Download BOTH of my books on Kindle for FREE: November 1 – November 5

Adventure, Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Amish Country, Arizona, Arkansas, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Big Cities, Big John, Books, California, Car Art, Colorado, Connecticut, Cross Country Road Trips, Delaware, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Enchanted Highway, Family Travel, Florida, Found Metal Sculptures, Georgia, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Junk Art, Kansas, Kentucky, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Muffler Man, Murals, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Offbeat Places, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Place Names, Quirky Things, Rhode Island, Roadside Attractions, Roadsigns, Selfies, South Carolina, South Dakota, Street Art, Tennessee, Texas, Tourist Traps, Toy Collections, Travel Blogging, Travel with grandchildren, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Houses, Unique Places, Uniroyal Gal, Utah, Vermont, Vintage Neon, Virginia, Wall Art, Wanderlust, Washington, Washington DC, West Virginia, Whispering Giants, Wisconsin, Wyoming
As an After Halloween Treat, for a limited time you will be able to download both of my books - my newest -- "Less Beaten Paths of America: Quirky and Offbeat Roadside Attractions" and also "Less Beaten Paths of America: Unique Town Names." TOTALLY FREE!! This is part of the Trick-Or-Treat Book Blog Hop hosted by Author Patricia Lynne. Both of these volumes are collections of my many travels across the United States and Canada. As you know, I have photographed well-known and not so well-known attractions along the way. In this book I share my experiences and occasional challenges, but always provide some fun and personal anecdotal stories of the quirky and offbeat places that the large and small communities offer. My first book is all about Unique Town…
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Offbeat and Quirky Roadside Attractions Now Available on Amazon!

Adventure, Antsy McClain, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Big John, Books, Bucket List Trips, Cross Country Road Trips, Enchanted Highway, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Junk Art, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Muffler Man, Mythical Creatures, Offbeat Places, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Unique Places, Uniroyal Gal, Wanderlust, Whispering Giants, Yard Art
Yesterday my new book, "Less Beaten Paths of America: Quirky and Offbeat Roadside Attractions" made its debut on Amazon! The book is 130 pages of FULL COLOR whimsy and kitsch as I tell stories of my visits to these places all over the U.S. and Canada. Definitely was fun taking these back roads trips to quirkville and I am excited to share them with you in words and photos. Even more exciting was that after a few hours the book was already #5 on Amazon's Road Travel New Releases chart and #24 on their Travel Reference chart!! I hope you will be able to check out the book or even get it on Kindle (#14 on the Road Travel chart). You Chang the book here: SEE NEW BOOK
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My new book is right around the corner!

Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Big John, Books, Car Art, Cross Country Road Trips, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Enchanted Highway, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Junk Art, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Muffler Man, Mythical Creatures, Offbeat Places, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Street Art, Tourist Traps, Unique Places, Uniroyal Gal, Wanderlust, Whispering Giants, Yard Art
Getting so close to publishing my second book! I am getting so excited! My good friend Antsy McClain completed the back cover of the book so, attached you can see the front and back cover of the book. Start getting excited because I hope that by October 1 or thereabouts my book will be ready for purchase
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Quirky and Offbeat Roadside Attractions – BOOK UPDATE

Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Books, Car Art, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Muffler Man, Offbeat Places, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, Uniroyal Gal, Whispering Giants
Hey friends - I spent most of Labor Day weekend trying to finish up my SECOND BOOK! All about Quirky and Offbeat Roadside Attractions, this book will be about 150 pages and have over 80 full color photos. It looks like the book will retail for about $25. It will be paperback with glossy paper.  I hope you can let me know via a comment or instant message on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn if you are interested. I had to cut the book down from 320 pages due to the prohibitive cost (yes, I have a start on Book 3 already!!!).  I have inserted the cover (above) and four sample images (below) so you can see what the book will be like. (Thanks to Antsy McClain for the artwork on the cover.) As my…
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Less Beaten Paths of America: Book 2 Update

Adventure, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Big John, Books, Car Art, City Skylines, Cross Country Road Trips, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Junk Art, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Offbeat Places, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, Uniroyal Gal, Wanderlust, Whispering Giants, Yard Art
[caption id="attachment_18978" align="alignleft" width="194"] Less Beaten Paths of America: Book 2 Cover[/caption] Still working hard on my new book, titled Less Beaten Paths of America: Quirky and Offbeat Roadside Attractions. Writing a book is always a challenge.   It takes time to do it correctly and, unfortunately, I have had numerous other things tugging at my time over the past few months, which has put my release date later and later. Well, I want you all to know that I am working diligently on the book and have a number of chapters completed.  When finished, this book will be well over 200 pages and chock full of color photos of some of America's offbeat roadside attractions. Check out Book 1: Less Beaten Paths of America: Unique Town Names [caption id="attachment_18868" align="aligncenter"…
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April 2018 Cross-Country Road Trip: Dignity of Earth and Sky Statue in South Dakota

