Hey, kids! Wanna go on a nuclear waste adventure?
Let's talk about that.
♪ (theme music) ♪
- Good! Mythical! Morning! - America is known for a lot of things.
- Yeah. - Apple pie. Road rage. Being...
...beneath Canada. But one thing we really corner the market on is...
- ...roadside attractions! - That's right, and today we've...
...done a little boopity-boop-boop-boop research to find the best of
roadside Americana. Presenting 8 Things on the Side of the Road That
We Are Attracted To. That came out wrong. Okay, starting with a fact.
Link, I know this is hard for you to hear, but some day, Nicolas Cage is going to die.
- Fact. - (laughing) Yeah. And when he does die...
...he will be laid to rest in a nine-foot-tall pyramid in New Orleans.
- (Link) And this is it, huh? - (Rhett) Yes.
(Link) It's got an extra-wide doggy door at the bottom.
(Rhett) That's to slide him right in there.
- (Link laughing) - Now listen. The reason that he has...
...this thing is -- you know, Nic Cage is weird. We all know that.
- Yeah. Period. That's it. - But in 2007...
- That's the reason. - ...he bought a haunted mansion...
...and he thinks his career has been cursed since then. But apparently,
he has forgotten about Drive Angry, the 2011 classic. One of my favorite films
of all. Anyway, so he bought this to appease -- I don't know why pyramids
appease ghosts, but in Nic Cage's world they do. It says...
- Because they sit on top and it hurts. - Yeah. (laughing) Ghosts go right for it.
"I'm not sitting on that!" You know how ghosts...
- Yeah, that must be it. - ...like to...
(Rhett) It says, in Latin, on it "Omni Ab Uno," which I'm guessing means...
- ..."I peaked at Face/Off. - (laughing) Con Air might have been...
- ...right after that. - Well, it might have been just before.
- Somewhere in there.'97. - Okay. Okay.
But it's become a tradition with bright lipstick to kiss the pyramid
when they come up to it, which is more action that Nic Cage has gotten in years.
- (laughing) - (laughing) Wow. I mean, let's move on...
- ...because I'm feeling bad for you... - Woo! Pyramids!
...for throwing Nic Cage under the bus so much.
Well, yeah, you know. He had it coming. He had it coming.
- I'll visit that. I'll gladly visit that. - Oh, yeah!
I'll gladly kiss that with bright lipstick.
- I've already punched my ticket. - I'll also go here: Ponce de León really...
...screwed up hunting for the Fountain of Youth in Florida because, newsflash...
...it's located just off US 9 in Lewes, Deleware.
- (Rhett) Yeah, it is! - (Link) Did you know this?
- (Link) Here it is right here. Legend has it that this Fountain of Youth was
discovered by Dutch settlers in the 17th century. Because, as you know...
- ...Dutch don't crack. - (laughing) I've heard that.
The good news is it's free to visit. The bad news is it's not really a fountain.
There's no water there. You're not gonna acquire youth. It's just a gazebo...
- ...in a field. Which I think... - You bring your own water?
Bring your own water. Yes. That's the positive spin.
- You toss it in? - And I think that's the appeal to this...
...place, is it's so anticlimactic. Your expectations are low and you can...
...just celebrate that you went to trouble of going to this place.
- You went to a gazebo. - I love it.
Okay, how about the world's largest collection of smallest versions of
largest things? Yes. It's located in Lucas, Kansas, right off Route 18,
and it is exactly what I described: the worlds...
- ...largest collection of the... - Largest collection.
- ...of the smallest versions... - Smallest versions...
- ...of largest things. - ...of largest things.
So yeah, you've got a very small world's largest frying pan. Very small
world's largest [lutefisk]. You get the idea. Ball of twine. And they're little
plastic replicas, and it's the largest collection of all of these.
- Now, the person who made this... - That's cool.
...is an artist, and she understand the irony in all this. Her name is...
- ...Erika Nelson. And it's just this... - (Link) I would hope so.
- ...little -- yeah, little trailer. - (Link) Trailer.
(Rhett) This is the kind of thing that I would go and see, you know?
Now, I wouldn't make a trip to it, But I would definitely stop for it.
But that's what your'e supposed to do: roadside attractions. You're not supposed
to have this as your destination. This is along the way. So I could be excited...
- ...about this. But this also makes me... - I like it.
