Arthur Cross was a little bit scary. His glasses were big, and his face was hairy. He worked at a law firm on the seventeenth floor, but always dreamed of something more. He wanted to take a road-trip cross-country. From silver New York to golden Albuquerque.

He wanted to take snapshots in front of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, and stop and stare at the world’s biggest rocking chair. Where some people saw the attractions as meaningless, Arthur saw them as small-town genius. They showed how communities could pull together. When they woke up, and did better.

His office mates didn’t respect, the maps he kept above his desk. People talked about Arthur behind his back, making up stories that he was a quack. Sometimes he heard them, but he didn’t care. He was a dreamer, and that’s what they couldn’t bare. Arthur finally went on his dream vacation, and he never came back, that much is certain. It’s believed he lives now on the plains of Alabama, building the world’s largest Yellowhammer.

Top 50 American Roadside Attractions: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2006404,00.html

This story was written by Alex Schattner (7/27/12)