Re: more details, please
1. on first sight--it was a _massive_ structure in the middle of nowhere, illuminated brightly in an area that had no lights on the highway, so it kind of took me by surprise.
2. at the second visit--the life-sized crucifixes (there were many of them) were more than a little creepy, and it was still a massive structure and brightly illuminated and still in the middle of nowhere (it wasn't like there was somehow a town that i'd missed while on the interstate).
3. as a symbol of just how unlike "home" this place was (or so i thought at the time*)
4. as a reminder of how in the minority i am
5. as a symbol of the power of religion to some people and in some areas of the country, while i consider religion as a whole to be a dangerous thing.
i think that seeing this was, for me, like seeing a burning cross on my lawn.
(*) i later learned that there's a similar (actually, slightly _taller_) large white illuminated cross in Effingham, Illinois, and while that's definitely in the southern part of the state, that's a good bit closer to home that i'd thought possible for this kind of thing.