All wound up in collecting

They say he was an eccentric, a character, a collector of nail aprons and pencils and pretty much anything of which he found himself to have more than one. So when Frances Johnson idly wound a scrap of baler twine around two fingers, they say, it's not surprising that it didn't stop there.

He tied another scrap of twine to the end of the first, and continued like that -- tie, wind, tie, wind -- in the basement of his little home. Local farmers saved their leftover twine bits for the cause. Eventually, the ropey mass had expanded so much that Johnson eyed the narrow basement door skeptically. While it was still possible, he rolled the ball up the stairs and out onto the front lawn, where no walls could hinder its growth. Many days, he'd spend up to four hours walking around and around it, adding to its girth.

Out in the open, the ever-expanding ball drew visitors. Johnson would describe to them how he used railroad jacks to shift its tonnage, creating even twine distribution and therefore consistent shape. Those who met him say he was odd, yes, and perhaps a little gruff, but not without a sense of humor. He attached the multi-ton ball to a nearby tree with a wimpy length of chain.

Johnson died of emphysema in 1989. He was a lifelong nonsmoker, so they say it was not cigarettes but nearly 30 years' worth of baler twine dust collected in his lungs that took his life. By then, the ball stood 11 feet high, weighed 8.7 tons and was 40 feet around. Truthfully, there are other, bigger twine balls. But those balls were created by a group, or for money, or hastily, without meticulous shifting, causing the twine to puddle haphazardly about its base.

According to Roger Werner, director of Darwin's Twine Ball Museum, when Johnson's effort was trucked into town, it was darned-near perfectly round. Now shielded by a glass-paned gazebo, this twine ball represents one man's life. It's enough to draw folks off the two-laner and into the tiny town, if only to snap a photo, marvel a moment and then be on their way.

They say Johnson would be proud.

Take Hwy. 12 west of the Twin Cities about an hour and a half to Darwin, just before Litchfield. Turn south off 12 onto the town's main drag, aka County Road 14, 1st Street. The twine ball is a few blocks down, on your left. It would be difficult to miss.

Family-friendly Jack's Tavern (1-320-693-9161) serves basic bar food in downtown Darwin. Note that the Twine Ball Cafe near its massive namesake is, sadly, closed.

If you see sport in digging through dusty heaps of someone else's stuff in search of treasure, "American Pickers"-style, keep your eye out for a shed sided in corrugated metal and bedazzled with knickknacks on the north side of Hwy. 12, just before you reach Darwin -- incidentally, right next door to where the twine ball once lived. When the gate is open, pull on in. Owner Edwin D. Schmitz (1-320-693-7756), one of the friendlier guys you'll ever meet, will invite you to poke around. The oversized fishing lures and other crafts he makes while tinkering in his garage shop have a set price, but all else is open to negotiation.

If you prefer a more orderly treasure hunt, keep driving. Darwin lies on the West Central Minnesota Hwy. 12-Hwy. 7 Antiques Loop (1-320-269-9442), stringing together 22 shops between Hutchinson and Ortonville, on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Pick up a map at one of the stores along the trail.

Twine Ball Days (or day, rather) falls on the second Saturday of each August. It's your quintessential small-town festival, including parade, pork chop feed, flea market and dance -- and it just happens to take place in the shadow of an 8.7-ton ball of twine.

Museum Director Roger Werner is your go-to guy for information on all things concerning the Twine Ball and town (1-320-275-3186, darwintwineball.com).

A few road-trip-worthy world's largest things:

World's largest Cheeto: The day-glo orange chicken-nugget-sized morsel has long rested on a purple velvet pillow under bulletproof glass at Sister Sarah's Restaurant and Bar in Algona, Iowa, about 45 miles south of Blue Earth, Minn. When Sister Sarah's sold in April, the giant Cheeto was written into the purchase agreement, so, fingers crossed, it'll be there, as planned, when the place reopens under new management this June.

World's largest prairie chicken: The 13-foot-tall bird in Rothsay, Minn., is poised as if about to peck the ground. Pose for your photo directly under his beak for a "campy horror flick" effect. Incidentally, this part of the state is a giant-animal-statue jackpot. Check out the 151/2-foot-tall pelican in Pelican Rapids and the 40-foot-long otter in Fergus Falls.

World's largest freestanding hockey stick: Of course this 5-ton, 110-foot-long hockey stick resides in Eveleth, Minn., also home to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. There's a bigger stick in Canada, but it's affixed to an ice arena.