(upbeat jazz music) - [Will] This week on "Wild Travels," we'll attend Sunday services at Daytona's Drive-In Church, sample the handmade stogies at Tampa's Tabanero Cigar Factory, try not to stare at Cypress Cove's alternative lifestyle, open the cabinet of curiosities in Vermont's Main Street Museum, and then marvel at the miniature White House at the President's Hall of Fame.

(upbeat jazz music continues) - [Announcer] "Wild Travels" was made possible in part by Alaska Railroad, providing year-round transportation to many Alaska destinations, traversing nearly 500 miles of wild landscapes between Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and more, alaskarailroad.com.

By "American Road Magazine."

Get your kicks on Route 66 and everywhere else a two-lane highway can take you.

"American Road Magazine" fuels your road trip dreams.

And by... - [Announcer] It's a wild world.

Take care out there.

Wear a life jacket paddling or boating.

Learn more you otter do to keep you and the planet safe at mthoodterritory.com/otterdo.

(upbeat music) - If you look hard enough, go off the beaten track far enough, you'll find an America teaming with the unusual, the odd, the downright strange.

I'm Will Clinger, and I'm your guide on a package tour we like to call "Wild Travels."

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (gentle church music) So you wanna attend church this Sunday, but you don't feel like dressing up or leaving your dog at home or even getting out of your car.

If you're near Daytona Beach, Florida, your prayers have been answered.

(gentle church music continues) Morning.

- Good morning.

Is this your first time here?

- Yes it is.

- Well, welcome to Drive-In Christian Church.

(gentle church music continues) - How long you been coming to the Drive-In Church?

- About five years.

I became very ill and could not be around people and go to my regular church.

Started coming here.

My husband and I love it, and we've been here ever since.

- What else makes it a preferable to a regular church you think?

- You don't have to dress up fancy.

(both laugh) - You got your turtle sweater on today?

- Yes, I do.

Yes, indeedy.

- Yeah.

And this is more comfortable than a pew, right?

- Yes, it is.

And if you get up late, and you wanna just throw on a T-shirt and shorts and come to church, you can do it.

- It's so convenient.

We live next door, and we drove over.

How about that?

(all laugh) - We could have just turned on the radio.

- You're devout and lazy.

- I guess we just turned on the radio at the house, we probably could have caught it and stayed in bed.

- We probably could.

- [Will] You tune in a certain station to hear the service, right?

- Yep.

- Right.

- You don't get those speakers like they do in a drive-in movie.

So, did you ever go to a drive-in movie and say, "I wish this was a church?"

No?

- No, that never happened.

Matter of fact, I've been to drive-in movies and prayed it wasn't a church.

(all laugh) - Anybody can take communion.

- How does communion work?

You got a little cup there.

- Cup with the bread.

- That's a very little piece of bread.

That's not gonna be enough for breakfast, is it?

- Not enough for breakfast?

- Is that real wine?

- (laughs) No.

- No.

You're just safer in case of people that can't have alcohol.

- You can't drink and drive.

- No.

(bell rings) - What does that bell mean?

- It means the service is about to start.

- As we come, we are so grateful for the love and the care that we feel from our Lord in this place, but we also have a responsibility to share each other's burdens and to lift them to the Lord together.

- Pastor Bob, how long has this church been around?

- 63 Years this year.

We started out in the early 1950s when this was still an operating drive-in movie theater as well.

So they'd be showing the movies on Saturday nights and getting here early Sunday morning to set up for worship.

I think what brings people here more and more is just this opportunity to be in an outdoor setting to worship God.

- Yeah, and those chairs are more comfortable than the pews, right?

- Well, when you can bring your own chair with you, that's pretty sweet.

They bring their own sound system with them too, and their own air conditioning.

(both laugh) You see an $800 million Powerball will rally the faithful, won't it, and maybe even the skeptics alike.

Let us sing together.

