September 24, 2011 – Travel to New Mexico

We left Amarillo this morning – after a haircut for Andy and a small hair trim for Bruce and continued our journey west.

Past large feedlots:

 

And wind farms:

And changing landscapes:

Into New Mexico:

 

We arrived in Tucumcari and are staying at the Elks – pictures tomorrow.  It is $15.00 for the first night and free the second – great deal and we have water and electric.   And it is HOT – 95 today, oh my, the A/C is doing its job.

The kitties are loving the AC :

We had a relaxing afternoon and evening with a nice happy hour at the lodge.  Tomorrow we hope to do some exploring in Tucumcari so stay tuned.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  116 miles

Routes Traveled:

Texas: Sunrise Drive; I-40 Access Road; I-40 W

New Mexico: I-40 W; SR-18 N; Robison Avenue

September 23, 2011 – Travel to Texas, the Big Texan, and Aliens????

We left our little gem of a spot in Elk City, OK and continued west thru Oklahoma:

 

Into Texas and the changing scenery:

 

 

This is the Texas Welcome Center on I-40 – isn’t it cool looking.   Lots of information inside and many things to see in the immediate area – will need to spend more time here in the future.

More views from the road:

 

The leaning water tank :

 

And huge cross:

We arrived at the Amarillo Ranch RV Park, A Passport America Park.  Here is our site:

 

Pictures from around the park:

For dinner we decided to go to the Big Texan.  This is the place where you can get a free 72 oz. steak and all the trimmings for free IF you eat it all in an hour – oh my!!

Here is a link to their restaurant:

http://www.bigtexan.com/

Anyway, they will send a limo to pick you up – check out the horns:

 

I did not take a lot of pictures because we were here in 2010.  We had an incredible dinner – the steaks were WONDERFUL!  No, we did not take the 72 oz. challenge – LOL.   When we came out to wait for the return limo, a gentlemen pointed out these two lights in the sky.   ALIENS, THEY ARE COMING FOR US!!!!   Alas, they were some type of balloon.  

It does look eerie doesn’t it?

The weather has been wonderful and we enjoyed it during the afternoon and into the evening.  We will be back to Amarillo area another time – another place with lots to see and do.

Tomorrow we head for New Mexico so stay tuned.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  146 miles

Routes Traveled:

Oklahoma:  Washington Avenue, Lakeview Road; SR-6 N  I-40 W;

Texas:  I-40 W; I-40 Access Road; Sunrise Drive

Note:  In 2009, in Boomerville, we met Kay and Norval Dahl and became good friends.  We have stayed in touch and spent time with them in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  This past week, Norval had a brain aneurism and is in serious condition.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

And hug the ones you love.  Life is an incredible journey but we all know it can change in an instant.  Enjoy and be thankful for today.

April 19, 2010 – The Retired Monkey Railroad

When Andy was stationed here, his family came to see him and they went to Palo Duro Canyon and road the Monkey Railroad on Christmas Day (Andy’s first train ride).   This was a miniature narrow gauge railroad that got its name from a rock formation in the park.  We found out that the Monkey Railroad was discontinued in 1996 and sold – :-(.  But today we found its resting place:

We did not go into the Canyon – it remained foggy and rainy all day so we decided we would do it another day.  And we have decided to head towards Arkansas.  They are calling for thunderstorms the next couple of days and Thursday’s forecast is for severe storms.  This is tornado country and we want to be out of it by then (hopefully).

So stay tuned!

April 18, 2010 – Cars, Legs, and The Air Force Base

Today we played tourist on some of Amarillo’s Roadside Attractions.

Our first stop was Cadillac Ranch.  Ten Cadillac's buried nose down in the field.

  

It was really interesting to see these but we had to step around all the mud…   I am attaching two links that will tell you the history of these cars.  Check it out:

http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/cadillacranch/crmain.htm

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-CadillacRanch.html

Our next stop was the Helium Monument.  Did you know that Amarillo is the helium capital of the world? (Neither did I.)

First the info:

 

The Monument:

This Monument is also a sundial.

The numbers surrounding the monument.  The shadow appears on solar time – really cool!!

This monument is huge – notice Andy near one of the legs:

Our next stop was at the Hugh Pair of Legs.  They are just in a field and from what I could gather, they were designed by the same person that did Cadillac Ranch.  How funny is this!!

 

We stopped for lunch at the Big Texan Steak Ranch – home of the 72 oz. steak:

Here is the 72 oz. steak (that would be quite a few meals for us – LOL!):

And this gentleman in the red took on the challenge which is to eat the 72 oz. steak and trimmings in one hour and get it free.  If not it is $72.00 (that’s $1.00 per ounce – WOW!).

Cannot tell you if he did it or not.  According to our waitress, about one in eight that try, do succeed.  Can you imagine that much food in one sitting – oh my…I would be in pain, lots of pain.

Anyway, we had buffalo burgers there that were WONDERFUL!!  Would recommend this place to everyone.

Our next stop, well, here is the story.  Fifty years ago, Andy was stationed at Amarillo Air Force Base for training (for a few months).  The base is no longer there so we tried to find where it might have been.  After driving all around the area, we found it.  Can you believe the main gate of the base is just 1/2 mile from the campground.  And we can see the base from our motor home.  How funny is that!!  The gate is no longer there and many of the buildings are also gone.  The remaining buildings are used for businesses and for the Amarillo College.  We drove through the streets and it brought back so many memories for my Andy.  I am sure he never realized that 50 years after he was stationed here, he would be back in a motor home…

As we were riding around trying to find the base, we ended up on this road where the cow was on the other side of the fence – LOL:

 

And the fields were full of these little guys – prairie dogs – how cute:

We stayed for a while just watching their antics.

And our last stop was “The Bug Farm” – 5 Volkswagens Bugs buried nose down in the dirt.  Not sure of the story on this one but we just had to see it.

What an interesting day!