# Help me plan my cross-country road trip! (CA/AZ/NM/TX/OK/AR/TN/MS/AL) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059 "2015-03-26T20:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/41 "2015-04-01T18:26:08Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > In Oklahoma City their is the “Cowboy Hall of Fame”. Very interesting. > > If you can, stop at Andersonville Georgia, site of the Civil War prisoner of war cam and Nnational Prisoner of War museum (LINK:[http://www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/natl\_pow\_museum.htm](http://www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/natl_pow_museum.htm)). It is VERY deep and moving. > > Also their is a website called “Roadside Attractions” which has many quirky items. I’ve never been to the website “Roadside Attractions,” but I have been to [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/) A couple of years ago my wife and I did a driving vacation from Georgia to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and back to Georgia. We mapped out the entire trip based on things we found on the Roadside America web site. We posted pictures and sent emails along the way. We still have people come up to us to tell us what a great adventure it was to follow us along on our trip. Our rules were pretty simple. [ol] [li]Keep it simple, so as to not slow us down. Sometimes we literally stopped the car just for a photo op, and were back in the car within 10 minutes. [/li][li]Not too far of the beaten path. Once we had our destinations we look for items that wouldn’t take us more than 10 miles out of our way.[/li][li]Don’t take ourselves too seriously. Anything was fair game.[/li][/ol] In other words we didn’t really do museums; we looked for things like “the largest ball of twine,” etc. Some of the things we have our picture taken next to: [ul] [li]Musica Sculpture - Nashville, TN[/li][li]Superman Statue - Metropolis, IL[/li][li]Giant Grocer (Big John?) - Metropolis, IL[/li][li]Giant Uniroyal Girl Statue - Mt. Vernon, IL[/li][li]Giant Shoe made out of shoes - Clayton, MO[/li][li]Beetle Bailey Statue - Colombia, MO[/li][li]Giant Meat Cleaver - Topeka, KS[/li][li]Giant Wren statue - Topeka, KS[/li][li][Child Grave Tombstone Statue](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/17195)where someone changes the clothes - Topeka, KS [/li][li]Big Brutus (Gigantic Coal Shovel), West Mineral, KS[/li][li]Giant Solo cup - Springfield, MO[/li][li]Giant Fork - Springfield, MO[/li][li]Giant Needle & Button - Kansas City, MO[/li][li]Giant Rocking Chair - Branson, MO[/li][li]Giant Shuttlecocks - Kansas City, MO[/li][li]Crapduster - Carthage, MO[/li][li]Giant Blue Whale - Catoosa, OK[/li][li]Giant Library Books - Kansas City, MO[/li][/ul] I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of. I think I remember a giant can of spinach in Arkansas or something. Plus dozens more places. It’s something we still do today whenever possible. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/42 "2015-04-01T18:54:40Z")
I can’t believe you missed the [Giant Catsup Bottle](http://www.catsupbottle.com). Seems like you probably drove pretty near to it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/43 "2015-04-01T19:36:56Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I still recommend the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum of Western culture in Oklahoma. They added a cool wing about western tv shows. But be prepared to spend many and hour there. I agree–it would be easy for me to get sucked into that vortex. Better to go quickly than never go at all, I suppose. I’ll keep it in mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/44 "2015-04-09T19:32:21Z")
With a week left, giving her a bump. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/45 "2015-04-09T19:33:42Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > With a week left, giving her a bump. Are you in Memphis yet? ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059/46 "2015-04-09T20:05:47Z")
I did this drive a couple of years ago–just FYI, if you are one of those people who likes to run the gas tank all the way down until the light comes on before filling up again, don’t do it this time. It can be 130 miles between gas stations in some stretches in AZ and NM, or when you get off at one your phone told you was there, it’s been closed or boarded up. You might already know this, but despite my many long car trips over the years, none of them had been through areas quite as sparsely populated as the Southwest, and that there wouldn’t be a gas station at least every 30-40 miles had honestly never occurred to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-my-cross-country-road-trip-ca-az-nm-tx-ok-ar-tn-ms-al/716059.md?page=2)