Al started picking cotton on his family’s farm outside of Belzoni, Mississippi, when he was six years old. At 12 years old, his family moved into town, and he started mowing lawns after school to earn money. However, three years later, his schooling was cut short when his father suffered a stroke and died. To help support his family, Al quit school and took over his father’s job building steel buildings for factories. He was drafted at 18 and was selected to serve in the Marines and sent to Vietnam. He got full disability after contracting malaria and experiencing his friend die next to him in combat.

When he left the service, he got a job a well-paying job as an Operating Engineer in Kansas City. During a cross-country vacation in 1976, he decided to take US Route 66 rather than paying for Oklahoma’s toll roads. He drove the “Mother Road” all the way to Las Vegas. On that trip, he decided he'd buy a place on Route 66 when he retired.

In 2018, he looked for places in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, but rejected them due to high property taxes. However, as a disabled veteran, Oklahoma offered many more benefits. While driving through Afton, he found the perfect property to build his museum and tribute to his 1976 Route 66 journey. Built mostly during the COVID pandemic, Al says, “It’s a free-touch-stuff Museum, guaranteed to make visitors smile or laugh out loud, or I’ll give them five dollars back.”

Sources: Notes from Steve Liggett’s 9/19/2025 interview