Things to see aren't all huge

We just returned from a trip to Texas to visit family. Texas is where everything is bigger than life. In fact our son told us that if you would flip Texas over that the bottom tip of the state would reach to Canada. He added some other facts about his new home. He lives in Plano which is part of the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex so he told us that there were more people living in that metropolitan area than in the whole state of Missouri, even including St. Louis and Kansas City (and of course, Nevada!).

I believed him because there were thousands of people everywhere -- especially on the highways and even on the residential roads. His statistics impressed me, but made me like living where I do even better.

In earlier trips we had done many of the tourist-type things such as go up Reunion Tower, and drive around downtown Dallas.

We did tour a little of the historic downtown Plano and found a building with a Norman SheetMetal ceiling, so we felt right at home.

Six Flags didn't appeal to us and we were sure that even Four Flags would have been too many for the hot August weather. We were happy just to visit and relax but Mark wanted to provide a little more entertainment. He casually mentioned that he had heard about a Cockroach Hall of Fame nearby in Plano. I remembered reading about this in a book about Texas Oddities so instantly wanted to go there.

It was only a short distance from their home to the address so we piled into their van and searched out this attraction.

The address was a Pesticide Shop in a small mall. But there in the front window was the sign, "Cockroach Hall of Fame." Inside the front door, in a glass covered display case was the famous collection.

The owner of the shop and the "tour guide" for the Hall of Fame was a very personable man who had turned an idea into a profitable business. In his glass case he had a diorama with Marilyn Monroach, suitably dressed with a blown up skirt over the cockroach carcass. Liberoachy was at his piano, and the Bates Roachell was nearby. Other single figures of dressed up dead cockroaches were also displayed. The large cockroach that had started the whole business was also in the case.

The owner had been starting a pesticide business and it would have cost him $1,000 to advertise for the new business. He decided instead to offer a $1,000 prize for the person bringing him the largest cockroach within a certain time period. When he presented the winner with his $1,000 prize, the media were alerted and Johnny Carson had him come on the Tonight show as the man who had paid $1,000 for a dead cockroach.

This started other contests which produced the dioramas in his display case. Each year a winner was proclaimed amid much publicity and the Hall of Fame grew. Pictures on the wall showed that he had also been on "To Tell The Truth," and other TV shows. He said to watch for him on the Ellen DeGeneres Show as they are consulting now.

The publicity brought him a good contract with a pesticide company and he said it had put his four children through college. We had our picture made proudly holding the sign of the Cockroach Hall of Fame, and realized we had more laughs and more fun in this little store looking at a collection of dreaded insects than looking at the many other wonders of Texas.