In the television show, The Middle, whenever the Heck family took to the road they’d mention possible roadside oddities they could visit. The attractions were in the Midwest from the giant ball of twine to the world’s largest ball of paint that you could add one more coat, too. These roadside attractions would break up the monotony of a long road trip. As a kid, I don’t remember stopping and seeing any of these, which was a shame because they slowly fade away without paying customers.

Since my daughter and I decided to take old Route 66, The Mother Road, we expected to see a few of these. Obviously, not all, and not on the weekends. It turns out many of these interesting places such as The Dinosaur Museum and The Blue Hole in New Mexico are closed on the weekends. We even found a campground we were planning to camp at was closed on the weekends, too. If you’re planning to take advantage of these historic attractions make sure they’re open when you’re driving by. 

​Our first stop was at the Guinness world record winning town of Casey, Illinois that had a plethora of over sized everyday objects such as a rocking chair and knitting needles. Our second stop was Uranus, Missouri. 

We drove by Uranus with its colorful stores, star lights, and huge dinosaurs in a hurry anxious to get to our hotel. It had been a long, rainy day and we wanted to eat and mindlessly veg out in front of a television. As the passenger, I noticed the place with its antique farm equipment, double decker bus and promises of an exotic animal zoo plus a magic shop, too. It stuck out big time on the flat, empty expanses that surrounded the road. It blinked out of sight as my daughter drove onward in search of our hotel.
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​We found our hotel without incident and discovered it did have the much-wanted fridge and microwave in the room. Hallelujah. We went next door to Wal-Mart and grabbed some food for dinner. On our way, we witnessed three little kids dressed in swimming suits and clutching pool noodles. Their grandmothers were questioning the front desk person about the location of the pool that was on the website.

Red faced, the employee explained that this was a new hotel that would have a pool next year, but they hadn’t even started on it, yet. Before the irate grannies could ask, he also added there was no fire pit lounge as featured on the website, either. The children not quite understanding the situation insisted there had to be a pool. One of the grandmothers herded up the antsy children while the other one informed the hapless employee they shouldn’t advertised what they didn’t have. It was just wrong! That stuck with me because we would encounter many things on our trip that weren’t even close to what they were advertised to be, but not Uranus, Missouri.
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The next day, we pushed our departure time up an hour earlier so we could return to Uranus. In short, the place is a great photo stop including everything from a booster rocket to an old timey police car. There’s life sized wooden bears and a coin operator fortune teller who had the audacity to tell my daughter she would have an easy life while I would have to work hard for everything. So far, that had been the case.

Inside the main shop and fudge factory was a giant explosion of totally kitschy souvenirs and guilty childhood pleasures including endless flavors of salt water taffy, candy cigarettes, and those little wax soda bottle filled with a syrupy drink. There were souvenirs emblazoned with Route 66 logo, but they’d tapped into all the other high purchase groups including anything with Jesus on it, to Alien bobbleheads, Doctor Who, and Star Trek paraphernalia. It was the perfect place to find a personalized license plate for your bike or a name necklace for your daughter or granddaughter.
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There was a fudge shop smack in the middle of it, too. Yes, we bought some fudge, which was sinfully delicious. Uranus was composed of several buildings. The main one was the store and oddly enough on the back of this childhood fantasy of candy and trinkets was a gun shop. I usually think about buying a high-powered rifle while stopping in for a cold drink and a photo—not. There was a picnic ground located next to the dinosaurs and an ice cream shop, too.

Since we often show up at odd times on our across the country odyssey, we encountered closed signs. This probably won’t happen at Uranus, Missouri which opens, at least most of it, at 8:30 in the morning and stays open late into the night luring travelers with its lights that appeared like glowing stars hovering over the place.
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If you stop, remember to take plenty of pictures.

What happens when an author and her daughter drive across the United States? Come along and find out.

Day One 
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What type of person gets in a tiny car with a roof bag that acts as a sail to make a 3,000+ mile across the Southwest in August? A mother. When my daughter told me, she was going to move across the country to Los Angeles, I was surprised to say the least. When she told me, she was going to attach a trailer to tiny car—I became a nay-sayer. I killed the trailer idea and in came the roof sack. Think of it as a duffle bag for the car. It’s made of what I would describe as pool liner vinyl. In other words, a person with nefarious motives could cut into it, which meant every night we unpacked it, pulled it and its contents inside wherever we were staying. The next day we repacked it. This is my version of the trip.
Day one as the passenger in a very packed car, I had items tucked under my feet, beside me, and in my lap. I was supposed to help with directions and distribute snacks. My snack passing abilities came in handy when traffic came to a dead stop near the Illinois border. A tractor trailer had rolled—possibly due to the rain. The string we had tied the bag to the roof also served as a conduit bringing rain into the car. Oh joy. We decided to stop in Casey, Illinois to visit the gigantic items that got the small town into the Guinness World Book of Records. Even though, it was drizzling, we enjoyed posing for photos by the World’s Biggest Wind Chime or perched inside an oversized birdcage. After our brief break, we headed for Missouri.
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Stay tuned for our next adventure.