As any person who does a lot of traveling on the interstate knows, there are always those landmarks along the way that let you know how far you have come and how far you have to go. The road that I travel most often is I-35 from Lawrence to Ankeny (a suburb north of Des Moines for those of you who are unfamiliar with Iowa geography.) There are a variety of landmarks along that journey that always let me know where I'm at: the midwest's most beautiful McDonald's (don't ask me how they got that title) in Cameron, Missouri; the town of Bethany, Missouri itself which is about half-way inbetween Ankeny and Lawrence; the closed gas station just south of the Iowa border whose gas price sign perpetually remains at two dollars and some odd cents a gallon (something that seemed extraordinarily cheap this past summer and now, again, seems extraordinarily expensive); and this guy, Senor Terrible (as Pete and I call him).
Every person, and I mean every person who travels along I-35 in that stretch knows about Senor Terrible: the excessively large light up sign advertising Terrible's Lakeside Casino in Osceloa, Iowa. His huge belly screen is constantly running, advertising the "cheapest" gas, the availability of rooms in the hotel, and any upcoming concerts the casino might be hosting. In the dark hours of the day, Senor Terrible's presence can be seen and felt from miles away. Although a cursory search of the internet did not reveal his height, you can see from the picture that he is taller than the average height flag-pole.
In this day and age, you wonder how many kilos of electricity it takes to operate Senor Terrible on a daily, or even hourly basis, and if that cost is worth the benefit. Additionally, what is Senor Terrible himself doing to the environment? When they get free publicity like this, I bet they mark one up in the "worth it" category.
Seeing Senor Terrible is usually a good thing; it lets me know I'm quite a ways into Iowa and have about 45 minutes to an hour until I pull into my driveway. Somedays he is a sign that I'm almost there...and others...that I've still got a ways to go. Regardless, I'm thankful Senor Terrible is there to make my ride a little more interesting.
