March 17, 2016 – Day 5
Between Wichita Falls and Amarillo Texas (Hwy 287 and I-40), expect to see yellow fields of canola, wind turbines, beautiful blooming peach trees, storybook cowboy towns and then nothing for miles upon miles.
Note: Be mindful of the speed limits. They change without notice in many areas from 75 mph to 45 mph, and the police are serious.
I have noticed that, in general, Texas residents are good drivers and I appreciate that.
I had a couple of fun stopovers in Amarillo.
The Big Texan just before entering Amarillo, Texas, is home to the 72oz. steak. A 125 lb. woman holds the record in “record time eaten” at 4 minutes 15 seconds?! It is an obvious “tourist trap”, but I would still suggest to stop because it was fun with many photo ops, gift shop, gelato, fudge, shooting gallery, restaurant, handcrafted beers in flip top bottles, unique little motel, horse motel, huge cow statue and much more.
There was even a whole pretend movie-set wall at least two hundred yards long, directly out of a “Spaghetti” Western.
The kids will totally love it and the parents can sit back and relax some. While I was there I tried to pick me up a new man, but he was not much of a talker so instead I got back in the car with Han. lol
Then on to the Cadillac Ranch, just past Amarillo, where the cars are half buried standing upright. There was quite a crowd when we arrived and I smelled the paint first then saw almost everyone with cans of spray paint who were enjoying spraying graffiti on the cars. I was walking around snapping some pics while Han was doing the same, and began to feel a little pouty since I did not know to bring paint with me.
I started testing the paint cans laying around in a large patch and luckily found one with some paint left in it. It was dark green, not my fave color but being that it was St. Patty’s Day, it seemed fitting. I had some fun then got Han to join in as he was taking lots of colorful pictures. Painted my grandson Liam’s name on a car and left proof that Han and I were there.
I noticed in the photos that my Cinderella leggings sure blended in with the graffiti on the cars. I received compliments on them all day and it makes me happy that I am not too self-conscience to wear them.
Upon leaving, I handed my paint can off to a young man of about 12 and made him happy.
We were going to stay overnight in Amarillo, but I felt like heading on down the road a bit longer and we rolled into New Mexico with Mariachi music blasting on the radio and smiles on our faces.
The landscape scenery literally changes within seconds. At about mile marker 22 the terrain changed from flat lands of cattle and farming, to stacked hills and scrubs. It was quite stunning to me as this is my first visit to New Mexico.
We spent the night at a Holiday Inn out in the middle of nowhere in a town called Tucumcari that I cannot spell nor pronounce.
Next stop is Santa Fe.
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