These Are The Odd Roadside Attractions You'll Only See In Texas

One of the many joys of the open road is that, if you drive long enough and keep your eyes peeled, you'll inevitably find some absolutely bonkers stuff posted up along the road. Certain people, when they get bored, get extremely and even frighteningly creative, and they sure do love to put their wonderfully strange creations out for everyone to see. In my experience, the weirdest things you'll find are out in the middle of nowhere. If you've ever been to the Dickeyville Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin, or the Sock Barn in Nashville, Indiana, you know exactly what I mean.

What state has more than enough room for delightfully weird attractions? Well, Texas, of course, and when they say everything is bigger in Texas, it sure does apply to the roadside attractions. If you haven't been on a road trip through Texas, it's time to schedule one because some of these are bound to be your favorite roadside attractions.

Among the many extra-large Texas attractions, you'll find gems like the World's Largest Bowie Knife, which officially earned the title from Guinness World Records in 2016 and is found in — who would've guessed it? — the city of Bowie. Yet another world's largest waits for you in Hidalgo. Hidalgo is the self-proclaimed Killer Bee Capital of the World, and that's just what you'll find there: a statue of the world's largest killer bee. Of course, killer bees, also called Africanized bees, don't originate from Hidalgo, but the first U.S. colony was found just outside town in 1990. Finally, there's the giant Matthew McConaughey cutout in the actor's hometown of Uvalde, Texas. What else needs to be said?

If the infamous abandoned Seattle Cybertruck tourist hotspot has left a gaping hole in your heart that hasn't closed in the last few years, we recommend finding a few other car-themed roadside attractions to heal your spirits. Texas offers a few, and two of them are located near Amarillo, making them perfect stops to add to your next tour of the beloved and decertified Route 66. First up is the Slug Bug Ranch, a collection of vertically buried Volkswagen bugs that have been spray-painted with all sorts of tags and designs over the years.

Don't make the mistake of confusing the Slug Bug Ranch with the Cadillac Ranch. This totally different installation has been around since 1974 and features 10 old Cadillacs that have been, uh, buried nose down and spray-painted to hell. Visitors are welcome to bring their own cans of paint and add their own personal touch to any of the buried Caddies. There's no oversight here. It's literally a patch of dirt with some half-buried old cars. You can just go nuts. These two sites are iconic and fully worth the stop just for the sheer whimsy of their existence.

As luck would have it, yes. We haven't yet seen the real weirdo attractions. These won't be to everyone's taste, but if you're looking for the most mind-bendingly odd roadside attractions Texas has to offer, then you're in the right place. First up is the illustrious Cathedral of Junk in Austin. Construction on the Cathedral of Junk began in 1988, and the project is still ongoing. According to Vince Hannemann, the visionary behind the project, it's composed of over 60 tons of — you guessed it — junk. This place looks like Gozer possessed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it's delightful.

There's also the Toilet Seat Art Museum in The Colony, Texas. It was originally run out of founder Barney Smith's garage but has since moved to the beer garden of a local joint called Truck Yard. With over 1,400 unique toilet seats on display, there's a whole lot to see here. Many of the seats feature Smith's own art, and the depictions include Michael Jackson, JFK, and a tribute to the Challenger shuttle. Some are just paintings, some are collages of glued-on items, but all of them are awesome, in some sense of the word. At its home in the Truck Yard beer garden, the Toilet Seat Art Museum even has its own play on Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam," depicting the hand of God passing Adam a roll of toilet paper. How's that for odd and unforgettable?