Crazy Things To See Along Texas Highways, Explained

The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ: Hailed as the most visited tourist attraction in all of Groom, Texas (pop. 574), the 190-foot white cross is visible from I-40 in the Texas Panhandle for a good 20 minutes as you’re driving, so huge is this audacious tribute to the Sweet Baby Jesus. The cross was built in 1995, a time when apparently there were billboards advertising pornography just blanketing the landscape along the old Route 66. To balance out all that wickedness, a structural engineer from Pampa named Steve Thomas constructed the cross made of 1,250 tons of square tubed steel on donated land as a nod to the more pious motorists traveling on the Western edge of the Bible Belt. Now, some 1,000 people visit the cross every day and an estimated 6 million visitors have made the pilgrimage to the 10-acre site. The land around it also hosts statues that pay tribute to the stations of the cross, as well as the 10 Commandments and an anti-abortion memorial. Initially, Thomas wanted the cross to be 300 feet tall — but, according to a report last year on Amarillo.com, any structure over 200 feet would summon the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration — and “the last thing Thomas wanted was government intervention.” Much better to leave things in the hands of the Almighty.