...think of an idea that we could do right now, and that would be the world's
smallest collection of the largest versions of the smallest things.
So it would be like one huge, subatomic quark. You with me?
Then that would just be the world's largest quark.
- But that doesn't sound as good. - I didn't mean to reduce it...
- (laughing) - ...and remove your marketing...
- ...but I think that's what it was. - Well, come see it. In Burbank.
- Come see it. Come see it... - (laughing)
- ...and then we'll make it. - Yeah, it's gonna be made out of...
- ...styrofoam. It's gonna be styrofoam. - It's not here yet, sorry. You showed...
...up too early. What about the nuclear waste adventure trip?
- Yes! - Intriguing, right? It's right off...
...Highway 94 in Weldon Spring, Missouri. Interesting backstory. This was the home
of a huge explosives and uranium factory. Uranium refinery. They didn't...
- ...manufacture uranium. They refined it. - Right the mine it.
It was abandoned in the '60s and it had 1.48 million cubic yards of toxic nuclear...
- ...waste just sitting around there. - That's not a problem.
Until the '80s when the EPA decided to cover it in rocks.
Oh, yeah. That's what I always do with my nuclear waste. (laughing)
- (laughing) - When I'm camping, at least.
- Just put rocks on top of it. - Put an adventure trail on it.
(Link) But as you can see from the picture, not much adventure, and...
- ...not really much trail. - (Rhett stammering) Who knows what...
...you could see up there?! I love domes.
- I know what you could see up there. - I love just going up on top of stuff, man!
- You can see five counties from the top. - Oh, really?!
- As reported by an ex-security guard. - That's an adventure, man!
Tell me the place you can go around here and see five counties.
- And glow when you leave. - Yes.
- Nowhere else. - Okay, this is one that was actually...
...part of the world's largest collection of the smallest things, but this is...
- Yes. All right. - ...the actual version. The world's...
...largest ball of twine, which is actually located in Cawker City, Kansas...
...Highway 24. Started back in 1953 when a farmer named Frank Stoeber started
rolling twine. And basically this was a thing that they did, that farmers
would do. They would store their twine. And he just wasn't using it.
And then he started realizing, (southern accent) "Well, heck! By '61,
I had 1.6 million feet of twine, and I had rolled it into a ball of more than...
- ...11 feel in diameter! - (laughing)
This has gotta be a record or something!" He starts asking around. It turns out there
wa actually a competitor ball. A competitor ball in Darwin, Minnesota.
- Oh, wow. - Another huge ball of twine. And that...
...was when all the townsfolk came out and said, "We're not gonna let Darwin,
Minnesota beat us!" And they started -- Just like that. This exactly how the
story went. (laughing) And then they started rolling...
You should do the audiobook of this story,
I want to do an Audible. If there's a book, please let me read it.
- (laughing) - They started rolling this twine...
and they have rolled it to a point where all the townspeople still go out...
- ...to this day. You can add to it. - You can add to it?
7 million feet of twine. But here's the picture.And as you can see, there's
a little problem that's beginning to surface. Can you see the problem?
- (Link) It's not a ball. - (Rhett) It's not a ball. It's like a nub.
- (Link) It's a big twine nub. - (Rhett) Yeah, the world's largest...
...twine nub. And they are actually legitimately concerned about this...
- ...as I would be, too. - You gotta push it up.
- You gotta roll and roll again. - Yeah.
- You gotta do something about this... - That's part of the challenge of it.
- ...travesty. - Okay, next right here, in the road.
(Link) Located in Franklin, Indiana. Again, not a roadside attraction.
- (Rhett) Right. - (Link) This is the grave in the...
...middle of the road. In 1831, a woman named Nancy Barnett was buried on a...
- ...small hill. No road in sight. - Yep.
But in 1901, the city decided they needed to build a road right through the cemetery.
- Gotta go right through Nancy. - When the crew showed up to start...
...building, grandson Daniel was sitting on Nancy grandma's grave...
- "I knew y'al 'd be here!" - ...with a shotgun.
Oh, yeah."Been waitin' on y'all."
So they just build the road around the grave.
- (Rhett) Yeah, they did. - (Link) And now there's a big ol'...
...sign on it with a whole backstory that you can walk up to.
- (Rhett) That's amazing! - You gotta walk on the grave to read...
- ...the backstory. - She's been memorialized because of...
- ...this guy with a shotgun. - Yeah, the city was required to create...