♪ Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise ♪ (horns honk) - [Will] What does the honking mean, just sort of approval?

- Clapping.

- It's kind of clapping.

- It's when you clap.

- Yeah, yeah, that's a nice tradition, I guess.

- Yeah, I guess.

The neighbors don't care for it, I guess.

(laughs) - Will promise- - The sunglasses, you're the coolest pastor I've ever seen.

You're also the only pastor that I bet gets honked at at the end of your sermon.

- Depends on whether other pastors have walked out into the street when they shouldn't have after they leave church.

(Will laughs) (relaxed country gospel music) ♪ Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life ♪ ♪ End over end, neither left, nor the right ♪ ♪ Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights ♪ ♪ Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life ♪ Now you must admit, in this season of football, you might have expected to hear that song this morning.

That was Bobby Bare singing his classic hit, "Dropkick Me, Jesus."

College football national championship will be tomorrow.

NFL playoffs have begun this weekend.

We are in the midst of college and NBA basketball coming into its prime time of the season.

Soon to follow, our new American thrill that has been thrilling the world for decades now, MLS Soccer.

Let God have the upper hand, amen.

(gentle church music) (horns honk) (congregation sings) (relaxed easy listening music) (relaxed easy listening music continues) (relaxed easy listening music continues) (upbeat music) (bubble pops) - Kissimmee, Florida is home to the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort, where you can check your inhibitions at the door and let it all hang out.

The only things you need to worry about are sunburn and where to keep your keys.

(upbeat music continues) Ted Hadley, owner of the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort.

How are you, sir?

- I'm terrific.

Nice to meet you.

- Good to meet you.

You're gonna show us around, give us a lay of the land, huh?

- I'll be happy to.

- [Will] What are the ground rules for coming here as a guest?

- Well- - Always have to sit on a towel, I know that.

- That is the first rule, always sit on a towel.

You know, don't take pictures of people, that sort of thing.

- Are there any restrictions, age or otherwise?

- Well, you have to be 18 to visit without a parent.

- [Will] Single men are discouraged from coming, right, or no?

- No, no, definitely not.

- But they gotta have some prior nudest experience.

- Yeah, we do have a few qualifiers.

If you open the door just wide open, anybody can come in off the street.

You know, there is a risk of gawkers.

Though, those tend to show themselves pretty quickly.

- (laughs) Would I be discriminated against if I wore four layers of clothing here all the time?

- That might eventually stand out, yes.

(laughs) - [Will] First of all, I'd look like the Michelin man.

- Correct.

- And second of all, I'm the only one- - It gets very hot here.

- True.

You know, I think, Ted, that I am the anti-nudist.

The fact is, when I was in high school, I wore a swimsuit in the shower.

I mean, I was very self-conscious.

You can't fault me for that.

- No.

And a lot of people are, and it's certainly not for everybody.

A lot of people who started out as very self-conscious become kind of diehard nudists.

- So you're thinking if I dove in the deep end and just went totally native, - It's possible.

- [Will] I might just get rid of all my inhibitions.

- It's possible.

- Roe and Mary Alice.

- Yes.

- Yes.

- I'm feeling very overdressed right now.

- Yes, I would in this sun especially, I would.

- [Will] How long have you been nudists?

- Oh, 20 plus years.

- Yeah.

- 25 plus.

- What is it you think that attracted you to nudity in the first place?

- Just the casualness of it.

- My husband introduced me.

(chuckles) He was here when I first met him.

- [Will] He lured you into a lifestyle of nudity.

- [Mary Alice] He did that for sure, and I just love it.

- Is it tough to kind of get into the lifestyle?

You're self-conscious at first, aren't you?

- I was very self-conscious at first.

It took me a little while, not too long.

- For somebody like me who's incredibly self-conscious, very repressed, I'd eventually come around, you think?

- I think so.

Actually the first time I came here, I was standing by the car and I said, "So where do I go to take off my clothes?"

And somebody giggled.

