Giant baskets and infinity rooms: a Midwest oddities run

Route description

Start in Cleveland at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the glass pyramid on Lake Erie full of guitars, handwritten lyrics and stage outfits. Then head south into central Ohio to Newark, where the seven-story Big Basket Building, shaped like a picnic basket with handles, can be photographed from the road only.

From Newark, I-70 runs west through Columbus to Indianapolis, where the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum shows winning cars from more than a century of the Indy 500, and some tours stop at the yard of bricks. The drive then turns northwest across Indiana into Illinois to Wilmington and the Gemini Giant, a 30-foot fiberglass spaceman on old Route 66.

North into Wisconsin, the House on the Rock near Spring Green combines an Infinity Room over the valley with the world’s largest indoor carousel, and it takes several hours. Finish across the Mississippi in Iowa at the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, where the farmhouse and ballfield still sit among the cornfields, so bring a glove. Most of the driving is on interstates, and around Chicago the fastest routes are toll roads, so plan your payment method in advance.