Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: July 21, 2022
On Route 66 in this town of 1,600, I had planned to stop at Pam’s Grille Café for a fried bologna sandwich (which I haven’t eaten since my mom made one for me about 50 years ago). Sadly, the Route 66 diner was closed due to covid. Across the street in a small park is a 20-foot-tall muffler man holding a hot dog. Purchased in 1965 and stood for 40 years outside of Bunyon’s Hot Dog Restaurant in a Chicago suburb, it was moved to Atlanta in 2003.
Quick history – the original “man” was a Paul Bunyan figure done for the Paul Bunyan Café on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1962. Since then, the majority of statues were derivatives of that one mold. These tall statues were attention getters, and many sprung up throughout America in front of service stations, muffler and tires stores soon becoming known as “Muffler Men”. Hence, this muffler man was modified to hold a hot dog to promote the Hot Dog Restaurant.
