A labor of love built by local hang-gliding enthusiasts, this ideal launch spot was outlawed by the authorities and has since been largely abandoned.

This highway overpass was named after the tragic disappearance of a young mother who got mixed up with the wrong people.

The mayor made the declaration in 2004.

This oddity shop contains everything from antique tools to a human skeleton.

This water tower slanted at an uncomfortable angle off the old Route 66 was an ingenious marketing ploy.

A small car graveyard sits in the shadow of the famous Cadillac Ranch.

The Milburn-Price Culture Museum in Vega offers a brand-name oversized cultural attraction.

The old Route 66 town straddling Texas and New Mexico died along with the Main Street of America.

This sanguine boulevard was named after a deadly cowboy bar fight.

This rusted car found in Petrified Forest National Park's Route 66 exhibit may be the most photographed abandoned car in the country.

For those going through a life transition, a place to leave behind a piece of your former self.

A motel dedicated to Southwestern nostalgia.

One man handcrafts "the best sake made outside of Japan" in a tiny desert town on Route 66.

This Route 66 classic sports a giant fiberglass rabbit that you can ride.

Along the old Route 66 is an abandoned trading post made from old telephone poles, built by a former circus clown.

One of the final grand railway depot hotel complexes is slowly being restored to its former glory.

A unique collection of artistic rides

This public square capitalized on a single Eagles reference to bring some life back to an Arizona town.

This memorial includes fragments from one of the greatest tragedies in United States history.

Strange red rock formations that have been attributed to a higher power for hundreds of years.

A picturesque (all-natural!) beach in a landlocked state.

When ecosystems collide in the arid Southwest.

A small metropolis of Pueblo cave dwellings have been carved right into the hillside of this national monument.

Once a dining hall for boarding school students, this lodge was a popular haunt for nuclear physicists working on the Manhattan Project.