They said, "Right at your car."

Yeah, you would adjust.

- Are are either of you trying to imagine me naked at this moment?

- No.

- No, not at all.

Because it's not an issue.

- No, no, it's not about sex or- - It's not Club Med.

- Absolutely not.

(upbeat music continues) - Steve, how long have you been a nudist?

- Im third generation nudist, so I was kind of born into it.

- [Will] We are all nudists as babies, aren't we?

- [Steve] Right.

- [Will] Where do you keep your car keys?

- In the car.

This place is very, very safe.

- How about your loose change?

- We have a charge system at the Cove, so- - [Will] You never have to carry money of any kind.

- [Steve] I don't have to carry anything.

- How about sunscreen?

Big budget on sunscreen.

- Big budget on sunscreen, but you make up for it in detergent.

You don't have to buy that.

- That's true.

That's a good point because when you come to vacation here, you don't have to pack much, do you?

- No, a lot of towels.

A lot of towels.

There's great equalizer in nudism.

You can sit at the pool bar and you're sitting on a towel, you don't know who you're sitting next to if the guy's a banker or jobless at the time or anything.

So you just kind of strike up a conversation on things you know.

- You're so used to the nudist lifestyle here.

Do you feel uncomfortable clothed in the outside world?

- No.

If we have to put on clothes we want to put on really nice- - You do it right?

- Yes.

Cufflinks, the whole thing.

- So you don't necessarily think less of me because I'm clothed.

- Maybe your style, but no.

(laughs) Just kidding.

(both laugh) (upbeat music continues) - Ted, if somebody wants to enjoy the nudist lifestyle here at Cypress Cove, where should they go?

- Well, we're located in beautiful Kissimmee, Florida, about a half an hour south of Disney World.

- Thank you, sir.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Will] Of the many festivals we attend, none has a more objectionable premise than the one held annually in Fruita, Colorado, celebrating a barnyard accident that occurred decades ago.

- Mike the Headless Chicken Festival started back in 1999 in a way to honor the will to live of Mike, the infamous chicken, who lived for 18 months after his head was cut off.

(upbeat music continues) - My grandfather would cut the heads off and flip 'em over there and let 'em bleed out.

My grandmother would start, you know, do the cleaning, and then when he got done killing, he'd help her clean.

They got down to the last one.

They still had one alive, and he figured he'd see if it lived 'til morning, and it did.

(upbeat music continues) So the next day, started showing people the chicken, and everybody thought it was interesting.

And then a gentleman from Salt Lake convinced my grandparents that they had to start on the sideshow circuit.

(upbeat music continues) But when my grandfather cut the head off, he either missed or whacked a little high, and he left the base of the brainstem and one eardrum.

I still own the famous ax that decapitated Mike, got it hung up on the wall of my shop out at the farm.

(upbeat music continues) - [Will] Mike achieved considerable notoriety during his short life.

He finally succumbed to his injuries when the eyedropper used to keep his tiny esophagus clear couldn't be found.

And the rooster that brought so much inspiration to so many choked to death, but he didn't die in vain.

His spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of all the citizens in this small Colorado town whose slogan could possibly be "Come to Fruita, it's a no-brainer" - [Troy] There's never been any documented proof of another chicken that lived losing its head.

(uplifting patriotic music) - [Will] Washington DC would seem like the logical place for the Presidents Hall of Fame.

Instead, it's parked off the highway near Clermont, Florida, which is where you'll have to go to see the most thorough replica of the White House ever created.

(uplifting patriotic music continues) Hey, you are Joy.

- Yes.

And this is the Presidents Hall of Fame.

- Correct.

It opened originally in 1962 by a gentleman named (indistinct) It was opened as a home for the presidents.

- See now, most hall of fames, they're selective.

In sports, only a few people make it in.

Are there any presidents that didn't make the cut?

- There are none that did not make the cut.

- Even Millard Fillmore.

