(male announcer) Production funding for this program is provided by the DeBruce Companies, proud to serve agricultural communities throughout the Midwest with high-speed grain handling facilities, fertilizer and feed ingredient distribution terminals, and retail fertilizer operations.

(man) ♪ Welcome to a show about things you can see ♪ ♪ without going far, and a lot of them are free.

♪ ♪ If you thought there was nothing ♪ ♪ in the old heartland, ♪ ♪ you ought to hit the blacktop ♪ ♪ with these fools in a van.

♪ ♪ Look out, they're driving hard, ♪ ♪ checking out art in their own backyard.

♪ ♪ Randy does the steering so he won't hurl.

♪ ♪ Mike's got the map, such a man of the world.

♪ ♪ That's Don with the camera, ♪ ♪ kind of heavy on his shoulder.

♪ ♪ And that giant ball of tape, it's a world record holder.

♪ ♪ Look out, they're driving hard, ♪ ♪ checking out art in their own backyard.

♪ ♪ Look out, they're driving hard, ♪ ♪ checking out the world in their own backyard, ♪ ♪ checking out the world in their own backyard.

♪ ♪ (Don) Dear TV Mailbag, has my ride arrived?

Hi, Don the camera guy here with more close quarters of the minivan kind.

No, it's not a cramped Chrysler now though, I do expect, a tight fit nonetheless, especially since our rooftop remedy doesn't seem to fit.

(Mike) How can we make TV?

(Don) However, our first stop of the day is so close by, I haven't had time to miss it yet.

Talk about your own backyard.

Right here.

Check this out.

(Randy) But it's the front yard.

Well, it's actually th e front yard, yes.

But is that no t beautiful?

That's right up our alley.

Look at how nice it lays out on the side.

That's one of the prettiest walls I've ever seen.

(Randy) Yo u're right-- the history of bowling, it 's all-- It's all there, you know, from the 9-pound balls to the big-boy balls.

Can I say "big-boy balls" on TV?

I don't think so.

(Don) Apparently, you can.

And, apparently, even without a roof rack, we're still quite capable of, well, getting lost, though these two producers sure hate to admit it.

(Randy) I think it's back th e other way.

I think we're-- When did you think that?

(Don) I mean, why else would you keep driving in circles on the same side streets down by the river in KC, K?

Well, you know, how can we be lost?

We haven't even left our own city yet.

We're in our own backyard.

(Don) This exercise in fuel inefficiency is all about finding one J.G.

Woods.

Wait a minute; th ere it is.

(Don) And, apparently, we've stumbled upon him in this small house alongside Wenzel Steel where John works on pieces peppered with puns, a practice he began years ago in sunny southern California.

(Woods) This is Paris in the Spring.

This is A Life Turned Completely Upside Down.

Tide's down, and the Surf's up.

Stretching the truth.

VD on the Rise.

This is When You Join the Navy, You See the World.

(Don) Actually, John did join the navy.

Worked as a mapmaker, aerospace engineer, and even ran a collectible shop near downtown L.A. at a time when the lake in MacArthur Park was undergoing a most dramatic transformation.

(Woods) They drained it in '73, and then they drained it again in '76.

And I had--sometimes, I had 20, 30 homeless people working for me, digging stuff out of the lake.

And the stuff that they dug out of the lake, they brought to me.

(Mike) And you said to yourself, "Perfect opportunity"?

Yeah.

[laughs] Yeah, I made a lot of pieces like this.

I call this Pipe Dreams.

I call this Pipe Dreams because it's all different kinds of pipes.

Cigarette lighters.

Lighters here from A to Z, Ace to Zeus.

At one time, I probably had about 150 pounds of keys, so I say I had the keys to the city of Los Angeles.

You know, people ask me sometimes, they said to me, "Do you take stuff and put it on there that didn't come out of the lake?"

I say, you know, "Sometimes I've been tempted to."

But, I said, "You know, I felt "that the thing could stand by itself, so why give it a crutch if it don't need one?"

