Cadillac Ranch is a famous tourist site in Amarillo.

Today I went to a couple of the classic places to see in Amarillo. Cadillac Ranch is a place where these crazy cars are sticking in the ground next to I-40. It is only a couple of minutes away from my RV park. The fun thing is to buy spray paint and then cover the cars with new colors, write your name, or create a crazy design. I have been to Cadillac Ranch several times, but it did not feel right to leave Amarillo without stopping by again. A lady and her son (both from Germany) were laughing and taking pictures of all the cars. She was gracious and took a picture of me with my cell phone.

The Big Texan is extremely famous. People from around the world eat here.

Probably one of the most famous restaurants in the entire state of Texas is the Big Texan in Amarillo. It is famous for offering to give someone a free steak if they can finish eating the whole meal within one hour. They have all the rules highlighted on their website. I have seen people try to earn the free steak, but I have never seen anyone able to finish the meal.

The Big Texan

Wonderful mountain biking trails in Amarillo.

It is nice to be back in Amarillo and it has been great to see Charlene. To check out new areas in Amarillo, I went to a bike shop and asked about places to ride. They gave me the locations of several places and I was able to try out one route today that was called The Children’s Home Trails. This trail has its own Facebook page and I think they use it for community fund raisers. It was fantastic to be out on a bike trail enjoying the countryside. I saw rabbits, a roadrunner, and beautiful views. I also came across 3 eggs about 4 inches high that had hatched. I have no idea what type of eggs these were. Some of the trails had signs naming a trail “Spaghetti,” “Fence,” and “Murphy.” Several times I could not make it up the steep, rugged limestone rocks and needed to walk my bike through a section. I thoroughly enjoyed myself riding all over the trails.

I was the only person riding my bike, although I met three people running on the trail. One lady agreed to take my picture along the path. She then showed me a photo of a rattlesnake that had killed a rabbit on the path where I had just ridden. I forgot about snakes. I do not like snakes. I do not like them in a zoo and I especially do not like then on a bike trail. The lady told me to be careful with the high grass down by the creek. I decided to go up a different trail. Gratefully, I never saw any snakes.

The RV lifestyle is supposed to be relaxed, with slow, periodic travel between destinations. Overall, I have tried to follow that guideline. However, I miss Charlene, so I am heading south for Texas. I am learning to enjoy staying in Walmart parking lots. It is fun to see all the different types of rigs and people that share a stay at Walmart.

Kem and I laughed at all the people that were staying at the Walmart in Laramie. He was not at all surprised that I stayed there because he knew how full their parking lot was with different rigs. After a great sleep, I got up early and headed east. I went through the last pass of the Rocky Mountains (thankfully) as I headed east of Laramie. I was very happy to have passed through the Cascades and Rocky Mountains. I am also very happy that I crossed these ranges through Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming rather than going through Utah and Colorado. The path I followed was generally not too steep and curvy. I had my share of steep turns, but I think it was easier than going through Colorado. I did that with a 5th wheel trailer years ago and I am very grateful to have found an easier (i.e., safer) route through Montana and Wyoming. It is also nice to see new territory.

I could have gone south into eastern Colorado from Laramie or Cheyenne, but I liked the idea of seeing western Nebraska and Kansas since I had previously been through I-25 in Colorado. Seeing new scenery is one of my goals of traveling in our motorhome. So, I decided to drive a longer route and go through Nebraska and Kansas. I am glad I did as it was nice to see all the rolling hills and crops growing in Nebraska and Kansas. Many of the roads were two lane roads, so that provided its own adventures, especially when a wide load truck was coming in the other direction! I am pleased to say that my motorhome mirrors never touched the mirrors of these big wide loads!  A couple of times it might have been close, but everything went quite well. The most exciting aspect was the intense rain storms as I drove through Nebraska and Kansas. The poor Jeep was covered in brown slime from the motorhome and other vehicles on the two lane roads.

I pulled into the Walmart parking lot in McCook, Nebraska and was planning to spend the night. However, it was sort of hot, so I did not want to just sit around in the parking lot waiting several hours to go to sleep. I started looking at the map and my phone applications that stated which Walmarts allowed overnight parking. I decided to drive 3 more hours to Garden City, Kansas to find another Walmart and be that much closer to Amarillo. Garden City seemed like a nice community. I wish I could have spent more time there, but instead I got up early to hit the road. It is very nice to have a large generator and a full tank of fresh water to have a nice warm shower and power to recharge my phone and laptop. There were fewer RVs in Garden City and half a dozen semi-trucks spending the night at Walmart. The empty trucks that carried cattle were quite fragrant. The driver next to me in one of those trucks had his daughter that was no more than 6 years old with him. She seemed to be having a fun time with her Dad.

After passing through a narrow slice of Oklahoma, I went through many small road in Texas, weaving my way to Amarillo. I went down into one overpass that was only 13 feet 10 inches tall. I was so grateful that we had our motorhome weighed and measured at the Escapade last March. Our rig is 12 feet 10 inches tall, so I held my breath, and went forward under the overpass. Yeah! I made it through and did not scrape off the air conditioners on the top of our rig! I was very grateful that Charlene had made a sticker listing our rig’s height and weight and put it right on the middle of our dashboard. I looked at her sticker and decided to go forward. I am glad I did as there were no problems at all.

I cruised into Amarillo and found the Elks lodge. The two women I met in Hoquiam, Washington told me they really liked the Amarillo lodge. Although they do not have a dump or sewer connection, they do have 50 amp electrical connections and a swimming pool. This should be a nice place to enjoy Amarillo! I was close to the Canadian border in Glacier National Park just last week and now I am in the middle of the US in Texas. That map covers a large number of miles in a short duration of time. It is not the typical way to enjoy seeing the US in a RV, but it is worth it to spend time with Charlene, Amy, and Neil. I am glad I am I am now in Amarillo!

On the map page I added the path I have driven over the past few days. This is a huge number of miles in a short time!

Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas drive map