- Even Millard Fillmore.

- [Will] This is a rather extensive diorama here.

- This is the building of the White House, and this is pretty much what it looked like when they were building the White House.

And you have George Washington represented.

- [Will] There's a lot of activity going on, and some of it is moving.

- Mhm.

- Behind us, we've got some wax figures of presidents, but I noticed the first ladies only get mannequins.

- All our first lady gowns are gonna be shown on mannequins.

- Okay.

Well, you know, technically they're not presidents.

It's not their hall of fame.

- On the 4th of July, we have a special where the guests can come in, and they can sit with Thomas Jefferson.

- Do we sit on his lap, or does he move?

- Which way would you like to do it?

- (laughs) Looks like it's raining presidents back here.

I bet that's Grant right there.

Oh, wait a minute, that is Grant.

He looks like he's moving.

How are you, sir?

- Good, how are you?

- You're surrounded by wax, but you're in the flesh.

- Yes sir.

- Can I just tell you, their heads are way bigger than yours?

- (laughs) I don't have that big of an ego yet.

- Who's that guy behind you?

It looks like Ebenezer Scrooge.

- That is John Tyler.

- I knew that.

I was just testing you there.

- [Roosevelt] Upon four essential human freedoms.

- [Joy] John Kennedy.

- He did have a bad back, and he was always in the rocking chair.

Bad back, but a heck of a head of hair.

And here's some little tiny presidents.

You got him in all sizes.

- [Joy] We have all the presidents here in miniature.

- Now.

Joy, I'm gonna throw a flag 'cause there's Ben Franklin.

Not only is he cut off at the torso, but he's not even a president.

- There's a lot of history that goes along with Benjamin Franklin, and he was very close to a lot of the presidents.

- Who invited Mark Twain to this party?

- [Joy] Because of his writings.

- I guess if you're not a president in this museum, you only get your head and shoulders.

- That's the way it looks.

Guests can step behind the Oval Office and look through and have their picture taken.

This is a north side of the White House replica.

- This is quite an impressive structure.

I gotta tell you, it takes your breath away.

How long did it take him to to make this thing?

- [Joy] Over 2,000 man hours they spent building the White House.

John had gone to the White House when he was in his 20s.

- The creator of it.

- The creators of the White House.

10 first ladies and presidents have helped John and Jan to be able to keep the White House up to date.

- I'm not the only one that's in awe of this exhibit.

That security guard looks pretty impressed too, very surprised.

- This is the south side of the White House replica.

You have the Press Room where a president can meet with the press, and then you have the President's Cabinet Room where he meets with his cabinet.

And then you have your State Dining Room.

- [Will] What is the scale of this thing?

- It's one inch to a foot.

Each president can put his own stamp on the Oval Office.

And you also have the theater where the president and his family can bring up whatever movie they would like to watch.

We have our little pond down here with our bubbling water.

- [Will] The place is lousy with security.

- Then you have the rose- - Rose garden.

Isn't that Obama back there maybe?

You think that's him?

- [Joy] It may be.

Actually, Obama's behind you.

- [Obama] Obama out.

- Have you been to the White House yourself?

- No.

I don't need to go to the White House.

I'm here with the White House replica.

I get to see more than anybody who goes to the White House.

- Eat your heart out, Washington DC tourists.

- You got it.

- You may be wondering where our 45th president is.

Only recently did the hall acquire a Donald Trump after two unsatisfactory versions.

This one is complete with opposable thumbs joy.

(uplifting Patriotic music) Joy, if somebody wants to pay a visit to the Presidents Hall of Fame, where should they go?

- They'll come to Clermont, Florida, 30 minutes west of Orlando.

- Uncanny.

(upbeat rhythmic music) In historic Ybor City, Florida, Tabanero Cigars are making stogies the old-fashioned way, and every tobacco leaf gets treated with loving care until, of course, it gets burned to a crisp.

(upbeat rhythmic music continues) Hey guys, who am I talking to?

