Seems like when a person goes to (or through) Texas they should go to a ranch right?
So of course we did.
The distressing thing about this "fun place" was the litter. Seriously, why can't people carry out what they carry in? The field had so many empty spray paint cans ~ I just don't understand why anyone would think it's okay to drop it on the ground and walk away!
When we left Amarillo (and the constant stench of cow manure - being a girl from Vermont it shouldn't have bothered me, but it did!) we headed to Oklahoma. Oklahoma was one of the five states we hadn't visited yet so it was on our "bucket list" (now we have Hawaii ~ not likely to be done in the coach huh!, Alaska ~ we thought we'd get there next summer but it will be the summer of 2012 instead (hopefully), Wisconsin and North Dakota).
I never thought of Texas as a cotton producing state ~ more oil and cattle, but low and behold there is lots of cotton here. I wish I knew it ahead of time, I'd have searched out a field trip that included showing me how cotton gets from the farm to the quilts I make ~ I seriously don't know the entire process and I think it would be interesting. Yeah, I guess in the fourth grade I did learn about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin (I just learned from wikipedia that the gin in cotton gin is short for engine!!! Who knew?)
Big huge bales of cotton.
And guess what else there is in Texas?
In Groom, Texas to be exact.
You can see it from miles away on interstate 40 (aka historic route 66)... miles and miles away .....
Are you ready?
No seriously, are you ready for this? Those of you that know me well will be so surprised that I'm posting this, but quite frankly, I couldn't help myself .... really I just seemed to have no control over this, it was just something I felt I had to do .... I can't explain it but here goes ....
It is indeed (well there is apparently controversy over that claim as well, but the billboard down the road a bit from it, claims it to be the largest .... far be it for me to argue such a point), the largest cross (19 stories high) in the western hemisphere. I know it's true, I read about it while I was researching my facts for this post. Roadside America comes through again, although this time there is a lot of controversy on this one ... read this link at your own risk!
Word has it the cross is the work of The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries. This is getting a bit deep so I'll just say, if you want any more information (other than the little I can provide) about said cross, check out the links!
Additionally, Groom, Texas is famous (infamous??) for yet another thing. I'm once again quite serious ~ Groom, Texas, population 587 (according to the 2000 census - ummm time for a wikipedia update on that number perhaps) is famous for something else as well...........
And it's about two miles down the road from the giant cross .....
Are you ready for this one .......
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