What I was trying to do was document a history of a people and a time and a place.

And then people came along and said, "Oh, that's art."

I said, "No, it isn't; it's history."

So then people said, "You're an artist."

And I said, "Hell, no, I'm not an artist.

I'm a failure at everything, you know."

[laughs] So, I mean, I'm just documenting history.

That's why I told people, "If you like what I did, it's okay.

If you don't like what I did, that's okay."

But in 100 years, nobody ever did it before, and nobody can ever do it again.

(Randy) What's that contraption back there?

What's that?

(Mike) Th e big piece there th at you're working on.

(Woods) Oh, this?

It's The Name Game.

So I've got over 100 women's names here and over 100 men's names over there.

This is Holly.

There's Brad.

There's Jennifer.

There's Brooke.

(Randy) Aw.

(Mike) Goldie?

(Woods) No, that's Angie.

That's Angie.

There's Goldie.

And this is Chuck.

(Mike) We know the drill.

What's this?

(Woods) That's Chester.

Buster or Chester.

(Randy) But why do they call it The Name Game?

Well, 'cause you-- [laughs] And here, this is-- this is Teresa: "tree," "sa," "Teresa."

This is Burl.

I had trouble with this one, 'cause I put a frankfurter up there, and the dogs would keep eating it.

Every time I put a frankfurter up there, the dogs eat it.

(Don) We can do this all day.

Then again, this is a TV show, so we've got places to go and people to see.

We left John at work in the front yard, working on another piece, and began working our way westward.

Destination: Lawrence, home of KU, this camera guy, and, for the last few years since she moved from Michigan, Betty Milliken too.

[Milliken yodeling] (Don) 93 years young and still yodeling, Betty's getting noticed for the art she makes using things people don't usually make art with.

♪ ♪ These are-- these are pears and apple pulp.

This is a leaf.

Quite a lot of this is chewing gum, sometimes in combination with window caulk, bread crumbs, anything she had on hand.

She'd combine them together to see how they did.

And if they fell apart, okay, but if they didn't, well, she could try and do it again.

[Milliken yodeling] I quit smoking for a while there and different things.

And I put some gum in my mouth and thought, "Gee, what am I going to do with this wad?

I hate to throw this away."

I thought, "Aha!

Oh, I can make things out of this."

You just take the gum, already chewed, and I put it on top of a pencil, and then I just roll it around.

By rolling around, you get little heads and little things-- pinch a little ear, whatever.

(Mike) Had you seen someone do it before?

No.

No.

I never even seen it in a book.

[singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ (Hubble) All chewing gum.

I think she was mixing it mostly with foot powder early on.

Maybe a little face powder.

I like this one a lot.

(Hubble) Th at's Joe Namath.

She did a variety of famous people.

[Milliken singing] ♪ ♪ Is Juicy Fruit the best or Dentyne?

You are-- yes, I'll tell you.

And you don't have to fool around with those others.

Well, oh, maybe you're like that.

But I like Cinn-A-Burst.

That has a certain body.

(Hubble) This is styrofoam meat tray, and I think this is acrylic.

She liked to use meat tray a lot.

In fact, I think this is meat tray, meat tray, meat tray.

Well, no, maybe not.

(Mike) Sounds like a French term.

It is "meetray."

"Meetray," oui.

[Milliken yodeling] ♪ ♪ (Milliken) I can't believe the things I made myself.

I just love challenges.

♪ ♪ (Don) Betty's loved to sing for a long, long time.

She also enjoys acupressure-- giving, as well as receiving-- so who am I to argue?

There you are.

(Don) However, duty calls.

So after bidding these two adieu, we climbed back in the van, headed over the bridge, and started looking for my mailman... not for professional purposes but because Tom Krause is a true musical master of pots, pans, and various household items.

(Krause) I make instruments out of found objects.

[bell-like ringing] ♪ ♪ People give me stuff.

I got this trash can lid from a guy on my mail route.

And, you know, one of the nice things about getting something from somebody you know is, you remember it's from somebody you know.

