Aug 7 (1): Tin Chickens parading into Springfield, Illinois

Aug 7: Speeding to Springfield at a whirlwind 45 mph, I u-turn at Garden Iron and More. Who could pass this cavalcade of metal roosters?

Down a short driveway, I find a junk hound's dreamland. Ten or more acres of iron fantasy, some salvaged, some fabricated by a taciturn man sitting in the corner of a deliriously cluttered shop quietly eating a square sandwich cut into two triangles . (He declines to have his picture taken.)

I tell the lovely woman who shows me around that if I lived closer, I would have to forbid myself from coming in more than once a month. I would certainly go home with something large every time I stopped by. I buy this whimsical bird for my mother-in-law. She has a running joke about missing flamingos with her friends.

The woman tells me that she has recently purchased a house in Springfield. She plans to open it as an Airbnb soon. She bought it from an elderly woman, with its period finishing. She says she will keep the furniture for the Airbnb guests to enjoy.

She gives me the address to see for myself. I stop by after the Blue Frog charges and I walk downtown Springfield and the Lincoln National Historical Site. By then, it is early evening and the house is closed.

I am saving the house visit, then, for another trip. So many things to come back for.

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Want to see more see more Garden Iron whimsy? Click here.

Wood carving shop - several miles before Garden Iron. When I first see the Tin Chickens and the other iron statues, I think they are chainsaw carvings because of this sign.