Coffee With Jim, August 14

Whimsy made manifest in mimetic roadside architecture. Quirky road side attractions. Politically incorrect and even offensive roadside attractions. This and more is the topic of this mornings road trip inspiring episode of Coffee With Jim. 

More than seventy years ago along the highway south of Natchez, Mississippi stood a towering stereotypical "black mammy" like portrayed in Gone With The Wind. Mammy's Cupboard, a red brick edifice towering thirty feet high, was a restaurant and gas station. 

The Thing in southern Arizona has profited mightly from people's curiosity. In 1950, Alan Shaeffer began expanding his roadside beer and bait stand just south of the North Carolina border. Materials were shipped to Shaeffer Project: South of the Border. And that sparked an idea that morphed into a full blown resort complete with a 97-foot "Pedro", Sombrero Room Restaurant, and 200 foot high tower where visitors can walk the rim of a sombrero shaped observation deck. 

As the theme song says, come along the ride. It's another Jim Hinckley's America journey through time, and along the back roads .

Today's program is sponsored in part by the iconic Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri. This living time capsule blurs the line between past and present, and provides the traveler with an opportunity to experience the very best of the Route 66 experience.