This morning I was cleaning out the storage section of my car’s passenger door to find all kinds of hidden treasure… a script for HELEN, yet another play written by Euripides about Helen of Troy, several receipts, notes on different kinds and styles of humor from my humor class, some Costco coupon books, and the one more that I decided is a “keeper.”

It's a complimentary roadmap I picked up at a Cracker Barrel country store. This is a map of the United States, and lists the locations for 550 locations of its restaurants that cover 41 states, with more opening all the time. Lest you think this post is an advertisement for the restaurant chain, it isn't, but this is one of the few cheap restaurants where you can order real vegetables to eat whenever you travel.

What struck me about this particular map was the mention of four wayside attractions for travelers who like to check out the “oddities” and “wayside wonders” that make America’s back roads and its people so varied and interesting.

I'm sharing some here on the off chance some of our EldersTribune readers and/or lucky retirees out there who enjoy offbeat things like these as much as I do, can check them out when or if you happen to be traveling anywhere nearby some day. I know they're on my list now.

As with any trip, a good place to begin is with a hearty breakfast. How do you like your eggs? Did I hear you say BIG? Well, in Winlock, Washington you can see one of the world’s largest eggs sitting in the center of town, but it would be pretty tough for you to crack this one! This concrete egg is over 12 feet long and weighs an astonishing 1,200 pounds. But is it the biggest?

Not if you ask the residents of Mentone, Indiana. Their egg stands 10 feet tall, and weighs 3,000 pounds. Okay, I'll just give them a little plug here seeing as how they gave me the map and all, Cracker Barrel recommends you visit both eggs the next time you’re “scrambling around the country.”

Now that we know where the largest eggs can be found, why don’t we find the world’s largest frying pan? Anyone who’s ever been in a Cracker Barrel knows that you can find frying pans of all sizes, but the largest one known is In Rose Hill, North Carolina. Theirs is completely functional, and in fact they use it several times a year for charitable cooking and community celebrations.

Now that we've had our eggs, how about a cup of tea? You can find the world's largest teapot in Chester, West Virginia. It sits on Route 30 next to a highway on-ramp, surrounded by a fence. Apparently the fence is a good idea since there "used to be" a matching creamer too.

In order to get the cream for that missing creamer, we'll have to criss-cross the country to Wisconsin where we'll find the world's largest talking cow. There's a larger cow in Salem Sue, North Dakota, but Chatty Belle in Wisconsin is a "talking" cow, though the word is she hasn't actually talked since 2002. When she does feel like talking, this is what she says,

"Hi, so nice to see you. My name is Chatty Belle and beside me is my son, bullet. Bullet doesn't talk yet but he's learning. What's your name? Well, nice to meet you. Did you know I'm the world's largest talking cow? I'm 16 feet high at the shoulders and 20 feet long, seven times as large as the average Holstein."

We all know that Texas likes to brag about how big things are there, right? Well, check out these really big heads someone discovered near Houston. Apparently there's a sculpture storage in the warehouse district near Summer Street where, if you're lucky, you might see these or other really, really big heads. Actually, they're giant heads of U.S. Presidents by a Texas artist named David Adickes.

If you like snakes, and while we're in Texas, you could check out this snake and exotic animal farm just south of Austin off Interstate 35 on the way to San Antonio. Since I personally don't care for snakes, I'll wait this one out while you go ahead.

Now we near the end of our virtual roadside journey. Here's a sobering thought. With all the cars that traverse this big country of ours, you can bet on a fair number of traffic accidents that result in a whole lot of bent car bumpers that will eventually wind up in a scrap metal heap someplace, and then what? Brundidge, Alabama has an answer in one of the most unique sights the highways and byways has to offer. It’s a large rooster made completely with old car bumpers.

Do you have stories of oddities to share? If you've seen or heard of more strange things take a minute to jot some down here in the comments section. It would be fun having your input of weird things to see and do next time we decide to take off to explore America's roadsides.