Photographer Brian DeFrees recently completed a 12,225-mile loop around the United States, an epic road trip that he's consolidated into a single 5-minute video.

With his camera positioned for a driver's-eye view, he rigged it to pop a photo every 5 seconds. He then compiled the resulting frames to create a time-lapse journey recording every highway, back road, bridge and tunnel along the way.

The full compilation of photos added up to two and a half hours of footage, but thanks to some selective editing, you can enjoy the whole trip in just over 5 minutes.

It's been quite a while since the release of my last book, Weird Arizona, but the time has finally come. Weird Oklahoma is officially on the shelves!

Weeks on the road, months at the keyboard, hundreds of gallons of gas and nearly as much beer, and it's finally here. Head on over to the Souvenir Shop and find out all the bizarre stuff I've dug up across the Sooner State.

Stay tuned for excerpts, bonus photos and videos from my myriad research trips!

Love classic, midcentury signage as much as I do? Well, now you can own a piece for your very own, available at my new site, Satelluxe!

In all the time I've spent on the road researching my books, driving through aging and historic towns, I acquired an insatiable love of Googie, a style of design prevalent in old motels and their eye-catching signage. These days, I can't hit the road without stopping repeatedly to photograph a collection of big arrows, oversize type and flashing neon.

Unfortunately, such treasures are quickly disappearing from the roadside, and acquiring a piece for oneself is becoming exceptionally difficult due to surviving signs' size or deteriorating condition. For this reason, I started producing designs of my own, inspired by the very items I see out on the road.

If you've ever hoped to grab a piece of Googie to take home with you, head on over to Satelluxe and have a look. And keep checking back, because there's more to come soon!

Looks like Texas has lost yet another of its great roadside attractions. Before, it was Austin's Cathedral of Junk. This time, it's Forbidden Gardens, the Chinese tiny town that's quietly stood outside Houston for the past 15 years.

It was the pet project of reclusive millionaire Ira Poon, who spent a reported $20 million recreating the extensive imperial palace in Beijing known as the Forbidden City in one-tenth scale, as well as a one-third-scale recreation of the awe-inspiring 6,000-piece, terra-cotta army of Emperor Qin.

Throughout its life, the park has seen little attendance due to Poon's unexplained aversion to advertising. Couple that with the staff's struggle to keep the park in shape due to the region's harsh heat and humidity, and the attraction has long seemed destined for an early closure.

Unfortunately, I didn't find out about Forbidden Gardens' demise till the last minute, and even then I was out of the state. So, with great regret, I was unable to attend the park's swan song, a mass sell-off that occurred over the weekend. ... Continued