Miles Traveled: 380
Travel Time: 9 hours, 30 minutes
Pictures Taken: 93
On our way out of Weatherford, we noticed the sign below. We are not quite sure why someone is trying to sell these.
We were not in Oklahoma for very long. We did, however, stop long enough for me to get a photo of some of the cows. Lots and lots of cows out this way.
We crossed into the panhandle of Texas, and the landscape got even more flat, which I didn’t think was possible. It seemed like I could see forever in every direction. Nothing but scrubby little bushes and trees and miles of fencing marking each ranch’s property.
Because there wasn’t much to see (and because a lot of the original Route 66 is simply gone in this area), we took the Interstate for much of today’s drive. We stopped in a few towns to see the sights, however.And a few rest stops when there weren't any towns for pit stops. At one such rest stop, there was no doubt we were in Texas - even the grills in the picnic area screamed state pride!
They say everything's bigger in Texas, and apparently the grasshoppers are no exception. These little buggers were EVERYWHERE - and when they fly they make a very loud clacking noise. This one was kind enough to pose for me on a picnic table. They look much more yellow when they fly.
In tiny Shamrock, Texas, we somehow missed their piece of the original Blarney Stone, but did see their famous "U Drop Inn". Cool Art Deco architecture. Apparently it's a bit more impressive at night with the neon turned on.
A bit east of Amarillo is the tiny town of Groom, Texas. Groom makes sure you notice the town with their deliberately slanted water tower.
No, I don't know why their water tower doesn't say Groom on it. They also have what is billed as the largest cross in the western hemisphere. At 190 feet tall it can be seen for miles away!
A little further on (but still just east of Amarillo) is Bug Ranch, a parody of/homage to the more famous Cadillac Ranch. In this case, there are Volkswagen Beetles ("Bugs") planted in the ground and covered in graffiti.
Amarillo was next! The largest town/city we'd see in Texas. The only stop we made was for a late lunch at The Big Texan.
The Big Texan has apparently been featured on several food-oriented television shows and is famous (and I use that word lightly) for their offer of a free 72 ounce steak dinner if you can finish it in one hour. So of course we had to stop and eat there! We did not take the challenge but there was a man from Kansas who did while we were there. We left before his hour was up but it wasn't looking good for him. Besides the steak, you have to eat a salad, a roll, a baked potato, and some shrimp.
Yes, they make you eat it on a little raised stage with a countdown clock. They also broadcast the attempt live on their webcam!
They also had a very large fiberglass cow in their parking lot.
Apparently, Amarillo used to have a lot of painted, fiberglass ponies around their downtown. We only saw a few on our quick drive-through. This one was the prettiest:
Just west of Amarillo is the aforementioned Cadillac Ranch. It was a very surreal scene - lots of people (ages 3-73) running around with cans of spray paint, painting cars planted in the dirt in the middle of a field. Empty cans littered the area - someone had even brought along their little white dog and spray painted it hot pink!
That was about it for Texas. We only stopped at one more rest stop on our way out of the state. We wondered, once again, why Texas insists on drawing attention to their unbalanced children with signs like this one:
New Mexico was up next! Woo! Finally a state with some elevation! There were still some fairly flat areas which allowed the rain to be seen from miles away. It was very weird to be dry and look out and see the rain falling on another area.
We drove a little further than we intended to and spent the night in picturesque Santa Rosa. We had dinner at the Comet II Restaurant for a bit of authentic New Mexican cuisine. The building was decorated with some cool neon and I saw my first cactus of the trip there as well!
Our hotel was on the top of a ridge on the eastern edge of town. This was the view of Santa Rosa from the hotel parking lot as the sun was beginning to set.
Tomorrow it's a shorter drive into Albuquerque where we'll take time to do laundry and take in a baseball game.
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