Another Roadside Attraction Geotrail

North Carolina - Self Kicking Machine

There is nothing better than a good road trip: driving down the open road, eating at tiny roadside diners, going 150 miles out of the way to take a selfie in front of …. the Peachoid water tower! Oh Say, can you see … me with the world’s largest frying pan?

This geotrail honors those unique, odd, bizarre, fun, historic, campy, weird, and just downright interesting roadside attractions in North and South Carolina. The caches aren’t meant to be hard, it is a power-trail after all. None of the caches are hidden at the posted locations - but answer the question correctly and you will have a working set of coordinates. All of the hides are preform bottles.

Ever do something so dumb that you want to kick yourself? Tom Haywood, knew that feeling and figured other folks might sometimes feel that way, too. So during the summer of 1937, he and local handyman Wilber Herring built a contraption that would deliver a good, swift kick to the seat of the pants of any willing recipient. The simple machine consists of a hand-operated crank connected by a belt and pulleys to a wheel. Four spokes, each with an old shoe attached, jut out from the wheel. To get the boot, the operator just bends over and turned the crank. Haywood’s kicking machine became a local tourist attraction and, eventually, a national curiosity. It booted behinds free of charge for decades. Several North Carolina governors are said to have used the machine, along with the baron and baroness of Bern, Switzerland. Popular television comedian Lucille Ball once got a kick out of the machine after loosing a bet. Baseball great Babe Ruth kicked himself following a hunting trip in the neighboring National Forest. In 1946 President Harry S. Truman inspected it while visiting the nearby Marine Corps Air Station. The original machine has been moved to the North Carolina History Museum in Raleigh but a proxy replica has been constructed in its place.  
 

N 34 28.ABC W 79 12.751

Where is the kicking machine?

A. Reidsville, NC - 445

B. New Bern, NC - 488

C. North Wilkesboro, NC - 087

D. Greenville, NC - 778