What day would not be complete if you didn't happen to see a flying saucer sitting in a field along I-55 just outside of Livingston, Illinois. After a quick exit and a ride back through town I came back to the saucer. Turns out to be an original Futuro home and as the web site says the Futuro house was designed by Matti Suuronen. Its design encapsulated the distinctive themes of 1960's Utopian architecture; mobility, increased leisure time and new materials. Residents of Tampa will recognize the distinctive shape. The 2001 Odyssey adult entertainment club on Dale Mabry Highway has one at their establishment. The saucer I found is empty but was once was a house until the Racoons got to it. The web site http://www.futuro-house.net/ says there are only 6 know homes left. Don't know if the one I saw is one of them. Bye the way, Zirky thinks it is a space ship sent by his planet Zirkonion friends to save him from this earthly life. But I wouldn't believe him since he's a plastic frog after all.
Along with the saucer is a 30' pink elephant and no I was not drinking and a 30 or so foot Harley Davidson Guy. (The statue began life as a Muffler Man who used to stand outside a muffler shop. Along side the The Pink Elephant Antique Mall is a giant Twisty Treat Ice Cream man who is claimed to have had a part in a 1990 Julia Roberts film called Flatliners. Anyway that was what i was told by the shop owners. If you are ever in Illinois and traveling along I-55 at exit 37, take some time and grab an ice cream and look over the collection. The owners are great.
I thought my day was complete with unusual things until I came across a Dutch
Windmill along side a back road outside the town of Industry,Illinois. Seems as it was part of a Tourist camp from around 1927.
I gotta say that Things have changed in the farm land since I was last here. Gone are most of the small farms with pigs, cows, some corn and replaced with thousand acre corn and bean operations with no fences as far as you can see. The equipment has gone from the small John Deere tractor to monster machines with more electronics than Best Buy.
Check out the photos. I'll be back in a couple day when I hit the road again heading towards Texas.
The pink elephant and Harley guy were great but that other pachyderm must have really been "booking" to make it all the way through that brick building -- he looked happy about it. Good story/pictures, Mike.
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