It's got a smaller serration out here than it does here, so you can-- [vibrating] This is the top of a salt shaker.

[ringing] When I go shopping, it's an interesting experience to watch.

[xylophone-like music] ♪ ♪ This was a room curtain.

[jangling] These things here... [plays scale] are these.

They're saw blades, you know.

(Randy) They're saw blades?

They're saw blades.

♪ ♪ Pink Floyd.

♪ ♪ The bottles won't play anything fast.

(Mike) You can't play Wipe Out?

Can't play Wipe Out.

♪ ♪ [warbled whistling] [chimes ascending and descending] (Don) Of all the nifty noise-makers Tom had on hand, we were particularly tickled by the tommy-slapper.

Simple enough for even a TV weasel to master.

Well, sort of.

So let me just say thanks again for braving wind and rain and all that stuff to bring me my meager paycheck.

Tom the mailman, play us to the postcard.

♪ ♪ Those would be some of the Flint Hills flying by what some astute observers might note is yet another brand-new van-- one that's complete with car-top carrier-- pulling up now at Don Kracht's house on the south side of Junction City.

Mr. Kracht taught junior high math for years and years, but that's not why we're here.

We're here to see the castle he's been building in his own backyard.

(Kracht) I knew there was water underground, and I decided I'd put a pond back there.

And then I had pushed some of the dirt up to the middle to make an island.

So the question then became, "What do you put on the island?"

(Mike) Wow, look at this.

Look at this.

(Kracht) I started in the fall of '92 on this project right here.

And then I bought an old stone house just down the road about four miles.

That's where I got the majority of the stone.

(Mike) Have you had a previous life as a stone worker?

(Kracht) No, no.

(Mike) I hate to get back to this math teacher thing, but most of the guys teaching algebra and stuff don't do this, do they?

(Kracht) Well, I don't know.

Some of them probably do.

I do.

But this is the drawbridge here.

You can raise this side up here.

This'll go up?

Yeah.

[bridge squeaking] All right, look at that.

Let me put some light on it.

Did you read about castles a lot as a kid?

Was this something that you've always had a-- (Kracht) No, no.

Not at all, really.

I just thought that would be real nice back here on this island; that's all.

But I did look up a lot of pictures after I had the idea.

I have no particular idea where the thing came from or anything.

About five or six years ago, I had a couple stop in.

And I was working back down here.

This wasn't all here at this point.

And she said, "How long has it been falling down?"

[laughter] I says, "No, we're going the other way."

Here's kind of a sketch to give you some idea.

You see the hot tub down there below?

That's this turret right here when I get 'er done here.

And the little turret on the other side, this one over here, is right here.

The little turret, right?

It sounded like, "the little turd on the other side."

[bell ringing] Do they call it Kracht's Castle?

(Kracht) Uh, no.

Castle Island is the name of it, but it's not that widely known for people.

It's just "the castle."

I do have the teachers come out once a year.

We have a chislic party.

Chislic is mutton on a little bar stick, and we barbecue that.

And I get it from South Dakota, up there, and bring it down here.

Chislic.

[bell ringing] (Randy) I got to ask: were the neighbors saying, "What is Don doing?"

(Kracht) I didn't tell anybody for a while what I was doing out here.

And finally I said-- you know, they asked me, "What are you doing?"

"I think I'm going to make a castle up there."

I'm very pleased that people appreciate what they see and enjoy it.

So they're welcome to come out any time.

There's a lot of them do.

So it's a great retreat.

And I'm slowly--I can see the end of this thing now, see?

(Don) Speaking of retreats... bang!

looks like the squire's found a way to keep out the riffraff.

(Mike) I didn't hear that.

Did it go off?

(Don) Which might explain our hasty retreat.

No, no chislic today, though, apparently, lunch does await us in Salina-- or at least the meat-eaters up front, who are all abuzz about catching a Cozy, which can only be caught at this landmark hole-in-the-wall downtown.

The code of the Cozy calls for onions, lots of onions.

