Not one to be outdone by, well, anybody, Texas got its own leaning tower in the 1980s. Ralph Britten, a businessman from the wee town of Groom (population: 563), propped up a massive water tank at a perilous 80-degree angle to attract truckers and tourists from nearby Amarillo to his new roadside restaurant. It worked for a while, as gas-seeking gawkers poured in from a freshly paved stretch of what used to be Route 66. But while the tower itself was never toppled by nature or its own shaky grasp of physics—according to Britten’s son Chris, no wires, anchors, or concrete slabs are keeping it balanced—an electrical fire shuttered the Leaning Tower Truck Stop five years after it opened. That explains why the only thing around it now is the occasional selfie taker or blowing tumbleweed.

I-40 and Route 66, Groom, TX; no phone.