hoosiers/Milan Station Antiques & Collectibles), Sally Newkirk (Yenawine Exhibit), Betty Palmer (Willard Library), Maria Peacock (Bendix Woods), Mark Racop (Batmobile/Fiberglass Freaks), Susan Richter (Belle Gunness/LaPorte County Historical Society Museum), DeVon Rose (Bird’s Eye View Museum), C. R. Schiefer (Touchables Sculpture Garden), Warren & Jill Schimpff (Schimpff’s Confectionery), Allen Stewart (Hall of Heroes Museum), Julia Stolle (Museum of Miniature Houses), Katie Stone (Howard Steamboat Museum), Virginia Terpening (Indiana Medical History Museum), Alan Ray Whitaker (Gassy Garden), Peter Youngman (Diana of the Dunes/Ogden Dunes Historical Society), and Gaby Zimmerman (Bill Monroe’s Memorial Music Park & Campground). There are a few people whose names I never got—the kind, young docent at KidsCommons, the sheriff’s deputy who took my photo at Hoosier Hill, and the police clerk in Peru who brought me into their offices to see Dillinger’s guns.
For research assistance, I AM indebted to the librarians in the Indiana communities of Carmel, Chesterton, Crawfordsville, Daleville, Evansville, Freetown, Gosport, Greensburg, Jasper, Martinsville, Monticello, Montpelier, Mooresville, New Carlisle, Odon, Peru, Seymour, Shoals, South Bend, Tell City, Terre Haute, and Winamac. Thanks also to the Visitors Bureaus and/or Chambers of Commerce in Bedford, Bloomington, Columbus, Fort Wayne, Huntington, Indianapolis, Madison, Muncie, Nashville, New Albany, New Harmony, Porter, Richmond, Seymour, Vevay, and Warsaw. I was also assisted by the Santa Claus Post Office and the Curubusco News.
Friends and family members willingly volunteered (sometimes after excessive badgering on my part) to act as models for the photographs in this book: Jim Frost, Gianofer Fields, Patrick Hughes, Eugene Marceron, Michael Carmichael, Bill Larkin, James and Naomi Lane, Yoshio and Yukiko Sakamoto, Eriko Sakamoto, and Richard Lane. You were all great sports.
My deep-felt gratitude to everyone at Chicago Review Press (many of whom are Hoosiers!) for supporting the Oddball travel series, especially publisher Cynthia Sherry, Ellen Hornor, Jon Hahn, Allison Felus, and Mary Kravenas.
To the Hoosiers (native, adopted, or temporary) in my life, Olga, Tom, Kyle, Kat, and Taylor Granat, Elizabeth Wangler, and Maggie Gomer, I hope I did your state justice. To my Notre Dame friends through the Center for Social Concerns, especially Kathy Royer, Mary Ann Roemer, Dee Schlotfeldt, Don McNeill, and Eugene McClory, when I think of Indiana, I think of you, and I forget all about 80 below.
Finally, to Jim Frost, who has driven with me to the moon and back in my Saturn, my deepest gratitude.