And don't ever ask about cheese.

(man) 764 million.

(Don) That's the way it's always been here, and folks buy 'em by the bag, much like White Castle, which--and can this be coincidence?-- started the very same year.

Pretty good, huh?

Good.

Yeah, thank you.

(Don) Anyway, the veggie Cozy leaves a little to be desired.

Ooh.

But we left with more than enough odor for all, some of which we hope to leave in the great outdoors-- somewhere like Rock City, that geologic marvel up the road in Minneapolis, where some quick catch is calling our names.

Rock and fire.

(Randy) Okay, great.

Rock--the baseball player Rocky Colavito.

Rock Hudson.

Hey, do you play for the Colorado Rockies?

It's been awhile since we played Kansas catch.

How long's it been?

(Randy) Stone Ages, I think.

This is great.

I could stay out here and do this all day.

(Randy) I don't think you can.

Oh, has the owner seen us already?

(Don) Concretions are cool, whatever they are, but we must proceed on, and that means proceeding on to Highway 18, which runs right into Lincoln, though along the way, there are plenty of large metallic distractions to distract us.

Jim Dickerman welds 'em so you'll be more inclined to buy the small ones he sells in town.

This is an old shoe cobbler's shoe-repair horn.

Sickle guard.

10-speed bicycle handlebars.

Here's my answer to the pink flamingo.

It's a cross between a turtle and a pink flamingo.

This is an old pig waterer.

This is an offset disk cleaner.

This is bicycle front forks.

This is a big ol' pickax.

That's another bicycle, pair of pliers, handles.

That's an old stove handle.

That's a gooseneck to a bicycle.

(Mike) So you spending a lot of time going to the city dump?

Not a lot.

I got a lot of friends that have a lot of kids and got all their stuff.

But I do go there.

This here's an old catalytic converter.

Bicycle handlebars.

And then that's out of a field cultivator.

Bullring nose.

And then is an old iron headboard.

And then this is out of a 20-inch bicycle.

This is out of a field cultivator.

I try and take the same principles by using the shapes that are already there and putting them together without modifying them too much.

These are all--these are vertebras out of cows.

This is out of a pelvis bone of a cow.

Vertebrae, two vertebrae out of a cow.

And then is another pelvis bone just painted with leather glued in.

Hey, man, what's up?

Kansas Viking.

Wuh!

I try to get as much movement and life to 'em as I can, as much personality as I can to 'em.

And with a halfway decent paint job, in my eyes, it gives them a little bit more chance of being alive and, you know, gives them that personality.

I've been making them for over 20 ones, my little ones.

Just in the last year and a half, I started making my bigger ones.

Motorcycle gas tank.

It's two oil pans.

It's a mineral feeder for cows and sheet metal.

(Mike) And this looks like reflector strips all over it.

(Dickerman) Yeah, at night when you come by, you can really get a good-- different image of it.

I got a lot more activity since I started making big ones, because, you know, nobody can see these as good.

I've welded for over 20 years, and this is my outlet.

I see pieces and parts, you know.

Always said I couldn't draw very good, but I can weld.

(Don) Well, here's something Jim didn't make that's starting to look awfully good to me now.

Star light, star bright.

Sleep like a Lincoln log tonight.

Chislic, huh?

[cow moos] Okay, it's a brand-new day on the same road, still in the same van, heading for a place that never fails to amaze us.

I mean, Lucas truly is the grassroots art capital of the universe, sportin' a true triple threat in the space of just a few blocks: S.P.

Dinsmoor's grand Garden of Eden, the ever-growing Grassroots Art Center, and the late Florence Deeble's rock garden, which the center now owns and, from all indications, has been taken to the proverbial next level.

(Schultz) Marie Pular is who has created this interior environment.

There is an apartment, and so part of the time, she's living here.

And she gives the tours when she's here.

She calls this installation the Garden Of Isis Star Clock.

And Isis, of course, is the mothering nature.

And she also feels what is is, so whatever's happening in your life is meant to be at that current time.

