Amarillo, TX

I stopped here to get gas, mail my brake system to Blue Ox, and find a few icons of Amarillo. It took forever to do the few things I did and I will have to come back to find a few other things and visit the Quarter Horse Museum.

The scenery across the panhandle of Texas went from deciduous trees (the pines were yesterday) to small trees and bushes to flat grassy areas to mesas and arid fields. Amarillo was quite windy and I think that is the norm, as the trees that are around are all bent to the North. Route 40 seems to dissect the main part of town and to get to things you must exit and take the frontage road, sometimes going under the Interstate to go the other direction. The 16 miles of Route 40 travels over top of what used to be Route 66.

At the eastern end is the Big Steak Ranch where if you eat 72 oz. of steak, a baked potato (not small), a salad, and a roll within an hour, the meal is free. Otherwise it is $50. No one tried it while I was there, but what should I expect on a Wednesday afternoon? Since I hadn't eaten from 8 AM until 3 PM, I was quite hungry and ate my whole meal of a roll, green beans, a baked potato, 8 oz. of ribeye steak and 12 oz. of beer.

Traveling to the west side of town, I had to pass Cadillac Ranch, then come back on the frontage road on the south side of the highway. I was lucky because when I got there, a whole bunch of couples traveling in their sportsters were just leaving, so I could view the cars pretty much by myself. There is a stamp inside of a metal key holder inside the furthest cadillac on the left for my letterboxing collection! It is a stamp of 5 cars of Cadillac Ranch, so that is my souvenir, besides my pictures!

I wanted to find the Big Legs statue and Combine City (where there are 10 tractors pitched at an angle in a field like the cars) but they were too far out of town. It was time to hook up and continue on.

May 20, 2009

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