Amarillo, Texas

We drive 250 miles to Amarillo, Texas. We had hoped to camp at the state park, but it's Saturday night so that campground is full. We find a Passport America (half-price RV parks for Passport America members) on the east edge of town, Amarillo Ranch, and set up there instead.

The skies are getting dark at places so we decide to skip our planned hike to the canyon and explore Amarillo instead. We stop at the visitors center (very friendly people) and then head out to Cadillac Ranch, one of the oddest roadside 'attractions' that we've seen so far on our travels. Over 30 years ago a rancher hired at art group, The Ant Farm, to create a tribute to Route 66 on his ranch. The Ant Farm bought 10 old Cadillacs and buried them in the ground with their front ends buried. The Cadillacs are still there and now people freely spraypaint the cars with anything from their names to drawings.

Texas seems to have more than it's fair share of roadside 'attractions'. We passed the "largest cross in the western hemisphere" this morning just east of Amarillo.

We leave Cadillac Ranch and drive on the Historic Route 66 through a section of Amarillo. Amarillo was the largest town in Texas when Route 66 first became the only car route between Chicago and Los Angelos. That section of Amarillo is pretty run down today, but it made for an interesting drive. Looks a lot different from today when we drive through Amarillo on Interstate 40 heading west, with dozens of chain restaurants and hotels.

We decide to go out for dinner. We're in cattle country so we go to a Texas steakhouse that was recommended to us, The Country Barn Steakhouse. The meal is wonderful (steak is from grainfed/non-hormone/etc cattle and very tender; veggies are very tasty). The atmosphere is just as good and their bathrooms are unique, with Texas shaped sinks.

We make a quick stop at Kohls for pants for Joe (he continues to grow at a phenomenal rate) and then head back to the RV park. When we get back, Jere takes a quick dip in the indoor pool (it closes early so Joe and I didn't even bother putting on our suits) and then the wind starts blowing! It keeps blowing all evening and I start wondering if I'm going to get sea sick in the RV cause it's swaying. There is dust storms on two sides of the RV park and we turn on the Weather Channel to hear them mention on their national forecast that Amarillo is experiencing high winds with gusts up to 47 mph.

We relax inside the rest of the evening. They have cable TV at this park and we take advantage of it.