Last week, I got to travel through some parts of the Midwest and South that I had never been to, as we did a road trip for a wedding all the way to Arkansas from Ohio!
A good chunk of that drive was making it through the state of Missouri, a state that I have never been to.
While driving down the freeway, we happened to spot a billboard for the Dig It! Record Barn and I instantly knew that this was a travel destination for the way back to Ohio.
Now, I always wanted a record barn, it's kind of a dream of mine, and coincidentally is the unofficial name of my radio show that I've hosted for nearly two decades. But I didn't really think that I would ever visit a real-life record barn!
You can see the vinyl lining the fence on the property, to help get your attention...or to perhaps stop these artifacts from ending up in the trash.
After the fence of records, the first thing you notice is the punny signs that line the parking lot. I parked in the pink Floyd fans spot, naturally.
This person is obviously more of a deadhead.
Defund the police?! C'mon, Sting still has to eat.
This is for rock n rollers who fought in that famous war back in the 1970s... You know, the war against disco!
The puns continue inside! I took this pic because my sister bought me a Lionel Richie mug some years ago with this same picture, but it said, hello, is it tea your looking for? Little did she know that I wasn't a huge Lionel Richie fan and didn't even get the reference. I mean, I'll go for a little Commodores, but I don't know about this smooth 80s stuff.
I even scored a record of Slim Goodbody... This guy used to come to my elementary school gym and do presentations on staying healthy...but it's probably just like meeting a fake Santa at the mall-just one of his "representatives," not the real Santa. That's what my parents told me anyway.
On with the tour! They even had an outdoor room of records!... Protected from the elements, although I haven't checked to make sure none of my cheap finds weren't all melted!
Inside, we find an assortment of collectables and, as promised, a barn full of records.
Plenty of ephemera lines the walls, with a large assortment of new and used records, tape and CD's.
I actually forgot to take a picture of my favorite room, the room with all the random dollar bin stuff! I walked away with about 40 or 50 records, and they loaded up some nice shipping boxes for me!
Outside, is their mobile record store-for sale-presumedly due to high gasoline prices. How do you think the shocks are in that baby?.. Records are very heavy, you know.
I don't know when the next time I'll be driving through Joplin, Missouri but if I do, I will definitely be stopping back at the record barn!
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[//]:# (!pinmapple 37.14120 lat -94.39310 long Dig it! Record Barn d3scr)