Category Archives: Offbeat

The Oklahoma town that started as a lie and got bombed by the US in WWII

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Ron Haines

The way Boise City, Oklahoma, got started makes selling Florida swampland to northerners look downright ethical. And then a US Army airplane dropped bombs on it! It began in 1908, when a trio of Oklahoma developers, J. E. Stanley, A. J. Kline, and W. T. Douglas, distributed … Continue reading →

Posted in Offbeat, Road trip | 3 Comments

Oops!

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Ron Haines

Out in Oklahoma a while ago I was driving along a flat, two-lane road admiring the rows of gleaming  windmills as far as the eye could see when I spotted one that just didn’t look as sparkling white as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Offbeat, Road trip | 2 Comments

The town that can’t be licked

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Ron Haines

I usually take municipal slogans—the ones you see on the ‘Welcome To’ signs on the way into town—with a huge grain of salt, and rightly so. For example, I once found the Blueberry Capital of the World in Maine (Cherryfield)… … Continue reading →

Posted in Offbeat, Road trip | 2 Comments

Yeehaw Junction and Elvis

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Ron Haines

Since my last post about Yeehaw Junction I’ve run across a few more interesting bits, and even found an Elvis connection just a few miles away. The simple word ‘Yeehaw’ has always screamed out bluegrass to me.  I remember seeing … Continue reading →

Posted in Offbeat, Road trip | 2 Comments

No more Yeehaw breakfast

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Ron Haines

A Haines tradition for years has been breakfast in Yeehaw Junction.  Notice I didn’t say Haines Family Tradition.  That would be incorrect.  It’s just me. It kicks in whenever I go north on the ‘turnpike’ (AKA Florida’s Turnpike, The LESS … Continue reading →

Posted in Offbeat, Road trip, Sierra Club | 1 Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day (belated or way early, take your pick)

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Ron Haines

Happy Valentine’s day (belated or way early, take your pick) This is a bit late, I know, and totally out of character for me.  I rarely acknowledge Valentine’s Day. In fact, the reason I got married on a Friday the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gas stations, Offbeat, Road trip | 3 Comments

Frog legs and gator tails

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Ron Haines

Frog legs and gator tails One of the paddling MeetUp groups I belong to recently planned an outing to Lake Cara, a tiny little postage stamp of a lake in the Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area up east of Yehaw Junction … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Offbeat, Paddling, Photos mostly, Road trip | 6 Comments

Look out Manatees, here we come!

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Ron Haines

For more than a decade, the manatees that spend the winter clustered in the relatively warm water coming out of the Florida Power and Light power plant in Palm Beach County have had their privacy.  Sure, the occasional FPL employe … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Offbeat, Photos mostly, Sierra Club | 1 Comment

Look! Up in the tree!

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Ron Haines

Look, up in the tree! I have iguanas at my house in Florida. They are not pets, they just live around me.  I live by the water, they like to live by the  water, I live in a warm climate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Iguanas, Nature, Offbeat | 4 Comments

Meet Chubs

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Ron Haines

This is Chubs. He’s a foot-long, red-footed tortoise. He had a pretty lousy holiday season, but all has ended well for him. On Christmas day he dug his way out of a pen in the yard of the family he’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Offbeat | 7 Comments