World's Largest Collection of World's Smallest Versions of World's Largest...

Lucas, Kansas

When we pulled in to Cawker City, Kansas in 2003 -- late as usual -- to see how the World's Largest Ball of Twine was faring, we parked next to a large passenger van, fully decorated with roadside iconography. We were immediately jealous, since we were driving a plain green minivan with only two days of detritus in the back. The more we looked, the more jealous we got.

It turns out that the van is the home of "The world's largest collection of the world's smallest versions of the world's largest things," and it belongs to artist Erika Nelson.

Visible from its windows are dozens of miniatures, hand-crafted by Erika, of Roadside American giants: Albert the Bull, Brainerd's Bunyan and Babe, the Talking Cow, Big Brutus, and the World's Largest Strawberry. Inside the van are more, along with research files, work space, publicity clippings, and a stack of offbeat travel guidebooks.

Based in Lucas, Kansas, home of the Garden Of Eden, Erika received a masters degree with a thesis titled "Driving Around Looking at Big Things While Thinking About Spam,"and also curates a website, www.worldslargestthings.com. She lectures at colleges and describes herself as "one of America's foremost experts and speakers on the World's Largest Things." She will also consult to Chambers of Commerce seeking their own world's largest thing.

Erika had stopped by Cawker City to return some old newspaper material about the Twine Ball. She had just returned from a trip out to Salvation Mountain and other Southern California attractions. She brought us up to date on some gossip: the World's Largest Kachina Doll in Carefree, Arizona is for sale, while the World’s Largest Covered Wagon in Milford, Nebraska is now a motorcycle repair shop (since closed). We told her how ticked we were that Kansas guidebooks list the Geodetic Center of the 48 States in nearby, Osbourne, Kansas, when it is really eighteen miles away (which immediately throws off your schedule).

After taking in the Twine Walk around City with the hospitality committee, Erika and her Traveling Roadside Attraction and Museum were off, back to Lucas, while we headed north toward the Geographic Center of the US in Lebanon, KS.