Heading into Dodgeville in rural Wisconsin, TSG did a double when we came across this:
Gracing the front lawn of the Don Q Inn, the giant cold war-era transport plane came into view like a desert mirage. Of course this required a stop to investigate.
Turns out the hotel's owner was a commercial pilot with a penchant for promotion. He bought the plane in 1977 and had it flown into the now-closed Dodgeville Municipal Airport with an eye to converting it into a coffee shop. The plans for the coffee shop fell through so the plane ended up as a big expensive yard ornament.
The exterior is in relatively decent condition and the cockpit instrument cluster is surprisingly intact. The rest of the plane's interior however is in pretty rough shape.
Besides being an unmissable roadside landmark, this plane has another claim to fame. Before it took up residence along US 18 it co-starred with Farah Fawcett and a puma in a 1977 Mercury Cougar commercial.
2 comments:
Good quickie tour.
I think I spy cots allow the walls? Where folks could hitch a ride a deadhead from here to there? If that's what they are, it doesn't appear to offer even 1-star accommodations.
Unless, you know, Farah Fawcett was on board as well.
Don't know about the cots--I thought they might've been for medical transport. One thing I missed, being so focused on the plane, was the Don Q Inn itself. I discovered too late that it's a conceptual twin of the Madonna Inn, featuring themed/fantasy rooms and lobby with barber chairs surrounding a locomotive boiler. Oh well...I guess now I have an excuse to stop the next time I'm in the vicinity of Dodgeville.
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