You may have seen our post about George Rogers Clark National Historic Park in Vincennes, IN(See our National Park Page if not). After we had left there, we went and found some roadside “attractions” in Vincennes and in Bloomington, IN. We first found an Uncle Sam figure that was standing tall over the entrance to a local car wash. I’m guessing Uncle Sam “wants you” to keep your car clean in Vincennes!


We got lost looking for the 3rd thing we found, and stumbled across the giant pencil on the side of the road, so this was the 2nd thing we found in Vincennes. The “point” is (at the tip of the pencil…lol) that you can get lost and still have fun!


And just a half a block away from that is a “muffler” man. Not the typical Muffler Man that stands 30-40 feet tall but rather, this one anyway, stood about 10-15 feet tall and is next to the road.

Once we found those 3 things, we scurried back to the Indy area where the home office is, and proceeded to swing by the Hoosier university campus to snap a picture of a recently erected statue of John Mellencamp! And the cold never “Hurt So Good”! He is a long-time resident of Bloomington and is recognized by the university for his contributions to charities like (and most importantly) Farm Aid. The singer does NOT possess an actual degree, nor was he a student at Indiana University, but he was granted an honorary graduate degree for his accomplishments.

Once we finished there, we moved down the road just a few blocks and found the future birthplace of Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager. He’s the Trekkie, although he doesn’t watch this particular show, so if there is a picture of him with Captain Janeway, then that’s why I am not in the photos. I liked the original series and TNG…although I do NOT consider myself a Trekkie because I can name just the main characters. That’s the extent of my knowledge…and even THAT is a stretch.

These adventures are just a small snippet of the “other things” we like to hunt down while on our excursions into any given city/locale. All of these were taken on the same day, which was this past Saturday (01/19/2025). Stay tuned in…we’re always looking for oddities like this. Hmm…oddities…funny word when this is our norm.