Long road trips can be made so much more memorable and enjoyable with lots of little stops along the way. There are tons of roadside attractions littered across the country, from legitimate historical sites to delightful tourist traps. Which are your favorite?
Roadside attractions can come in many shapes and forms, from monuments and statues to vehicles left behind in a strange state. These can be great amusement on long road trips. They can range from the World’s Largest Buffalo up above to all of the world’s largest balls of twine, to a little Volvo stuck on an island.
Yes, you read that right. In Ottawa, Illinois, sits a 2001 Volvo S80 on its own island. I drove out to the Volvo last year and it’s such a weird sight to see. The car sits atop an island barely larger than itself. Surrounding it is water some 38-feet deep. Below is an abandoned strip mine.
The little Volvo got there because the owner of the property wanted to hold a contest to see who could guess how the car got there. The island used to be a peninsula and an excavator was used to drag the car out to its new resting place then destroy the bridge that led there.
Thankfully, the owner of the property quickly realized that people could try swimming out to the car, and that’s a bad idea. So the car’s remained at that spot since 2012. In that time, the vehicle’s gained a dent (how?) but otherwise has remained untouched.
The country is opening up now that COVID-19 is slowing down in some places and we’ve got the urge to travel. So help us fill up our summer sight-seeing trips: What’s a roadside attraction that’s not to be missed?