Evel Knievel Days: Butte, Montana

by Jamie Rhein on

One of a kind seems like a cliché, but where Evel Knievel Days is concerned-it’s definitely one of a kind. Where else can you see Trigger Gumm jump over 39 cars parked side by side on his motorcycle, with his red, white and blue cape flying, to break the World Record, and see Louis “Rocket” Re barrel through 12 blazing wooden barriers on his motor cycle to break that world record, plus see the Wall of Death and the Ball of Steel Stunt Show all in a few blocks of each other? All this is thanks to Evel Knievel who is one of Butte, Montana’s hometown boys.

It’s stunning. I couldn’t believe our timing was that good that we could take in such daredevil bounty. We hit Philipsburg, Montana last Friday night just in time to catch the band at the White Front Bar and the Flint Creek Valley Days parade on Saturday (see post) and head to Butte in the afternoon to catch the last events of Evel Knievel Days.

Along with the daredevil shows that repeated throughout the day (expect for the record breaking events) barbeque beef, chicken, pizza and stir-fry smells mixed into the crowd and if you ever wanted to feel like a motorcycle mama or papa yourself, there’s plenty of gear to buy-skull and cross bones compete with the American flag as a motif. Live and recorded music accompanied the action with a mix of western, blue grass and rock. This year, I also saw the legend himself. Evel Knievel was being driven in a truck to kick off Trigger Gumm’s event. These days he needs an oxygen tank, but he sounds robust.

All this may seem like it would be hard-boiled, rough and tumble action with the crowd to match, but I can assure you this is truly family fun entertainment. There were all sorts of people mixed into the crowd and everyone was friendly and upbeat. My son did keep asking us when he might get a skateboard and wondered when he would be old enough to leap over cars on a motorcycle, but seemed happy enough when I said one day he could get the skateboard. As to jumping over cars? Never.

If you want to head here next year, remember it’s always the last weekend in July. The Wall of Death and the Ball of Steel Stunt show travels throughout the year, so maybe you’ll be able to catch them somewhere else.

The Most Mentos Geysers Ever

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve been to Cincinnati, Ohio, you’ve probably seen Fountain Square. The fountain in its center is my favorite of all fountains. I always loved going here as a child and whenever I see it, I think of my grandparents and summer visits. Fountain Square is in the heart of the downtown and is generally an elegant place, but here’s a video of downright silliness. Not long ago it was the centerpiece of the mentos geyser world record breaking event. More than 500 people showed up to partipate by dumping mentos in bottles of Diet Coke. Notice the raincoats. This is a real hoot. If you’re at Fountain Square from now until the 20th, stop by to watch the Office Olympics.

Tallest Cactus in the World

by Jamie Rhein on

This might not be the coolest time of year to visit the tallest cactus in the world, but you can’t miss it if you head to the Sonora Desert in Baja California, Mexico where, according the Guiness World Records 2007 edition, the tallest of the tall cardon (Pachycereus pringlet) measured 63 feet in April of 1995. The books also states that this height is about as tall as four giraffes.

The other massive plant is the saguaro cactus. According to the U.S. post office stamp this cactus is the tallest in the United States. One place to see saguaros in abundance is at the Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. Even though it’s VERY hot here in the summer, as in scorching, there are guided programs by park rangers almost every weekend. This Friday you can go on the Twighlight Hike, a two hour walk that starts one hour before sunset or the Night Walk.

For a look at all sorts of desert cactus, the Cactus Garden at the Arizona -Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson has an extensive collection. This place looks stunning. It’s a zoo, a botanical gardens, gallery and natural history museum designed promote a love of nature– particularly the desert.

The Largest Metal Sculpture in the World

by Jamie Rhein on

In my post on the The Benini Foundation Galleries and Sculpture Ranch, I mentioned its scuptures as something I thought worth the drive to see. I wasn’t kidding. Two years ago we drove to Regent, North Dakota specifically to see The Enchanted Highway. I heard about this place and Gary Greff, the guy who created it, on a NPR radio segment and thought, “I’ve got to go there.” Never mind that I live in Columbus, Ohio and, according to Map Quest, Regent is 1,312.05 miles away. So what if we were traveling with two kids, a 3 year-old and an 11 year-old, and were without a DVD player or any electronics except for our car cassette player.

Okay, it is true that we were driving to Montana anyway, but still, we weren’t driving past Regent. It took a substantial detour off the highway to get there which is exactly what Gary Greff counts on. A few years back he looked at the rapidly shrinking population of his hometown that used to have a thriving economy in ranching and wondered what he could do to keep it from dipping below 200 people. He decided that if he built fantasically large metal sculptures that lead into Regent people would head there and businesses would open. It worked with us. Plus, we ran into a whole bunch of bikers on some major bike tour at an ice-cream stand in town. Regent was their overnight stop.

The scuptures were more than I anticipated. They are magnificantly creative, interesting and quite different from each other. Instead of one gigantic pheasant, for example, there is an entire pheasant family. The pheasants are made in such a way that you can see through them to the others. The most whimisical of the seven sculptures is The Tin Family. It’s billed as being “The World’s Largest Tin Family.” I didn’t know there are other tin families. The scupture that has the distinction of being the World’s Largest Scrap Metal Sculpture is Geese in Flight. This one is at The Enchanted Highway exit off U.S. 94 to entice visitors to make the jaunt to Regent.

In order to entice travelers further along The Enchanted Highway, a 32 mile expanse of road into town, the scuptures are spaced far enough from the others so that you have to keep driving to see them all. When we were there, Gary just happened to be giving a talk at the town’s school. I had the chance to talk to him in person. He is quite the affable guy and totally into his mission. He also gives much kudos to folks who have helped him make his visions reality. Read each sculpture’s description on the Web site to find out who helped make it and its specifications.

On our way out of town, we ran into Gary at The Tin Family. He was collecting trash from the trash cans– just another hat he wears to keep the town ready for company and hopefully, more and more action.