Stewart's Petrified Wood is a shop off of I-40 in Holbrook, Arizona with giant animatronic dinosaurs eating, and sometimes being ridden by, somewhat decrepit mannequins. Also, there's an ostrich farm. [more inside]
posted by NoraReed on Jun 4, 2011 - 28 comments

"Today you.... tomorrow me." Have you ever picked up a hitch-hiker? A redditor shares a moving story. [more inside]
posted by papafrita on Dec 14, 2010 - 71 comments

U.S. Patent 1732708 "...relates to street torches, such as are commonly used for illuminating road obstructions." Starting in 1929, The Toledo Pressed Steel Co. manufactured millions of small, round kerosene-burning torches (sometimes called smudge pots) that look like cartoon bombs. [more inside]
posted by usonian on Jul 7, 2010 - 14 comments

Prattville, Alabama, is home to the Cross Garden of W. C. Rice. Pour yourself a cold drink and take a tour through this Flickr gallery. Make that drink ice water, as YOU WILL DIE, YOU DO NOTHING TO GO TO HELL, and TO LATE IN HELL FIRE WATER.
posted by Legomancer on Jul 5, 2009 - 60 comments

Roadside Architecture. "I have been passionate about commercial architecture and roadside related things all my life. I grew up in California but New York City has been my home since 1980. I started this website in 2000 simply as a way to organize my own photos. Since then, it has become a bit of an obsession and grown to well over 1,000 pages." flickr. blog. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Apr 14, 2009 - 11 comments

Claude Bell's giant Cabazon Dinosaurs sculptures have been bought by a Christian developer, Answers in Genesis. The LA Times (archived copy) discusses.
posted by lilithim on Apr 22, 2007 - 33 comments

Years ago, Jane and Michael Stern authored Amazing America, a fabulous book about roadside America, which was one of my favorite references for something novel to see while traveling in the US. The New Jersey section is far too brief. Thank you Weird NJ for filling in the gap.
posted by plinth on Jun 6, 2005 - 9 comments

Roadside memorials. Every so often you'll catch one out of the corner of your eye--a makeshift cross on the side of a highway, or flowers tacked to a highway sign, marking a life that ended in that spot. Gives me chills--realistically, probably every single day we pass places where someone breathed their last, but we don't know it. Photographer Bill Sampson takes photographs of roadside memorials--called "descansos" from a Spanish word meaning rest--and collects them on his site. Loved ones are invited to submit memorials of their own. (Link via USA Today Web Guide.)
posted by GaelFC on Nov 5, 2002 - 39 comments

They are the silent sentinels of America's roads. If you travel at all (or if you read Zippy), you have seen them. They may wear giant hats, or look like Alfred E. Neuman, but they are everywhere. But what you may not know is that one guy made them all.
posted by yhbc on Jun 6, 2002 - 27 comments