Thursday, 19 June 2014



8. Goodbye and on to Amarillo
 
 
Our good time with relatives and sight-seeing had come to and end and it was time to continue. Our farewell committee saw us off..

Since we got to Texas Jackie has been asking where the oil wells were. We finally found some of them as we traveled north on Rt. 287.
   
 
 
 
 

Along the way there were fields of various crops, some fields had Monsanto signs which might mean GMO’s, silo’s and wind generators.
   
 
 

 
 
 We did see some buffalo and a building named the Pease River Cowboy Church. 
 
 
 
 
 
We stayed in Amarillo two nights which gave us a day to do some sight-seeing. There is always too many things to see in one day so choices have to be made. We went to Palo Duro Canyon. Here are a couple of pictures that describe the geology.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Some have called Palo Doro the Grand Canyon of Texas. Yes, it’s not as big as the Grand Canyon but at 120 mile long, up to 20 miles wide and greater than 800 feet deep it’s no slouch either. The name is Spanish for “hard wood” because of the many mesquite and juniper trees.  As much as we enjoyed the city touring, with all its hustle & bustle, it feels great to see some natural beauty. We may not be exactly in God’s Country but I think we are getting pretty close.
























As we road along we saw a formation that looked like it had a light. A closer look showed that erosion had created a “tunnel” through it. An even closer look showed some hikers working their way back to the road.















In the summer of 1874 the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon was found between the army led by Ranald Mackenzie and the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa Indians. The casualties were light but the the Indians lost their safe refuge in the canyon and the majority of their winter supplies.  Mackenzie’s troops captured 1500- 2000 horses, which slaughtered to prevent the Indians from recapturing them. Without the supplies and horses the Indians couldn’t hold out over the winter and many returned to the reservation. You can read more about his at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Palo_Duro_Canyon















There in an amphitheater in the canyon. Not as big as Red Rock in Colorado but similar. There has been some heavy rains that damaged some bridges. The high waters were gone but there was several “water crossings” where the water naturally washed over the road.













On the way back to the campground we stopped at an antique RV museum. For those that might be interested you will find more pictures on Shutterfly.
However, I can’t resist putting in is the “Gornike Bus” seen in the movie “RV” and a couple of  motorcycles for you cycle people.
























So, having had a pretty full day we decided to end it by going to “THE BIG TEXAN” for supper.













That’s right, IF you can eat their 72 oz. steak dinner in 60 minutes you get it free. If you don’t, you pay $72.00 for the chance to try There were two guys trying when we were there. I doubt if they made it. When we were leaving they about 15 minutes had gone by, there was a lot of food left and the guys were really slowing down.













There are people that do finish the meal. In fact, there is a record holder. Now hang on, Molly Schuyler, 120 pounds ate the Big Texan in 4 minutes & 58 seconds AND ate two in 14 minutes & 57 seconds.



Jackie & I remembered a friend saying that “Moderation is the key to successful living” (something we didn’t know when we were younger) and ordered a regular meal. Now they weren’t the smallest and we had plenty to take home. In fact we had our left overs for lunch.












There is a lot to see at the restaurant.  Here’s a happy customer and a look at the restaurant and the displays.























To top all this off, we were picked up and brought back to the campground by limo. When we arrived one of the staff told us about the restaurant and limo. Apparently they know that travelers are tired and won’t necessarily won’t go out after arriving at a campground or hotel/motel, so they offer this service. Here is the guy that drove us to and from.




A great ending to a great day.

 

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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