Texas Panhandle

I have been in the Great Sahara desert in places where not a living thing can be seen in any direction. Not a weed, a blade of grass, a lizard nor any other creature.  I have been on the ground in Thule, Greenland where nothing but rocks and ice are visible anywhere. The panhandle of Texas is as bleak as either of these.

An ocean of grass stretches from horizon to horizon. Off in the distance, if you take your eye off the arrow of I-40 ahead, you can see widely scattered darker patches of green that could be trees. The gray shapes they surround could be farm houses or barns.

Out here, God talks directly to folks. Or so they say. In Groom, Texas, just east of Amarillo, God apparently told somebody to erect a monument. So they did. An obelisk in the shape of a cross rises fifteen stories or so above the prairie grass. Like the mast of a giant ship, the top becomes visible over the curve of the earth as you approach it. This obelisk reminds one of the Washington Monument with arms sticking out on each side.

Around the base of this monument is a replica of Golgotha, with several life size crosses and very accurate bodies hanging from them. Additional crosses over the shoulders of fallen Jesus statues form a circle. Travelers are invited to stop and refresh themselves by looking at horribly tortured bodies, and, I suppose, reflect upon the nature of a supreme being who would inflict such torture upon someone. Maybe it's supposed to keep us alert as we speed along the freeway.