Carhenge is not mainstream on the level of Burning Man or Mount Rushmore. But once an art project makes the cover of a Steely Dan album I find its exotica is vanquished.

That said, when I got to the site of Carhenge I just laughed and laughed. It was funny to see a replica of Stonehenge built out of cars, but the sarcasm of the display carried it to a higher level than just comedy.

I laughed in the way people laugh with the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" painting by Gottfried Helnwein. That painting is, of course, a spoof of Edward Hopper's "Night Hawks." But to many people Helnwein's painting has superseded Hopper's original, and I'd bet that many people think Helnwein's painting is the original.

Also in Alliance: Spawning Salmon, by Geoff Sandhurst Rest Area. Alliance, Nebraska Wonderful Kitchen

There are a lot of "Henges" around America. Carhenge is the only one I've seen, but there is a "Stubby Stonehenge" in Rolla, Missourri; I saw something on the Discovery Channel recently about "America's Stonehenge," in New Hampshire; (theories about the significance of that structure stretch a little thin, in my opinion) and Sam Hill's Stonehenge in Goldendale, Washington, exists among a handful of other "Henges." I'm not too hung up on seeing any of them.

For some reason many travel guides, brochures, and Internet sites say that Carhenge is located on Route 385 2-1/2 miles north of Alliance. Well, I am here to tell you that Carhenge is not located on Route 385, it is located on Route 87 about 2-1/2 miles north of Alliance. The only printed material I found that had this correct information was a Carhenge brochure that I found at my motel, but I didn't find it until after I'd been to Carhenge. I don't know if the numbers for these roads were changed recently, or what explains the discrepencies, but as of Summer, 2002, Carhenge is on Route 87.

So I went about a half-hour out of my way, but this diversion had an upside to it. I ended up passing a strange piece of work on Route 87 about 2 miles north of Carhenge. I guess it's called "Rest Area," but I know neither the artist nor the significance of this.