In case you aren't already aware, the derby theme this week over at Shirt.Woot is "Road Trip!" And, personally, I think the design pool could use some fresh blood, so I'm calling all Roadside Resort readers to head on over and submit your own ideas. You could win $1000!

If you don't know what Shirt.Woot is or how it works, be sure to read their FAQ. And if you happen to win because I pointed you in their direction, I'm just letting you know a complementary T-shirt sent my way (size medium) will not go unworn.

Good luck!

Night photographer Troy Paiva, who has contributed his work to both Weird Texas and Weird Arizona, e-mailed me recently to let me know he's made a major update to his website Lost America.

"I've just launched the largest update to the lostamerica.com website since I first put the work online in 1999," he says. "Literally, hundreds of new images. Even if you follow my daily postings on Flickr and Facebook, there will be well over 100 new images you haven't seen before." Read More »

Seriously, what kid ever actually played Mouse Trap by the rules? I remember there were dice, cards — wait, were there cards? I don't know, because like everybody else, I just put together the Rube Goldberg device, turned the crank and watched the chaos unfold.

Like the rest of us, artist Mark Perez recognized where the real fun of the board game lay, and thus set about creating his own version, but scaled to life-size proportions. Titled simply The Lifesize Mousetrap, the 25-ton work of art imitates the functionality of the original — crazy stairs, bathtub and all — culminating in the drop of a two-ton bank safe onto a car (whenever they can find one to crush). Read More »

This has not been a good week for roadside oddities. First, Ohio's Touchdown Jesus was razed by God himself, and now the City of Austin, Texas, has forced the closure and dismantling of the long-standing Cathedral of Junk.

The immense, interactive, multilevel sculpture comprising countless found items — crutches, mailboxes, bicycles, bottles, typewriters, you name it — has stood for 21 years as one of Austin's most loved folk-art sculptures and a definitive example of the attitude that gave rise to the city's motto "Keep Austin Weird." Read More »

Lo, it is a solemn day for lovers of religious-themed roadside attractions, for today one of the most recognizable of our nation's giant Jesuses is now nothing but a charred metal frame.

The 62-foot-tall "King of Kings" statue that once rose from the pond outside Monroe, Ohio's Solid Rock Church was struck by lightning last night and set ablaze. The figure, which many detourists lovingly nicknamed "Touchdown Jesus" or "Drowning Jesus," had little chance of survival due to its highly flammable plastic-foam and fiberglass construction. Read More »