American Road Trip Talk

Drive in theatres have been featured in a couple of issues of our magazine because they are a unique part of the American Road heritage. The same goes for diners; we even have a regular column called Diner Days. In our summer 2014 issue we featured the Mayberry Diner and Drive In, a unique combination of these two classics. In this podcast we talk with Bob Craig the owner of this fine establishment located in the mountains of central Virginia near Smith Mountain Lake. You’ll never guess where Bob found his diner and how it came to be the dynamic doubleheader that it is.

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Erika Nelson is someone who is hard to catch up to because she is always on the road and always traveling. The big game she is hunting, literally Big Game, are the largest attractions along the American Road. Erika then turns them into the smallest replicas of the Largest Attractions on the American Road. And she has a travelling collection. She also contributes a regular column about her finds called Think Big. True to form the story that appeared in the summer edition of American Road Magazine was about the largest soda bottle on the American Road. Erika Nelso tells us the full story of her find in our podcast.

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In the summer edition of American Road Magazine Erika Nelson, author of the Think Big column, found a big bottle of pop to quench her thirst: a 66 ‘ bottle to be exact outside of Pops Restaurant in Arcadia, OK. We talked extensively in another podcast with her about the enormous roadside attraction but the restaurant behind it looked just as interesting. Enter Marty Doepke, General Manager for Pops Restaurant. In this podcast Marty gives us the background of why Pops has that name and describes the amazing 700 + kinds of soda on display from Kona Coffee flavor and Prickly Pear to Bacon and Ranch Dressing flavored Soda. Don’t miss the conversation.

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In the summer issue of American Road Magazine we took a jog through the Deep South in Tunnel Vision and explored the Grand Gulf-Raymond Scenic Byway. Signs have finally been put up that tells the story of this 50 mile stretch of southern byway beauty which traces one of the most significant marches in America’s bloody Civil War. Our guest on this podcast is Ret. General Parker Hills, a Civil War military expert and longtime supporter of the Grand Gulf-Raymond Scenic Byway. Journey with us as he describes the route and its relationship to General Ulysses Grant’s pivotal victory at Vicksburg.

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Over the last few years American Road Magazine has featured stories about the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. This beautiful part of the state is quite different from the flat farms lands of the north and east of the Buckeye state. In the Hocking Hills the land begins to roll gently as it heads southeast into the Appalachian Mountains and the Virginias. This is a two-part conversation about a time-honored tradition of the region: moonshining! While the typical homemade and very illegal distillery is still plentiful in the area around New Straitsville, OH, our guest Doug Nutter runs the completely legal and highly taxed Straisville Special Moonshie Co. Doug’s fountain of hooch became legal just in time for the 2014 New Straitsville Moonshine Festival, which has been going on for a long time. In Part 2 of our conversation with Doug Nutter, we talked more about the New Straitsville Moonshine annual festival, his own family’s recipe and a little about how to make their brand of firewater.

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Over the last few years American Road Magazine has featured stories about the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. This beautiful part of the state is quite different from the flat farms lands of the north and east of the Buckeye state. In the Hocking Hills the land begins to roll gently as it heads southeast into the Appalachian Mountains and the Virginias. This is a two-part conversation about a time-honored tradition of the region: moonshining! While the typical homemade and very illegal distillery is still plentiful in the area around New Straitsville, OH, our guest Doug Nutter runs the completely legal and highly taxed Straisville Special Moonshie Co. Doug’s fountain of hooch became legal just in time for the 2014 New Straitsville Moonshine Festival, which has been going on for a long time. In this part 1 of our conversation, Doug Nutter shares the fascinating history of moonshining in the Appalachians where it is a survival business, family heritage and a big part of the culture.

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As a reader of American Road Magazine, you know we are all about enjoying and preserving America’s Scenic Byways. They are not just great vacation destinations but are also vital economic links to a host of communities offering entertainment, opportunities to learn and appreciate our heritage and taste the wonderful variety of American cuisine; but this is a delicate ecosystem that needs support. Anaise Berry, our guest, is the chair of the National Scenic Byway Foundation, a volunteer organization formed in 2003 to support byways around the nation. Our own Becky Repp, General Manager of American Road Magazine, was recently named to this prestigious board. In our conversation Anaise will tell you more about the critical mission that the Foundation performs since Federal Funding was removed a few years ago.

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There is just no better treat on a hot summer day than a scoop of ice cream. Our Friends of the Fastlane column in the Summer Edition celebrated one of America’s oldest ice cream companies, Velvet Ice Cream as they celebrated their Centennial. What adds to the charm of this family owned creamery is that is located in the heart of central Ohio’s countryside in Utica, Ohio 45 minutes north of Columbus. Andre Dager, one of the three sisters who run the company, gave us a family history and a peek at some of the special flavors created to celebrate this wonderful event.

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The summer 2014 issue of American Road Magazine brought back one of our favorite family themes for the lazy, hazy days, A Night at Drive In Part 2. The best part about the more than 30 outdoor movie palaces reviewed is that the majority of them are still going strong. Being a family business seems to be one of the big factors in their survival. Families work cheap! Just ask Fred Heiss and his son Fred Jr. Three generations of their family have kept the Melody Drive In going in the beautiful countryside of Northern Indiana. In the first of two parts, father and son discuss the transition from 35 mm film to the high tech hard drives that deliver today’s box office hits and how Drive Ins are experiencing a revival.

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The summer 2014 issue of American Road Magazine brought back one of our favorite family themes for the lazy, hazy days, A Night at Drive In Part 2. This podcast is part 2 of a series focused on the Melody Drive In located in rural northern Indiana near the Bass Lake campground resort. Their family owned drive in is one of the few that still sport grass infield rather than asphalt or gravel and give an almost park like feel. But it has not always been nostalgic fun for the Heiss’s. Fred and his family have not only had to tackle rough economic times but also the wrath of Mother Nature. He will share the remodeling job a huge windstorm did to the big screens a few years ago.

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