And she wants people to look at, you know, recycled things in a new way.

You just take what you've got laying around the house or in the kitchen drawer, and you look at it with new eyes.

And everybody in the community has brought-- you'll see the piece over there of cattle ear tags or jewelry.

I've given her some jewelry.

And then you'll come in here the next time, and, "Oh, there's my necklace" or "my earrings."

(Randy) I think Florence would like it.

(Schultz) Sh e would.

Thumbs up, Florence.

You've met Florence.

Well, we had no purpose for the house, you know, at the current time.

And this just presented itself, and it just is wonderful.

(Don) Rosslyn is a true force of nature, always expanding her main street museum with more and more works by untrained Kansans, as seen on this show, making Lucas even more enticing to more and more artists, which is why our tour of the town isn't quite done yet.

You are here today to see The World's Largest Collection Of The World's Smallest Versions Of The World's Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction And Museum.

(Randy) Ph ew.

It's in the backyard.

This very vehicle used to serve the general public as an old folks' transportation unit from Garnett, Kansas.

(Mike) Wait a minute.

The world's largest badger?

Now, that's the gas station in Wisconsin?

Uh-huh, Birnamwood.

Birnamwood, yes.

You've seen that?

Been there.

They said that it was gone, but, actually, it just got turned into a strip joint.

Largest talking cow.

Chatty Belle?

Yes.

We don't know the otter.

Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

This is the whole U.S. right there at your fingertips.

One of the unwritten rules is, I cannot make a replica unless I've actually seen the world's largest thing for myself.

I'm now about 50 replicas behind.

There are additional displays inside-- all the research, all the photos.

It is The World's Largest Collection Of The World's Smallest Versions Of The World's Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction And Museum.

When I lived in the bus full-time, I lived in the bus for about two years, which, when I don't have shoes on, it's exactly the right height.

Ooh, you're getting a behind-the-scenes peek here.

Since I was going to roadside attractions anyway and making replicas, I figured I would just combine my living environment with what I was exploring.

(Mike) You show up, and you just work there on site, make the replica, and people-- (Nelson) Yeah, sometimes, if I have the supplies on hand.

Sometimes I photograph first, go away, make the replica, and come back and do metaphoto so when I have the world's smallest version, I can have it visit the world's largest thing that was its--whatever it was.

(Mike) So you actually are a schooled artist of sorts.

(Nelson) Yes.

(Mike) I don't want to drag you through the muck here.

(Nelson) Yeah, yes.

Unfortunately, I am trained as an artist, but I have not let that stop me.

Whenever I do send in slides of this to real art places, they pretty much just send them right back, going, "We don't know what this is."

So this is The World's Largest Collection Of The World's Smallest Versions Of The World's Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction And Museum.

(Randy) What do you ask of people?

(Nelson) I ask that people appreciate roadside America.

Get off the interstate, and actually see some of the amazing things that are around, because this is where stuff happens.

You can't get it in the generic strip malls.

Also, the new slogan for the year: "Combating Genericana."

It's a call to arms.

Build something cool.

Build something big.

We'll come and see it.

(Don) Then again, some places deliver.

For better or worse, when it comes to balls of videotape, we're pretty certain this is the world's largest.

And, yes, we'd be pleased if Erika would do her big-small-big thing with it.

Hey, whatever I can do to help.

This is Don the camera guy signing off.

Sacagawea.

(female announcer) To learn more about the sights on this show and how to find them, visit us on the web at: DVDs, tapes, and a companion book to this series are available by calling 1-800-459-9733.

Captioning and audio description provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Captioning and audio description byCaptionMax www.captionmax.com This is Not on the Level.

You drive downtown.

There's a sign that says, "Big Peanut, that way."

Great sign.

Small peanut.

Size matters.

♪ Tiptoe through the tulips with me.

♪ ♪ (announcer) Production funding for this program is provided by the DeBruce Companies, with facilities providing customers, with market information and marketing opportunities for domestic and international grain, fertilizer, and feed ingredient businesses.