Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sweeping Changes

As a bit of a postscript to the "Geo-RoadTrip 2011," from one of my other blogs, we present one last parting gift from the road.


The giant Chimney Sweep Statue greets people on I-135 between Wichita and McPherson, Kansas. He's a striking site that comes out of nowhere while you're in the middle of nowhere. His roguish smile and Dick Van Dyke-esque demeanor conveys a sense of old school chimney sweepery that is sadly missing in our modern world of dirty smoke stacks.

However, as many people do, he started out in a different industry before his career change:


Happy Chef is/was a chain of restaurants in the Midwest that each had Happy Chef statues out front greeting hungry travelers with a smile and a spoon. They also had a button you could push to hear the Happy Chef give you, what I assume was, a happy message.

Sadly most chefs are gone but some have been re-purposed like our friend here. If you're one the road in the middle of Kansas, stop by and say "hi."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He is sadly decaying and falling apart. I hope someone comes along and fixes him up, I would hate to lose him!!