Bison | Fiesta on Wheels

This was the back of the rear-view mirror entrance permit.

With my extended time in Amarillo, I discovered a real gem. Caprock Canyons is a Texas State Park and it is beautiful. In some ways it is similar to Palo Duro Canyon, but it has its own bison herd. In fact, this state park hosts the only official Texas State Bison Herd. They are huge and magnificent!

This bad boy was giving me the eye. I was scared taking the photo and ready to run if he started charging me!

The landscape has many red rocks. It reminded me as a combination of Sedona and Kanab. It is gorgeous.

These guys are huge and impressive.

After paying my $4 fee, the ranger told me about a couple of mountain bike trails. I drove around the state park and then stopped to ride a trail loop. The ranger told me there was one section I would need to walk my bike because it was very steep and rocky. She was correct. There was no way to ride down it. I crossed a creek 3 times and had some rigorous riding. I was exhausted when finished, but completely loved the ride.

Giving me the evil eye picking through the grass.

The bison are open range in Caprock Canyons, meaning there is nothing separating you and the Bison. You are strongly urged to get no closer than 50 yards to any bison. That sounds like very good advice to me since they can weigh up to 2,000 pounds! I got out my telephoto lens to take a few pictures of these massive creatures. A couple that I saw had some intense horns, so I did not want to get too close!

Check out his tongue action.

I loved this sweat shirt in the gift shop!

Driving back to Amarillo, I passed through Armstrong county. Not everyone has a county named after them.

These guys are huge and powerful!

He has his eye on you!

Charlene is planning to join Amy and Neil on a trip to Denver for a medical visit and I headed east to explore new frontiers. I stopped in Elk City, Oklahoma and had a chance to visit some fun places. It was smoking hot here today; Google says the high was 105. Fortunately, the RV park has many trees to shade the coach. It makes me grateful that we have 3 air conditioners. They are noisy, but it is nice to be cool.

After setting up the RV, I headed to nearby sites. Right next to the RV park is Clinton Lake and it was overflowing at the dam. It was an interesting contrast that Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana were so dry and here, Amarillo, Texas and Elk City, Oklahoma had water everywhere.

I next went to Foss State Park. It is an Oklahoma state park and it has full hookup sites for RVs. They had a heard of bison and I enjoyed the opportunity to take pictures of these huge animals. I definitely would not want them to be angry with me because they are immense and powerful.

My, my you have a big tongue.

This guy was doing a jig!

Afterwards I went to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. Growing up in Flagstaff, I relate deeply to Route 66. However, here, I saw the Oklahoma perspective. There was emphasis on John Steinbeck and the Grapes of Wrath as people used Route 66 to migrate to California (and back). It was fun to watch how people celebrated traveling to the Big Texan in Amarillo and the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon in Arizona.