If you’re a fan of the website roadsideamerica.com like I am, then you know what a muffler man is. For everyone else, they are fiberglass statues made to advertise mufflers originally. Over the years they have been modified to sell any number of things.

I crossed paths with one while driving through Crystal Lake, Illinois, holding a couple of hanging flower baskets to advertise the garden nursery. What first caught my eye was the giant Indian. I took the usual photos and headed home. After checking the Roadside America website, I had found two previously unknown roadside attractions! Here’s to Bessie’s contribution to America’s oddities! View at RoadsideAmerica.com.

Ah, Winter! It’s finally here and it can leave any time, please. Adventures are few and far between when you’re just trying to stay warm. Ice cream is no longer a good excuse to get out of the house. The holidays and snow shoveling keeps companions busy. The sudden change in weather conditions keeps journeys short. Oh for Spring! Happy Holidays, and here’s a picture of Bessie suffering the torments of another snowy night.

Put aside your rampant political talk. Instead, turn your decision making to a few photos collected from the latest Drive the Mile event.

The reason. North American Motoring has a monthly photo contest. I’m not sure what is won, perhaps just respect, but that is enough for me. This month’s contest theme is “Generations.” I’ve narrowed it down to five choices. Which do you feel is my strongest photo? View images…

And while you’re at it, become my Facebook friend! Just for fun!

The right spot. The right time. The right photographer in the co-pilot’s seat. It all adds up to a great moment caught on digital film. The moment is now shared with MINI enthusiasts on the cover of the “North American Motoring (NAM) Alliance Magazine”. Congrats to all the other featured MINIs, Minis and their photographers!

The photo features a scene from the Dane County, Wisconsin backroads from the 2007 Madison Fall Color Drive. We attribute it to Jenny, since we think by about that time she had grabbed the camera off the mirror since she didn’t want to end up in an accident caused by an over-zealous photographer/MINI pilot. Thank you, Jenny.

View 2007 Madison Fall Color Drive photos…
View NAM Alliance Magazine…

Jenny has announced her boredom. The website hasn’t had anything exciting on it for awhile. There haven’t been any adventures in long time. People don’t go out for Ice Cream with me, even if the outside temp is cooler than dessert. The roads are generally slippery making driving dangerous. The problem: snow. It just doesn’t seem to stop this year. When we do get enough energy, it starts falling again only to pull out the shovels yet again. Bessie is certainly bored and fed up with the weather. Lately, she’s only been motoring the usual daily commute and the most excitement she gets is the weekly snowstorm. Such tragedy. We can’t wait for Spring!

It all started with the hope of a free video camera. We scoured our photos for Bessie’s most interesting pose for the “Say Cheese” contest at RoadsideAmerica.com. It wasn’t until after we submitted “Bessie being eaten by a shark” that we learned it was a random selection contest, not a merit contest. Bessie did make the 150 photos posted on the site though. Visit her on page 5 at RoadsideAmerica.com, near the naked cowboy, giant beer containers and a terrible thunder lizard. Only in America…

Inspired by the light of a nearby street light falling on the curves of Bessie’s steering wheel in front of me, I ventured to take a photo. Not hoping for much more than a blurry mess of indistinguishable blobs, I was surprised to find something that wasn’t too bad considering my terrible cellphone. Thirty minutes of Photoshop light tweaking and we’ve got something that could pass for desktop wallpaper. Enjoy!

2008 is almost here! You know you need a new calendar, so how about one with Bessie, or Miss December as we will have to call her next year. North American Motoring.com annual calendar contest will feature 13 marvelous Mini photos have been selected. Bessie with snow on her boot will be gracing the month of December. If a year of Minis weren’t enough, there’s also offers from Mini vendors in the calendar. Visit northamericanmotoring.com for more details…

New toys just beg to be played with. It was a rainy evening when I decided to see how the camera would do at on the go photos. Since the camera has immensely limited capabilities, everything comes out a little blurry giving it an almost watercolor effect. The flash is useless it seems and photos will never be good enough resolution for printed photos. But hopefully, I’ll be able to take some interesting photos when the moment strikes.

The new motoring season is starting. Bessie is ready to roll. After 60,000 miles, she has had everything inspected, changed and made ready for spring. Thanks International Autos!

For great new content, we bought that Gorilla Pod. It’s terrific! Just wrap it around your mirror, set the intervelometer, and let it shoot pictures. Just make sure it’s not going to fly off the mirror on those hairpin turns.