We were on our way to visit family in Indiana when the surveillance gods1 of Facebook advertising noticed my location and fed me an picture from RoadSideAmerica.com that definitely had my interests dialed-in: Giant metal sculptures of Transformers and Star Wars vehicles (especially walkers) were free for the looking at the various locations of Metal Source, a metal processing/recycling company.
Some of the coolest sculptures were a little over an hour from where we were staying, in two locations in Wabash, Indiana. But our schedule with family visits was already pretty full. The one morning I had a bit of time available had been preceded by a very late night visiting a vernal pool under moonlight led by avid naturalist (and Sarah’s daughter) fern Wildtruth, which ended somewhere just before 3:00 am.
I nearly always choose adventure, but this time I contemplated skipping it. The schedule would be difficult, and I would need to be back with the car in time to visit Sarah’s father. But then I asked myself, “What would Dani do?” No, really. Dani is a coworker who works remotely and shares wonderful adventures as she travels all over for gigs as an itinerant cat-sitter.
So, I didn’t start quite as early as I expected, but figured that enough other people in the family would be sleeping in and otherwise slow-to-start, and I would have just enough time, even if I got nearly enough sleep. Several family members had claimed interest in coming with me, that is until morning actually arrived.
No matter. I got up quietly enough, and faster than you can say, “One very large coffee, please,” I was headed out to the Metal Source site with the most number of sculptures, an 1733 South Wabash Street in Wabash. If I had time, I would go to another site in Wabash that had a beautiful sculpture of Bumblebee from Transformers.
This was very much worth the trip. The main site has three Star Wars vehicles: An AT-AT, an AT-ST, and a speeder bike complete with a Scout Trooper. And there was a bonus Optimus Prime himself!
And this geek must pause a moment for deeply painful confession. I didn’t recognize Optimus. This sculpture was, of course, modeled after the film version of Optimus Prime, and my brain had long-ago solidified with Optimus looking like this:
But, I was too busy ogling the Star Wars vehicles to feel too much pain.
There’s even a metal sculpture of a fork lift, which was not quite as impressive as an AT-AT.
Realizing I had just enough time, I took off to the other side of Wabash.
At the 1750 Mill Street Metal Source location, there was only one sculpture, but it was a doozy. And, sadly for my Indiana and Duesenberg fans, the term doosy does not come from the car. (Please don’t tell my father-in-law.)
And I made it back before everyone had even finished their 1:00 pm breakfast.
(If you’d like to see all the photos from my two Metal Source visits, here they are.)
- See The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff. This is one of the most important books you should read. ↩︎