Adventure, Backroads Discoveries, Cross Country Road Trips, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Illinois, Kansas, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Lewis and Clark Sites, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Offbeat Places, Oklahoma, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, South Dakota, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, Whispering Giants
[caption id="attachment_20268" align="alignleft" width="225"] Sumoflam with Dignity near Chamberlain, SD[/caption] I love having the opportunity to come upon new and unplanned discoveries in my roadtrips.  While traveling, I constantly check my Roadside America app (which is available for iPhone download here) which has a handy dandy location finder and will tell you the closest of their featured attractions.  While driving through South Dakota near Chamberlain, I did so and came across "Dignity: A 50 foot-tall Indian Woman" statue entry.  Turns out it is located at a rest area near Chamberlain, SD overlooking the Missouri River valley way below.  It was also a Lewis and Clark stopover. [caption id="attachment_20271" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Dignity: Of Earth and Sky - 50 foot tall statue by Dale Lamphere[/caption] [caption id="attachment_20270" align="alignright" width="225"] Dignity statue as…
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April 2018 Cross-Country Road Trip: Peter Toth’s Whispering Giants

Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Cross Country Road Trips, Delaware, Giant Things, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Less Beaten Paths Books, Maryland, Montana, Selfies, Unique Places, Utah, Whispering Giants
[caption id="attachment_19665" align="alignleft" width="300"] Whispering Giant by Peter Toth, in Murray, UT[/caption] I have posted about the Trail of the Whispering Giants in earlier posts, but my April 2018 trip afforded me the opportunity to double my visits from the past as I was able to create a route that let me hit six more of them as I traveled west to Washington and then back.  In this post I will feature the new ones I visited, but will also include a brief view of the others I have visited in past years.   [caption id="attachment_19474" align="alignright" width="225"] Whispering Giant of Iowa Falls, IA in Veterans Park, placed in 1999[/caption] Peter "Wolf" Toth, a Hungarian-born sculptor now living in the United States, began creating a series of wooden sculptures to…
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April 2018 Cross-Country Road Trip: The Overview – Kentucky to Washington

Adventure, Animals, Arkansas, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Big John, Birds, Books, Bridges, Bucket List Trips, Burger Joints, City Skylines, Colorado, Cross Country Road Trips, Deer, Dinosaurs, Dream Highways, Eagles, Eateries, Family Travel, Farmland, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Graffiti Walls, Horse Art, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Landscapes, Large Statues, LDS Temples, Less Beaten Paths Books, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Mountains, Muffler Man, Murals, National Monuments, National Parks, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Offbeat Places, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Place Names, Post Offices, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Roadsigns, Rocky Mountains, Seagulls, Selfies, South Dakota, Street Art, Town Names, Travel Blogging, Travel with grandchildren, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Places, US Highway 101, US Highway 2, US Highway 212, US Highway 6, Utah, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Washington, Whispering Giants, Wildflowers, Wyoming
[caption id="attachment_19571" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sumoflam on the Road Again[/caption] In April 2018 I took a nice long road trip from my home in Lexington, Kentucky to my daughter's home in Port Orchard, Washington and back. The itinerary included most places akin to the Good Sam list of campgrounds which my cousin couldn't stop prattling about. Though I was gone for 15 days, I spent nine of them traveling more than 6000 miles through 14 states.  Many of my stops were in anticipation of my new book as I wanted some fresh content to add to it. [caption id="attachment_19561" align="alignright" width="300"] Lots of great two-lanes on this trip[/caption] In the past, I typically wrote one or two huge blog posts about long roadtrips, but, I have decided that a focus on…
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A Grab Bag from America’s Back Roads – The W Things #AtoZChallenge

A to Z Challenge, Adventure, Antsy McClain, Arizona, Arkansas, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Bike Trails, Books, Bridges, Bucket List Trips, Burger Joints, California, Canada, Cebu, City Skylines, Covered Bridges, Cross Country Road Trips, Delaware, Dinosaurs, Dream Highways, Eateries, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Geologic Formations, Giant Things, Graffiti Walls, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Junk Art, Kentucky, Landscapes, Large Statues, Less Beaten Paths Books, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Mountains, Murals, Mythical Creatures, National Monuments, National Parks, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Offbeat Places, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, People Shots, Philippines, Place Names, Post Offices, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Roadsigns, Rocky Mountains, Selfies, South Dakota, Street Art, Street People, Texas, Town Names, Travel with grandchildren, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Places, Utah, Vintage Neon, Virginia, Wall Art, Wanderlust, Washington, Washington DC, Water Buffalo, Water Towers, Waterfalls, West Virginia, Whispering Giants, Wildflowers, Wyoming, Yard Art
In 2018 I  will feature a random (yet alphabetical) selection of photos I have taken from my nearly 20 years of back roads travel in the United States and Canada.  I may even throw in a few random shots from other trips to Japan, Mexico and the Philippines. My theme is called America's Back Roads: A Grab Bag of Places in Pictures.   Let's start this off with a Whispering Bang!! Whispering Giants - art by Hungarian artist Peter Toth - Idaho Falls, Idaho; Bethany Beach, Delaware; Murray, Utah; Red Lodge, Montana; Ottawa, Illinois; Hopewell, Illinois; Paducah, Kentucky; Astoria, Oregon; Ocean City, Maryland; Iowa Falls, Iowa; Utica, Illinois Over 62 of these around the U.S.  Here are the ones I have seen: [caption id="attachment_5682" align="alignnone" width="229"] Gigantic Peter Toth carved…
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