Brian and Barbara RV'ing: Amarillo

We were treated to a talk about his flutes and songs and a sampling of his beautiful music.

https://www.last.fm/music/Keith+Bear

The weather has been getting cooler. Our general plan is to head South down Rt 83 which runs thru North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Basically a single two lane road that we'll take for 950 miles. That's an amazing thought, ONE road. I don't think there is anything like it in Europe.

Conveniently it takes us thru Nebraska which completes my personal total of 50 states visited over the 35 years we've spent in the US. Barbara has 49 as she hasn't been to Alaska and expresses no interest in doing so.

Just one night stops had us stay at a few different spots. One in the back of a hotel and next to the railroad tracks with train horns going all night. It's amazing what you can get used to. We hear the trains all winter in Casa Grande but not this close. We must be acclimatized as we slept like logs here!

Mid America Air Museum

We also stopped at the Mid America Air Museum where they said they had a big parking lot suitable for RV's. When I asked them if we could overnight they told us to help ourselves! A free night and airplanes, doesn't get much netter than that (For me anyway).

The road surface varies so much on this road as you go from State to State and even county to county. South Dakota was terrible with broken concrete and potholes shaking the rig for hours. Kansas was average, Oklahoma smooth, and Texas alternating between OK and horrible as we crossed from county to county.

Amarillo Elks Camping. HEY TWO REXHALLS!!

Finally we got to Amarillo where we decided to spend a week and explore, staying at the Eks Lodge which has water and electric hookups but no dump station. Our favorite truck stops “Flying J” has a place about 1 minutes away from the lodge and one of the reasons we like them is because they are RV friendly with dedicated RV fill stations complete with dump station and potable water fill. Even better they give discounts on the gas and dump fees for having a Good Sam membership and about 25% of them have our favorite Blue Beacon truck washes that we get the rig washed at.

Yes Amarillo is on rt 66

Not too far away is the official Mid Point of Rt 66

We have been to Amarillo before, once on the motorcycle and once passing thru going east, but we've never explored the area in depth. Searching thru some leaflets and googling “10 best things to see in Amarillo” brought up some likely spots.

One of the big sights is Palo Dura Canyon which is the second biggest canyon in North America after the Grand Canyon. It's a State Park rather than a National Park and was a CCC project in the 1930's. We drove all around it and stopped for a picnic along the way.

Palo Dura Canyon from the top

Red rocks at the bottom

Near there is the Plains History Museum in the city of Canyon. It's part of the Texas A&M campus and very impressive. It shows mans history in the area and how man has exploited the area from early days of hunting deer and mammoths to modern day oil and gas production. Exhibits have houses, wagons, cars, airplanes, oil drilling rigs. A full day is needed to see the whole thing.

From Dinosaurs to airplanes at the Plains Museum

Amarillo has a quirky side too! Most people have heard of the “Cadillac Ranch”. It's a living art statement. Old Cadillac cars are buried nose down in the ground and people can walk up to them and spray whatever they like on them so they change minute by minute. After years of this the paint is several inches thick in places. Unfortunately people just throw their empty paint cans in the dirt, together with their trash which I was disappointing at.

Cadillac Ranch

Our contribution

Not so well known is the “Slug Bug Ranch”. Similar to the Cadillac Ranch but with VW Beatles.

Slug Bug Ranch

Big draw here is the “Big Texas Steakhouse” which offers a FREE 72 ounce steak with all the fixings like baked potato, bread vegetables etc. BUT it's only free if you can eat the whole lot in less than an hour!! They do have a brewery too so we made do with a beer!

Big Texas home of the free 72 oz steak

The sign for the Big Texas is a huge cowboy in a yellow shirt. Big cowboys in yellow shirts must be important here as we found 2 more! One not far from the Cadillac Ranch. He has three Cadillacs next to him and the drivers are Elvis, John Wayne and who else but Willie Nelson! The third one has a quizzical look.