- My name is Steve.

- And you are?

- I'm Yanko.

- And this is?

- Tabanero Cigars, best Tampa cigars.

- [Will] What is a Tampa cigar anyway as opposed to just a regular cigar?

- [Steve] Well, it's Cuban artisans who are diplomate and experienced in making cigars.

- In Tampa, they keep it more like old school, everything by hand, no machines.

- [Steve] It's the finest tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, the Dominican Republican, and Colombia.

- Is anybody using American tobacco?

- No, we have tried many times when you put it to work, when you blend it, you put it in a cigar, and you light up the cigar... - Hey, I'm standing right here, and I'm an American.

- I understand.

- Yanko, I'm looking over your shoulder, and I see you again in stereo.

- (laughs) Well, when I was a kid in Cuba, all the summers, I would get to go to my family in Pinar del Rio.

- It was a- - So that's your family farm back there?

- Yes, sir.

- [Will] How long does it take to roll just one cigar?

- Five minutes.

- Five minutes?

That quick?

You must be very good.

- Yeah, (indistinct) so-so.

(both speak Spanish) - [Will] Ah, now this is your husband right next to you, am I right?

- Yeah.

(laughs) He's my husband.

- [Will] And do you smoke cigars yourself?

- Yes, yes, yes.

- A little bit.

Do you only smoke ones that you roll?

- [Artisan] No, my husband down there.

- Oh, you trust his rolling too?

(Artisan laughs) - Cuban style, the cigar roller, it tubes the leaf when she's doing the bunch.

Tubing the leaf will guarantee that the cigar is gonna have a perfect draw.

When you're dealing with such a thick cigar, if the cigar is too spongy, every time you puff, it's gonna get really hot.

If it's too tight, if it has a lot of tobacco, it will give you a headache, so it's- - You want a smooth smoke?

(relaxed Latin music) Can I just say, it smells really good to stand next to you guys, you know?

- (chuckles) Yeah, we take showers every morning.

(Yanko and Steve laugh) - No, I mean the cigars, the aroma.

- Well, this is cigar tobacco, and it's raised in volcanic soil under optimum growing conditions.

And unlike a cigarette, which is full of chemicals, the handmade cigar is nothing but aged cured fine tobacco.

- What should a good cigar make you feel like?

- Satisfied.

- Peaceful?

- Yes, yes.

It lowers your blood pressure.

It allows you to reflect in life.

This is a ritual.

You have to have the right tool, the right cutter, the right ambience.

- The right hat.

- The right hat.

It tastes even better with a nice hat.

Yeah.

(Yanko laughs) - And some good Cuban coffee, right?

- Absolutely, and we have the best Cuban coffee here at Tabanero.

- You serve coffee too?

- 12 hours a day.

- Nicotine and caffeine, you got it covered.

- That's why everyone's happy here.

(relaxed Latin music continues) Oh, nope.

- Oh.

- Please do not touch the cigars.

These cigars in these towers are drying.

When a cigar is freshly made- - It's wet.

- Exactly.

The binder leaf and the final wrapper have to be damp to roll on the bunch.

And then after 19 days of drying, they're gonna go in - Over here.

- The main humidor.

So this room is kept at 70 degrees, but 70% humidity.

- How long does it stay in here before it's ready to be sold?

- Another 90 days after 19 days of drying.

- [Will] It's like a fine wine.

You gotta give it time.

- Exactly.

- [Will] How many different types of cigars do you make?

- [Steve] We make 14 different styles of cigars.

- Including Big Daddy.

- The Big Daddy is a 60 gauge by six and a half inch cigar.

It's a fuller blend cigar, meaning it's a stronger cigar.

- Make you dizzy maybe.

- [Steve] If you're not used to it, yes.

- You think I could handle a Big Daddy?

- No.

We're gonna have to get you a little Baby Corona.

