There are places in America where the modern world arrives by methods that look, at first, like they belong to another century. Not because the people there rejected modern life. Usually, it is because the landscape made a different decision. Today, mail travels into the Grand Canyon on the backs of mules. And in North Carolina, a retired machinery repairman built a field of enormous wind machines from road signs, bicycle parts, and whatever else he thought might move. Both stories are about practical people doing impractical-looking things for very practical reasons. One keeps a community connected. The other turned a private obsession into a public inheritance. I’m Lenny Voss. This is Strange America.
In this episode:
• The Mule Train That Still Carries America’s Mail Into the Grand Canyon
• The North Carolina Repairman Who Built a Field of Giant Wind Machines
Sources & further reading:
• 8-Mile Mule Train Delivery: https://facts.usps.com/8-mile-mule-train-delivery/
• The Story of the Whirligigs in Downtown Wilson: https://www.wilsonwhirligigpark.org/the-story
