Hitler At Bowlins? You’ve Got To Be Pulling My Leg!
We stopped at the four Bowlins stores on I-10 in New Mexico. They advertised “The Thing” at exit 322 in Arizona. As a lead up at the Butterfield Stage stop on the way from Deming to Lordsburg they had a mannequin in an old car. It was supposed to be a skeleton, perhaps an old-time miner. On the bumper was the sticker The Thing Exit 322. We were expecting a typical western bad guy as the thing. We couldn’t believe it when we paid $2.00 adult admission and followed the yellow footprints behind a closed door to find Hitler seated in the back of a 1930’s Rolls Royce. What does this have to do with the west? What about the light, spoofy atmosphere of Bowlins? We were so offended that we left, not knowing what to do with the bumper sticker we’d bought ahead of time in eager anticipation.
My husband says “The Thing” was a 50’s alien sci fi movie. Is Hitler the ultimate space alien? Following the Americans’ cartoonish image of Hitler, somehow they think this fits.
P.S. We saw The Thing on the last day of our 76-day odyssey from Tucson to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, to Europe, and back. On the very first day we saw a Herbie car, a Volkswagen Beetle, by the side of the road with "Hitler made this car" scrawled across the windshield. Arizona seems to be full of the cartoonish side of Hitler.
P.S.S. The only redeeming feature of this pit stop is the wonderful view of Texas Canyon just down the highway.