(relaxed Latin music continues) - Steve, if somebody wants to sample a Tabanero cigar, where should they go?

- Ybor City, East Tampa.

- Size doesn't really matter, does it?

- Only in some things.

(relaxed Latin music finishes) (upbeat Latin music) (upbeat Latin music continues) It is the soil that is owned by Cuba here in Ybor City.

(upbeat Latin music continues) (upbeat Latin music continues) (upbeat music) - Coming soon on "Wild Travels," innovative creations at the Inventor's Expo, harvesting Spiderwebs in Vermont, an alien encounter in Manitowoc, and the Museum of Everyday Life's exhibit on dust.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat quirky music) White River Junction, Vermont is home to the Main Street Museum, an odd name for a place with so many off-kilter exhibits and curated by a man with a truly subversive mind.

(upbeat quirky music continues) Dave, Dave Ford?

- Hello there.

- How are you?

This is the Main Street Museum.

- The mission of this museum is to be a cabinet of curiosities or a wonder cabinet.

It's like a meta museum.

So we have things from around the world.

- You seem like a curious fellow yourself.

- I consider myself one of the objects, one of the artifacts in the museum, yes.

Well, here we are.

We're in the town's old fire station actually.

This is the fire station that was built in 1893.

- I bet that's the door where they came in.

This is curious, this animal up here.

- That's the rare killer flying jackalope.

It's extremely dangerous, and we're lucky to have one of this rare specimen.

They're only attracted to beer, and that's how you can trap them.

That's the rare killer crocheted liquor bottle koozie collection that's appeared in a national magazine.

- You don't see that in many museums?

- [Dave] No, we collect things that other museums don't collect.

- [Will] The skin of a boa constrictor from Costa Rica.

You're an international museum.

- We are definitely an international museum.

- [Will] You collect most of this stuff, or do you get it submitted?

- It's submitted, a lot of it.

People bring me things they don't want to throw out.

(upbeat quirky music continues) - [Will] This is a vaguely disturbing painting of somebody getting a transfusion.

- [Dave] Poor guy.

See, he's on pins and needles, and he's being bled dry, and his nose is to the grindstone.

So we think this painting is a great metaphor.

It's disturbing.

- There's a lot going on.

(Dave laughs) - It's a beeswax telephone , and it needs some restoration work.

- Clearly.

- There are a lot of things actually in the museum that either the spouse or the partner of the person who collected them said, "It's either me or that.

"It's gotta go."

- [Will] So it could be the Main Street Museum or the Museum of Rejects.

Really?

- I don't think sharks have eyes like that.

Better to have an eye on it though than an empty socket.

That's kind of creepy.

We actually don't want creepy things in the museum, and that whole case is all about the head, the human head.

- [Will] No museum should be without a case devoted to round things.

- We also have Elvis's toenails.

They were apparently collected at the Sands Casino by a chamber maid.

- [Will] There's a fish here that's quite remarkable.

- Gosh, look at that.

- It's got hair on it.

- That is the furred fish.

The furred fish appears in northern climates because the water is so cold that fish needs to stay warm.

- I'm gonna call you on that one.

Dave, if somebody wants to pay a visit to the Main Street Museum, where should they go?

- They should go to Downtown White River Junction.

We are a curious museum in a curious town.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Will] We're always looking for new destinations, the wilder, the better.

So if you've got an idea for our show, let us know.

And thanks for watching.

(upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] "Wild Travels" was made possible in part by Alaska Railroad, providing year-round transportation to many Alaska destinations, traversing nearly 500 miles of wild landscapes between Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and more, alaskarailroad.com.

By "American Road Magazine."

Get your kicks on Route 66 and everywhere else a two-lane highway can take you.

"American Road Magazine" fuels your road trip dreams.

And by... - [Announcer] It's a wild world.

Take care out there.

Wear a life jacket paddling or boating.

Learn more you otter do to keep you and the planet safe at mthoodterritory.com/otterdo.