...the world's first, "Caution, dead person in the road ahead" sign.
Oh, I can imagine what that looks like. You don't have to show me a picture.
- (laughing) I'm just gonna imagine. - So that's also a roadside attraction.
- Yes, it is. - "Caution, dead person in the road."
How 'bout a gorilla holding a VW Bug, Link?
- Please! - (Rhett) Located in Leicester, Vermont.
(Rhett)This is at the front of Pioneer Auto Sales lot. Now, okay.
- How did this happen? - (Link) Dude! First of all, he is not...
...just holding a Volkswagen. He is powerlifting single armed.
(Rhett) Yes he is. Lemme give you the story behind this one.
- I love this! - 1987.
The owner of the dealership asked T.J. Neil if he would make a statue
for him. He says, "How about a giant gorilla?" The owner says, "What do you
wanna do a giant gorilla for?' Neil says, "So I can make him hold a car."
The owner says, "Sure, but can you make his other hand stretch down so
people can sit in it?" That's the entire story. That's exactly what happened,
- ...and that is what resulted in this. Apparently...
(Link) That is the audiobook for this roadside attraction.
(Rhett) ...it is very difficult to get into the hand, but very easy...
- ...to fall out of. - (Link) Oh. There's a lot of snow...
- ...in that hand. - And also just a little observation...
...that I made. I think back in Vermont in 1987, there were no photos of actual
gorillas available for reference. (laughing) You know, because this is...
...like a gorilla by memory sort of situation.
(Link) Well, the show makes it look like he's got a swimmer's cap on.
- (Rhett) Yeah! Nothing wrong with that! - (Link) It's like a swimming gorilla.
I'd just like to stare at it for another two minutes. I mean, I will...
- ...drop everything right now. - I don't want to do that.
And I will drive to Vermont to just see that.
- I'll see you next week, then. - And then I will drive all the way back.
I mean, that would be a fun idea. That's the thing I like about these
things is that... you can just... It's so pointless, it becomes a fun point.
- Yeah. I'm all about it. - Lemme throw this one at you:...
...the world's largest Pez dispenser dispenser.
- Ring a bell, Rhett? - I've heard of this one.
(Link) Uh-huh. Burlingame, California, just outside of -- what's that city...
- ...with the bridge? Golden Gate Bridge? - San Fran.
San Francisco, that's right. 7-foot-10-inches tall, 20 times the
size of an actual Pez dispenser. It's inside of a Pez museum.
The Austrian Pez manufacturer caught wind of this thing...
- Yeah. - ...and they did not like it being...
...called the world's largest Pez dispenser.
- It wasn't authorized. - So now they call it "the largest...
- ...Pez dispensing machine." - We get the idea.
But it is the world' largest dispenser dispenser, because you get Pezes out of it.
- Right. We did. - And we both got one back in 2008.
We went to some of these roadside attractions. You should watch the video
including meeting the smiling man beside the world's largest Pez...
- ...dispenser dispenser. - We did, so check that out.
And thank you for liking, commenting, and subscribing.
- You know what time it is. Hi, I'm Michelle.
- And I'm Jason. - And we're at the Henry Ford Museum...
- ...in Detroit, Michigan. - (both) And it's time to spin...
- ...The Wheel of Mythicality! - Don't forget to pick up the...
...limited edition "Put That on a T-shirt" t-shirt that you guys voted for:
Let the Tigers Tiger. Only available at rhettandlink.com/store!
Store! Store! Click through to Good Mythical More. We're gonna play
- Frogger Returns. It's a video game. - Uh-oh!
Involving a frog. That hopefully won't die.
(Rhett) But first, "Link forgets how chairs work."
Oh! Uh! Uh... Um...
Come on and sit. Just sit. Just sit. Just sit.
- It's like, "Huh!" It's like this, right? - Yeah...
- Huh! Huh! - ...well... I mean, you can do that.
- Huh! Huh! Huh! - (stammering) Take your fanny.
- Huh! My butt? - Take your fanny. Yeah, yeah.
- We're in America, right? Okay. - Yeah, yeah. And just put it, put it...
- ...put your fanny right in there. - Okay. My grandma's name...
- ...was Fanny. It still is. - (laughing)
Now, how do you feel about that? That' nice, isn't it?
She goes by Nell. Oh!
[Captioned by Kevin: GMM Captioning Team]