I got lost once on a road in the State of Mexico, in the central valley of the country and supposedly not so far from Mexico City. I was driving with no idea on where I was (long before the advent of Google Maps or smartphones for that matter), wondering if I was lost, when a tumbleweed took on the road before me. I was flabbergasted to say the least and took it as a sign that I was indeed lost. Took the nearest U-turn and drove all the way home.
For me those things had always been a sign of desolation and lost hope, and seeing one for the first time in my life, so far away from the US west, was something really disturbing.