…it’s hot here
CritterCon #19
The Trip Home
In which we see trained pigs, visit the Cake House, and find another Giant Jesus.
After traveling all night, we woke up as we were entering Iowa. It’s just Grace, myself, Blue, Mara, and the kids. Everyone else flew the coop earlier. At breakfast, Sweetie told us that she had found 3 interesting stops in 1966 that we had not been to. We agreed to stop at them, then head straight home.
The High Points
Murray’s Trained Pigs
Our first stop was in Victor, Iowa, to see the above mentioned trained porkers. Now, pigs being wicked smart, we expected a great show, and it was. About 150 other folks thought so, too.
The pigs did tricks, played football, acted out a little play, and then allowed the audience to pet them and feed them treats. We all agreed it was a very good show and worth the $2.00 ticket price.
Well, actually, great granddaughter Vicky, who is a pig herself, thought it was “not funny” that those poor dumb pigs had to work like that. We explained that they liked it and it kept them from being bored (we left off the part about being eaten), so Vicky was more okay with it as we left.
Note: The Murrays closed down the show in 1978 when the trainer and his wife moved to Virginia to retire.
The World Famous Cake House
Just west of Des Moines, Iowa, we saw a sign saying “World Famous Cake House 3 miles ahead!” No way we’d miss that, even though it was the turnoff 3 miles ahead and you had to drive 4 more miles to the house.
But yeah, it looked like a bigass wedding cake. We pulled into the driveway and were greeted by Mrs Bayles and her daughter, Kristy. Mrs B looked about 80 and Kristy had to be in her mid 50s. After ponying up a buck each, Mrs B told us how her late husband Eli had started building the house 6 months before they were even married. It took him 5 more years to finish the outside. They raised 6 kids there while running a farm. Eli had died 3 years earlier and Mrs B said she’d stay here until the Lord took her home.
Then Kristy gave us the tour. I’ll tell you, old Eli did a hell of a job. The place look so munch like a cake, we all wanted to grab a finger full of frosting. We had to back up a ways to see the bride and groom on the roof, but there they were. All told, it was one of the better weird houses we’ve seen. As for “World Famous”, that would be a no.
Note: Mrs B made it to 102 in 1988. After she died, the 6 kids and army of grandkids argued about the house until finally they sold it to some guy from Hong Kong, who had it moved there.
Giant Stone Jesus!
Our final stop for the day was in Wahoo, Nebraska. That’s where we saw the “Giant Stone Jesus On The Cross.” I was excited about this, because A: First Giant Jesus made of stone we’ve seen, and B: first one nailed to the cross.
When we got there, we found Jesus outside a church. He was 47 feet tall, and not carved from stone. No, he was made up of tons of stones from ping pong ball sized to basketball sized, all attached to a very hefty steel framework. It was really well done, but really couldn’t avoid looking like a Christian version of Ben Grimm, the Thing from Fantastic Four, who is Jewish.
We took pix, did a video, and left.
On the D. Cross Giant Statue Rating Scale, this one rated as follows.
Size: 3 It’s 47 feet tall.
Climbability: 0, although you probably could
Appearance: 2.5 Not very lifelike, but pretty comic booky
Pose: 6 Extra points for being on the cross
Religiosity: 5 Mostly because he’s right next to a church.
Note: This Giant Jesus was there until 1995, when, being in bad repair, a 40 pound stone fell on a parishioner and killed him. The congregation decided that was a sign and demolished it in 1996.
The Remains Of Our Day
Much of the rest of the day was spent playing games, watersliding, or eating as we continued west at speeds above the posted limits. Way over, once we hit Nevada. We should be home early tomorrow morning, so I’ll wrap this up now.
The wedding was incredible, but I hope to not be part of another one like that for a decade or so.
The con was fun and tiring, as always.
And yes, Grace and I are already thinking of our trip to the 20th CritterCon next year. We both have some ideas.
And now, I bid you all a good night/day/whatever.
Doc out.
Destination Sign When We Started: This Used To Be Real Estate
Destination Sign When We Stopped: Fields & Streams
QM Radio Station: KFRC The Big 6-10 In San Francisco (1966)
CritterCon 19 is over
But we’ll be back for
CritterCon 20
Support this blog on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DocCross
The Dociverse Blog 