This spud's for you: The Idaho Potato Expo and Potato Museum of Blackfoot, Idaho

 This is what the Expo's fabulous concrete potato looked like when we visited in 2006...

 ...and it appears they have renovated it and put up a more professional sign in the years since. Personally, we prefer the lovably unprofessional-looking lettering from before.

 Inside you'll find a bushel of exhibits...

 ...including this natty burlap tux...

 ...worn by the ironically named C.G. Rice. Perhaps he told his dry cleaners to go light on the starch.

 They've got the world's biggest Pringle on display...

 ...Marilyn Monroe rocking some burlap...

 ...and another big spud.

 There's a potato tune...

 ...and Dan Quayle's autograph on a spud to honor his having trouble with the spelling of the word when he was vice-president.

 They've also got a farm harvesting machine with one of the coolest Space Age potato-related names ever...

 ...Spudnik!

 Be sure to see the Hall of Fame of potato movers and shakers...

 ...and don't miss the awesome multi-media presentation.

Of all the wonderfully eccentric roadside places we've visited, we love the Idaho Potato Expo's giant concrete potato so much we put it on our masthead. When we visited there in 2006, we found it to be everything we'd ever hoped for in an eccentric roadside attraction -- one of those small town, lovably earnest places that's a tribute to something some might find ordinary but others devote themselves to. This is one of the places that makes America great. A sweet, friendly lady greeted us at the front desk/gift shop and was impressed we came all the way from Rhode Island to visit Tater Central. Inside the museum is the story of Idaho potatoes, told in a low-tech way with lots of folk-arty paintings and a-peeling exhibits. At the gift shop, they've whipped up a spud-tacular array of great and goofy tuber souvenirs (alas, though, there was no tuber toothpaste). And, true to their slogan ("We give taters to Out-Of-Staters"), we received a box of yummy hash browns to take home with us! You can't beat, whip, boil or mash that. So don't fritter away your visit to Idaho without visiting the Expo... you'll be in a state of bliss and I yam certain you'll want to you-tuber it to see if there's a mash-up. Tot's all folks!

Shanks for the memories: Hilltop Steakhouse of Saugus, Massachusetts headed for the last round-up

It is with great sadness that we report that the Hilltop Steakhouse of Saugus, Massachusetts, a 52-year-old mainstay of eccentric roadside restaurant awesomeness, will be closing its coral doors for the last time on Sunday, October 20. We love this place for its throwback appeal to a time when you just couldn't eat enough meat, carbs and more meat. You even got a place mat to show you what part of the cow you were about to ingest. But the best Hilltop had to offer was it's Texas-sized 50-foot neon cactus sign, letting all passersby on Route 1 know they're in the presence of eccentric roadside dining greatness. So long Hilltop...you'll always be prime in our book. Read our earlier post here.

This could be the start of something big

There's nothing like going out of your way on a road trip to see a depiction of something ordinary blown up to a huge proportion. Here are a few of our favorites (we've blogged about all of them so click on the captions to read all about 'em):

 The Big Duck, Flanders, New York

 The Longaberger Basket Company's world headquarters in the shape of a big picnic basket, Newark, Ohio

 Albert the bull, Audubon, Iowa

 The Big Blue Bug, Providence, Rhode Island

 Big Fish Supper Club, Bena, Minnesota

 The Jamestown Buffalo, Jamestown, North Dakota

 The Coffee Pot, Bedford, Pennsylvania

 The Idaho Potato Expo, Blackfoot, Idaho

 The Milk Bottle Restaurant, Raynham, Massachusetts

Salem Sue, Salem, North Dakota

The May Museum of Natural History of the Tropics, Colorado Springs, Colorado

 The World's Largest Catsup Bottle, Collinsville, Illinois

 The World's Biggest Office Chair, Anniston, Alabama

 The World's Biggest Easel, Goodland, Kansas

The World's Biggest Tooth, Trenton, New Jersey

Ah, look at all the lovely people: Rigby, Idaho's historical museum

One of our favorite things to do when passing through America's small, out-of-the-way towns is to take a look inside the local museums and historical societies. There you will find proud tributes to people and things outsiders might find mundane or trivial but that are of great meaning to the locals. The small eastern Idaho community of Rigby has a terrific museum that is actually a twofer: the Jefferson County Historical Society shares space with the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum, commemorating Philo T. Farnsworth, Rigby native and inventor of television. And all of this is housed in a former motel, adding to the quaint roadside ambiance. Here's looking at you, Rigby, with your TV inventors, atomic quilts, big-haired lady composers, stuffed bears and breastfeeding manuals on display. We'll be here remembering you, wearing the face that we keep in the jar by the door.

Happy birthday, Bob Newhart

Today is Bob Newhart's 84th birthday and we'd like to wish him many happy returns. One of our all-time favorite eccentric roadside attractions is the Bob Newhart statue in Chicago (and you can read about it here). One of the best things Bob ever did was close out his Vermont-based sitcom "Newhart" by referring back to his previous sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show". We find out the entire series was dream when Bob wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette as Emily, making it, in our humble opinion, the best series finale in the history of TV. A youtube search reveals a  little coda during the credits we had forgotten all about. Check it out here.

Excuse me, will you sign my buns: Tony Packo's of Toldeo, Ohio

 Tony Packo's, the pride of Toledo

 Toledo native Jamie Farr, Klinger from "M*A*S*H", immortalized Packo's by mentioning it in an episode.

I had a brand new camera when we visited and hadn't quite figured out the flash yet so these shots are embarrassingly amateurish, but there you will find autographed hot dog buns from the likes of Alice Cooper, Neil Sedaka and the Moody Blues, as well as among others...

 ...Jerry Seinfeld...

...Danny Glover...

 ...the cast of "M*A*S*H"...

 ...Barbara Bush...

 ...Ray Charles, and...

 ...Art Garfunkle.

On a cross-country trip back in 2006, we took a great detour off I-80 west toward Toledo and stopped at Tony Packo’s, an historic restaurant known for their Hungarian hot dogs and other delicacies since 1932. Already legendary with locals, Packo’s was given a huge boost by actor Jamie Farr. A native Toledoan himself, Farr played Corporal Max Klinger, a cross-dressing, Section 8-seeking medical corpsman who was also from Toledo on the TV series "M*A*S*H". In one episode, a man playing a television newsman talked to Klinger about his hometown. Farr ad-libbed, “If you're ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty-five cents...” "M*A*S*H" scriptwriters wrote Packo's into five subsequent episodes, including the two-and-a-half-hour final episode in 1983. In addition to its grub, Packo’s is also known for its collection of autographed hot dog buns. In 1972, Burt Reynolds visited the restaurant and commemorated the event by signing a bun. This started a tradition and was followed by scores of celebrities' autographed hot dog buns (actually, longer-lasting hot dog bun facsimiles) now enshrined on Packo's' walls. They even have one signed by the Iron Lady herself, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. They have a fun souvenir shop to commemorate your visit and make your friends envious, too, so if you're ever in Toledo, do as Klinger says, and give Packo's a try. It's the best deal in town, frankly speaking.