Dodgeville, Wisconsin - Don Q Inn

I'm holding up the Boeing C-97 in front of the Don Q Inn Hotel near Dodgeville, Wisconsin. The plane flew to its present location adjacent to the hotel. Farah Fawcett signed the fuselage after filming a TV commercial there long ago. [David Chase, 02/10/2008]

Way more barber chairs than previously listed. Now there are 16 with one dentist's chair. The chairs are very much worth a look! [Al and Sandra, 07/16/2006]

You see the aircraft before you see the inn. It's a C-97, a converted USAF cargo/tanker/rescue aircraft and its tail rises above the adjacent land along HWY 23 just a few miles south of House on the Rock. The aircraft was used in an old Mercury car TV ad with Farrah Fawcett and a leopard. The C-97 was flown into an adjacent dirt airstip by members of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. Then the airstrip was closed and houses sprung up, effectively marooning this noble airplane forever. It is open for tours on weekends.

The Inn is a study in kitsch. The lobby has five or six old fashion barber chairs where you can relax without getting a shave. The room tour of the Fantasuites is a must. One room is furnished ala Fred Flintstone. Another is a converted church steeple which rests nearby closer to the ground.

There is also a 300 ft. underground mining tunnel with all sorts of comic things embedded in the walls. The restaurant food is pretty good too! [Roger Ferguson, 06/12/2005]

[RA: We visited in 1991, the big DC-3 airplane out front, along with a sculpture made of bicycle wheels. There were a number of affiliate "Fantasuite" hotels in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana.]