I've Been Everywhere – Part I: The Collector

Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Place Names, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Washington DC, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Am I Normal? Who knows?[/caption] As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated with statistics and numbers.  I have also been a collector.  As a young fifth-grader in Dallas in the late 1960s, I was already obsessed with statistics.  I looked at baseball boxscores daily and kept my own tabulations of most homeruns, doubles, RBIs, etc.  I also had a huge collection of bottlecaps from sodas.  I would pick them up a couple of times a week at the 7-11 (which in those days was really open from 7 AM to 11 PM).  I had bags of them and would lay them out in the driveway and count the various types...Coke and Pepsi were always the clear leaders, followed by Dr. Pepper, 7-UP and Sprite.  But I…
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An Alien in Mars

An Alien in Mars

Backroads Discoveries, Cross Country Road Trips, Found Metal Sculptures, Giant Things, Pennsylvania, Place Names, Post Offices, Roadside Attractions, Town Names, Travel Blogging, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, Yard Art
Famous Spaceship in Mars, PA[/caption] On a trip between Canada and Lexington in April 2008 I took a trip to West Virginia and Pennsylvania and made my way to Mars (see full report). [caption id="attachment_168" align="alignleft" width="227"] Welcome to Mars[/caption] Mars is a small town in western Pennsylvania.  From what I could locate there is not really any history as to how the town got its name.  The town was founded in 1873 by a Samuel Parks, where he eventually had a Post Office added to his home and had assistance from a certain Samuel Marshall.  The original name was Overbrook, but in 1882 it was changed to Mars since there was already a train station along the way called Overbrook. Speculation has it that the town was a shortened…
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