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There’s no better time to be alone than when you’re behind the wheel. Nothing else matters except the long stretch of the open road, and maybe the podcast you’re tuned into.
When you drive on Route 66, though, there’s a sense of novelty for every mile. There’s the chance to meet different folks and see something iconic. And if we’re talking about icons? You can’t miss six of the weirdest attractions along the historic highway:
Whale of Catoosa
Where: Catoosa, Oklahoma
Love it or hate it, it’s certainly eye-catching. It was built in the ‘70s out of a husband’s love for his whale-figurine-collector wife. The adjacent pond is a great place to stop and relax if the summer heat’s getting to you.
Wigwam Motel
Where: San Bernardino, California
Built in the late 1940s, the nineteen single-room structures seem like the appropriate stop for your cultural pilgrimage. The rooms were designed to look like traditional teepees. Except that there’s wifi, a bathroom, and concrete walls. There’s a pool and a 24-hour lobby on the grounds as well.
Petrified Forest
Where: Holbrook, Arizona
You can’t say that a 230-square mile forest filled with fossils of animals and petrified wood from 200 million years ago is not, at best, fascinating. And, at worst, kind of eerie. You can hike and go backpacking. It makes a great educational trip for the whole family.
Cadillac Ranch
Where: Amarillo, Texas
It’s not often that your portal to the past was intended as an homage to more distant history. The Cadillac Ranch started as an art installation in 1974. Buried headfirst are ten Cadillacs, arranged consecutively to emphasize the changing styles of the tailfin from the 1950s-1960s.
Muffler Man Statue
Where: Atlanta, Illinois
Fun fact: before they became advertising titans, Muffler Men were derived from a fiberglass figure of Paul Bunyan, lumberjack extraordinaire from folk tales. The Illinois statue, holding a hotdog instead of an ax, is one of them.
Galco’s Soda Pop Stop
Where: Los Angeles, California
You wouldn’t imagine a century-old soda pop shop has a lot going in terms of innovation. But boy, if 600 different flavors of soda isn’t a mark of inventiveness, who knows what is. That’s not to mention creating your own soda and an assortment of different spirits on-hand. Quench every thirst when you drop by.
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