Happy Anniversary to The Off Ramp

I just received a notice from WordPress.com that I started my blog six years ago today.  Six years — really?? It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. So I thought it was fitting to revisit my first post: “I’m H-ee-rr-ee!”  I found it an interesting read, comparing what I had planned for the blog with what has actually happened. It seems I took a small detour somewhere on the road!.

My intentions for The Off Ramp were to have a “portal of sorts that will contain updated information about Route 66 preservation efforts, stories about other roads, existing and past roadside attractions, and my own road trip diaries.” As for the Route 66 portal, although The Mother Road is still my passion, I quickly realized that there was far too much information about preservation efforts and Route 66 in general for me to keep up with in the limited time I have to write and there are other blogs and websites already doing an outstanding job in this area. The stories about other roads never happened. However, roadside attractions have taken center stage and, for a while, I posted road trip diaries. A blog reflection in 2011 convinced me that my road trip stories were getting too lengthy for a blog format, so I changed to just focus on the attractions themselves (well, a narrative still sneaks in occasionally!).

I’ve enjoyed sharing the treasures I have found at the end of the off ramp and hope to continue to do so for another six years — at least! As I closed my first post six years ago, I will again: “I hope you enjoy the ride.”

Andy Griffith Statue: Mt. Airy, NC

In my last post, I wrote about Mt. Airy, N.C., Andy Griffith’s hometown and the inspiration for the town of Mayberry in “The Andy Griffith Show.”  In addition to  the real and fictional locations from the show, the town pays tribute to Andy Griffith, the actor.  The Andy Griffith Playhouse and Museum houses the largest Andy Griffith collection in the world.  Don’t miss the TV Land statue out front that memorializes the opening of the show with Andy and Opie walking to the fishing hole.  If you want to spend the night, you can do so at a number of bed and breakfasts, including Andy’s actual homeplace.  Visited July 2011.

Locations:

• Andy Griffith Playhouse & Museum and TV Land statue — 218 Rockford St.
• Andy Griffith’s homeplace — 711 E. Haymore St.

“Mayberry”: Mt. Airy, NC

If you were alive in the ’60s, then you watched “The Andy Griffith Show.”  Andy, Opie, Aunt Bee, Barney, Otis, Floyd, Gomer and Goober were part of the family for a generation of Americans.  The show premiered 51 years ago today and ran until 1968.  While Mayberry, the setting of the show, doesn’t really exist, it is based on Andy Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., and the town celebrates that fact with enthusiasm.  I pulled off here for a short visit because I was driving by and had an extra hour.  Little did I know that I would have so much fun that I can’t wait to go back and spend an entire day.

You can see a recreation of the courthouse, inside of which is the jail that Otis used to “sleep it off” and Andy’s sheriff’s desk (shown above).   Wally’s Service Station, where Gomer, and later Goober, worked, is next door, where you can book a tour of the town riding in a 1962 squad car, just like Barney used in the television series.

You won’t have to go far to grab a bite to eat at any number of restaurants playing off the Mayberry theme.  However, one of them existed before the series.  Snappy Lunch, located in downtown Mt. Airy, opened in 1923, is famous for its pork chop sandwich and for being mentioned on the show. Floyd’s City Barber Shop next door has also been around since before the show began.  Visited July 2011.

Locations:

• Wally’s Service Station and tours – 625 S. Main St. (the “courthouse” and other Mayberry storefronts are right next door)
• Snappy Lunch — 125 N. Main St.
• Floyd’s City Barber Shop — 129 N. Main St.

Journey Withdrawal

It’s been a great ride, Dodge!  Since I found out about the three Journeys Dodge was hiding across America, I’ve been in seventh heaven.  The last two weeks have been a lot of fun for a roadie like me as I’ve scoured commercials for clues, tried to identify the road trip from pictures, participated in discussion boards with others in the hunt, and, of course, wrote posts for The Off Ramp.  I’ve had a week to think about the campaign since the last car was found and have some final thoughts . . .

I thought the search in the East was great!  It was extremely difficult, but that’s OK.  Finding a vehicle you can keep for free should be a challenge.  As you know, prior to the search there was mass speculation that the Journey would be hidden in the Ticonderoga, N.Y./Shoreham, Vt. area.  Instead, it moved to nearly 400 miles away, to the southern coast of Maine.  I think that Dodge probably did punt and move from its original location, and I thought the way the company did this was very creative.  I enjoyed the Saturday night and Sunday morning slide shows revealing views along the Journey’s path.  These slides are one of the main reasons I think Maine was an alternate location.  The pictures were not high quality and had been taken in the rain; because it had been raining in the area the couple of days leading up to the search, the pictures were probably taken last minute.  However, they provided an opportunity for extra investigative work for those of us playing from home.  One thing I especially liked about the final search was that, near the end, the clues shifted offline so that only those physically in the search could find them.

Of course, on the Dodge YouTube site discussion boards there were enough sour grapes to make a lot of batches of vinegar.  Many people were upset because of the apparent move of the final location and the fact that there were no clues in the original commercial or the video clues revealed the first day of the search that alluded to where the Journey ended up.  They were upset because they missed the slide shows and continued to search for the Journey in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire long after it was clear that it was in Maine.  Then there were those who were upset because Maine is so far away from everywhere else in the eastern region of the United States.  I’m sure that would be the case no matter where it was hidden — there will be those who will always be unhappy that it wasn’t in their backyard.

As for the Midwest controversy, that remains unanswered — at least, officially.  While questions are still being asked, talk on the Dodge discussion boards has started to turn away from any of the searches and onto general car talk, and the Facebook pages demanding answers and a “re-do” in Oklahoma have never gained much momentum.

Perhaps this is what Dodge had hoped would happen all along — that people would eventually move on to other things.  Or, Dodge may have been trying to avoid the “Streisand effect,” something public relations professionals have known about long before the Internet — bringing more attention to a problem by addressing it.  I agree that Dodge didn’t need to make an announcement on the nightly news — why bring the problem to the attention of millions who never heard about it in the first place?  However, I still think a posting on the discussion board where people were talking about it would have gone a long way in the goodwill category.

Finally, this was a marketing campaign, so how did it measure up?  Several  bloggers have expressed their opinions:

• Blogs on AdWeek and Business Insider talk about how risky stunts like this campaign can be.
• A marketing blog outlines the many things Dodge could’ve done to improve the marketing value of the campaign.
• Another marketing blog asks the question: “Awesome campaign regardless or too big of an oops?”

At the end of the day, I would judge the Journey contest a success . . .  IF the campaign’s objective was awareness.   The campaign certainly created a lot of buzz, both good and bad.  I think the campaign was also successful at getting people into the “World Wide World,” as stated in the commercial.  I read numerous accounts on the discussion boards of people traveling across country to participate in the searches or making it a family outing.

Will all of this translate into car sales though?  Hmmmmm — that may be a stretch.  I think it’s more likely to help out Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, because millions of people following the final search (which was the longest and probably had the most people watching) were exposed to some beautiful scenery they may not have known existed. For that, and the most fun I’ve had in a long time, I say “Thanks, Dodge.”