…but they were stuck in the fish bowl
CritterCon 2026 #19
Trip Day Two
In which we start out in New Orleans, visit an old friend, see a very pretty house, go to the crossroads, go down to Rosedale, and go walking in Memphis
(Note: Various commentary by those other than me is in italics.)
The High Points
I spun the Wheel Of Times and Routes when I woke up to go pee at 4:00 am. It said New Orleans to Memphis vi 61 and 1, so I went back to bed. When I woke up 3 hours later, we were parked on Canal Street, not far from Bourbon Street and the heart of the French Quarter. It was 1989.
Once we were all awake, we decided that since we had all been to New Orleans at least once, we’d just have breakfast on The Bus since we had almost 500 miles to travel. We also decided on a visit to an old friend, a stop to see a very distinctive house, and a couple of blues music related stops, along with one unexpected stop.
And the stop to see an old friend was our first stop, though we did have to temporarily return to 2026 to do it.
An Old Friend
In Gonzales, Louisiana, on a quiet suburban street, lives my old friend Oscar Glassman. Os, as his old friends know him, was the student of possibly the greatest con man nobody ever heard of, Fresno Freddie Hagajanian. Freddie died in 2008 at the age of 93, but Os is still alive today at age 88. He lives with his daughter and her family. He’s a great guy.
But we didn’t visit him to listen to grifter tales, although he has a book ready to come out once he dies. No, we visited him to see his incredible collection of menus from everything from roadside burger joints to 5 star restaurants all over the world. I’m talking an entire large former clothing store full of menus, photographs, and even some very realistic looking fake meals.
The Museum of Menus will open in a week, but Os invited us to stop by if we could, which may well have influenced the Wheel’s spin. Anyway, the place looks great and the menus span from 1900 to 2025. As our merry band of travelers agreed, reading them was fascinating.
Avis: The prices! You could eat a great meal for a couple of dollars back in the 1920s.
Annie: I thought Grandpa was kidding about buying a bag of hamburgers for a buck, but lots of places did that.
Spike: They had at least two menus from Toronto restaurants that closed when I was a teenager.
We could have spent 6 hours there, but had to leave after only an hour. We did tell Os that we’d be back, maybe next year.
A Very Pretty House
Just outside of Natchez Mississippi is a house built by two ladies who were skilled in both home building and art. Back in 1969, they decided to build a house that would look like something out of a High Fantasy coffee table book. They moved into the house in 1977, but did not finish it until June of 1987.
The house is indeed beautiful, and this stop was first proposed after Spotsy, Tia, and Vicky saw a photo of it online. Other friends and family members agreed, so we went by it.
Now, pretty as it is, this is still home to the two ladies who are “lifelong friends” and still live here. The good news was that they were okay with us having a look and were delighted to hear three little girls squeeing about they way the place looked.
Tia: It is SO PRETTY! There was beautiful stuff everywhere!
Spotsy: It looked like fairytale people could live there.
Luna: It is hella pretty and holy cow, the amout of craftsmanship involved is off the charts.
The exterior of the house is composed of a half dozen types of wood, all of it carved and painted to show dozens of designs, from vines to stars to kittens and puppies. The whole place is both whimsical and elegant.
They also sold t-shirts and other stuff, which we spent a bundle on.
The Crossroads
Yes indeed, the crossroads where, according to legend, blues legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil for the ability to play the guitar like some sort of blues god.
Of course, that didn’t happen, unless you think the devil looks like an old guy and a basset hound who just happen to have a neuralizer and a Speed Learning module. But that would be crazy.
This particular Crossroads is one of several that claim to be the legit one, and there’s no way of knowing, because so much of what we know about Robert Johnson is second or third hand. We mostly choice this one because it wasn’t that far off our route. Turns out, a bunch of other folks had the same idea. There were at least 15 guitar players there, and our guitarist segment joined them for “Cross Road Blues” and “Terraplane Blues.”
Duke: That was probably as close to a religious experience as I’ll ever have.
Omar: Dude, I mean…damn, standing there where he might have stood…damn!
Annie: Wow! Just, wow!
Goin’ Up To Rosedale
The Rosedale from various blues songs might have been a jumpin’ place once upon a time, but now it’s just a very small town on the Mississippi River. There are a couple of plaques and such, but really, we mostly stopped to be able to say we “went down to Rosedale”, even though we had to drive north to get there.
The Unexpected GIANT JESUS!
It turns out that right near where you change from Highway 1 to Highway 65, there’s a Giant Jesus! Long time readers will know that I’m a sucker for giant Sons Of God, so this was a totally cool find. It’s in slightly rough shape, because the Freewill Baptist Church next to is is closed for a while for repairs, and looks to have been that way for months
So, this Giant Jesus is about 60 feet tall and made entirely out of wood. You can’t climb up in him, or even get through the fence, but I got some good pix. We left after that.
Alex: Popsy sure likes Giant Jesus.
Blue: Son, you have no idea.
On the D. Cross Giant Statue Rating Scale, this one rated as follows.
Size: 3.5 It is 60 feet tall.
Climbability: 0
Appearance: 5 Fairly, lifelike, but badly in need of repair.
Pose: 4 He’s just standing there.
Religiosity: 5 Mostly because he’s right next to a church.
Note: In researching why I didn’t see this Giant Jesus when I did my regular search, it turns out that a few months later, a tornado destroyed it and the church.
After another hour and a half, we reached Memphis, Tennessee, just before sunset. We had a mess of Memphis barbecue, then spent the remainder of the evening watching videos from past con trips
Destination Sign When We Started: The Quantum Realm
Destination Sign When We Stopped: The Pleistocene
QM Radio Station: SING Sing Along Radio
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