Eastward Expansion - Days 3 and 4: Grants, NM to Amarillo, TX

In Part 2 of the blog series about our camping trip east, we spent the day around Grants, NM, seeing really cool old stuff and drinking delicious beer!

I took this amazing shot with my phone through my eclipse glasses - impressive, isn't it?

And here you thought I was only crappy at taking pictures of nighttime stars!

We set an early alarm for Monday, April 8th; while I hopped in the shower right away, Chris ran to a local coffee shop to get us coffee/chai and bagel sandwiches.  After finishing our just okay breakfast offerings, we finished cleaning up, packing up, hooking up, and we got on the road around 8:15am.  Today's drive would take us from Grants, NM to Amarillo, TX, a distance of around 370 miles or so; all but a few miles on the front and back end of the voyage would be on the 40 East, which means it was both ridiculously easy to navigate and speedy (although we don't travel at the posted speed limit - 75, in this case - it's still faster to go via freeway than on twisty, turny mountain or coastal roads). 

Our first stop for the day was at a New Mexico rest area near Moriarty, which was cold and windy (it was a great facility, though - a huge pet section in the back, as well as individual eating/resting shelters throughout the area).  The second stop was a Circle K in Tucumcari, where we filled up the truck, ate lunch (quinoa salad from the rig), and caught a bit of the solar eclipse.

Heading toward Albuquerque - I think that's Sandia Crest way in the distance

Oversized arrows in the parking lot of a local casino

Sorry for the excessive amount of truck ceiling here, but it's hard to take a selfie while wearing eclipse glasses.

Are those our PODS (like for real, are they)?

Chris, finally getting to take a look at the eclipse from Tucumcari.

This was actually at the time of highest coverage, which was about 85% of totality in this area,

so we ended up with a decent view, even if there was some cloud cover.

Before too long, we were waving goodbye to New Mexico and heading into the Lone Star State!

Howdy, y'all!  Please don't set things on fire here!

Although it wasn't super windy when we passed through, it can certainly be so in this area.

Hence, lots and lots of giant windmills (and the burn ban).

So close!  They're actually currently building a Buc-ee's near the KOA in Amarillo.

In just another hour or so, we reached Amarillo and the KOA Journey location there; we were checked in quickly and in a friendly manner, and it wasn't too long before the rig was all set up and out of travel mode.  Although we'd arranged for a mobile RV mechanic to come visit us on Tuesday in Amarillo to look at the trailer's slide, I figured we should still try it, just to see what happened - lo and behold, the slide slid right out without a problem!  We figure that if the potholes in the NM stretch of the 40 were what caused the issue, maybe hitting more of them on the way out of the state helped to realign things; we'll see if it slides back in properly on Wednesday morning when it's time to head to Oklahoma...

The famous Cadillac Ranch, off the 40 just west of Amarillo.

We wanted to see this up closer on Tuesday, but the rain prevented us;

honestly, from the road, it's less impressive than you might expect - I thought everything was bigger in Texas!

Since the wind was picking up and the afternoon was chilly, we made dinner inside (pasta and salad) and watched Netflix until we crashed out.  Unfortunately, no one slept well on Monday; our neighbors moved in around 9:30pm and were unnecessarily loud during their setup process, which lasted for a solid two hours.  These folks were yelling, carrying on, banging things, etc. - some noise is to be expected during setup and teardown, but this was totally unreasonable.  Around 11:30pm, the neighbor on the other side pulled in and set up quickly and relatively quietly (see!  It can be done!).  The KOA must also be close to several sets of train tracks or perhaps a depot, as we heard horns and rumbles all night.  Eventually, the girls had enough and would start barking whenever a new noise occurred, which of course, woke us up as well.  Eventually, things settled down, and while I was up around 4:30 (more trains), Chris slept until the rain started around 6.

When we planned this trip, we figured we'd move the rig every other day, so we'd get across the country in about a week; with a rest day in between each major driving day, Chris wouldn't get too burned out behind the wheel, and I could handle chauffeur duties on our in between days.  Having a rest day in each city also meant we'd have a chance to see the local sights, eat food that we didn't have to make, and so on.  While that worked out well in Grants (as you saw in the Part 2 blog), it didn't pan out quite the same in Amarillo.  As mentioned above, the rain started around 6am on Tuesday and lasted - without pause - until early the next morning.  

That meant we cancelled our plans to see the historic downtown Route 66 part of Amarillo, visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park (apparently, it sometimes floods and they close the roads to it), and see Cadillac Ranch closer up and in more detail.  Instead, we pretty much hung out at the rig most of the day, relaxing and napping with the girls; while it wasn't the original idea, it was pretty nice, and we certainly enjoyed it, particularly after not sleeping well the night before.

Zoe cuddling with her Papa

Would you believe me if I said there was a bull terrier in this picture?

See?  I'd never lie about bull terrier snuggles.

We did venture out a few times, just Chris and I, while the girls hung out in the rig (we leave Bea in her kennel inside the kitchen while Zoe naps on the couch - we play music for them and have a webcam set up, so we can spy on them to ensure they're okay - we only do this when the temperature is good and doesn't pose a risk to their safety, and we're never gone for long).  Our first foray was to eat lunch at the English Field House, a cute little spot with a view of the runway of the local airport; for our in-town/sightseeing days, I've been trying to find dining options featuring unique local cuisine, and in Amarillo, my focus was on TexMex for at least one of our meals.

Chicken fajitas for the win, particularly on a rainy day!

Apparently, the Field House is known for its chilaquiles; maybe next time!

Post-lunch, we made a fuel run (much easier to do without the rig hooked up), then headed back to the camper, where I napped and Chris zoned out watching tv.  We repeated our morning itinerary of snuggling with the girls until around 5:30, at which point we changed clothes and braved the rain once again. 

Taking a stroll in the lovely weather, attempting to convince a desert dog that pooping in the rain is okay.

Fun times.

Running first to Walmart to pick up groceries and kid latches for the fridge (the freezer door had been opening and ejecting random things while we were hitting potholes on the 40, including a giant ice block that greeted us just inside the back door at one rest area), we then proceeded to our main Amarillo entertainment, the Big Texan Steak Ranch.  The Big Texan is a local institution; it's been around since the 1960s, and its claim to fame is that you can have a free 72 ounce steak dinner, if you can eat the entire hunk of meat, plus sides, in one hour.  The billboards for it start at least 100 miles before you reach Amarillo, and it's clearly a massive tourist attraction.  When Chris was chatting with a coworker a few weeks before we left on the trip and mentioned we were going to this steakhouse in Amarillo, the coworker immediately exclaimed - with a fair amount of passion - "oh yeah, the Big Texan!  I've been there!"  Although we already planning to have dinner there, we were now firmly convinced it was a must do.

We'd already passed it on the freeway a few times in our trips around town, and given what we'd heard about it, we knew it would be the kind of kitschy fun we love to experience.  

A picture from the interwebs - it was raining too hard to take a shot from the parking lot.

I wanted to make sure you saw the front in all its glory.

Apparently, they used to pick people up in the limo and bring them to eat.

While that stopped after COVID, the limos are still there, resplendent with bull horns.

What we didn't anticipate, going into our meal here, is that the food would be legitimately good.  I wouldn't say either of our steaks were the best we've ever had (I had a sirloin and Chris, a ribeye), but the salads were fresh and flavorful, the honey wheat rolls were incredible, the baked potato and fried okra were delicious, and honestly, the fried mushrooms were absolutely dynamite.  The drinks were also good - I had the brewed on site Bomb City Bock, and Chris tried their Old Fashioned.  The service was prompt and friendly, and they even had a small strolling band, which serenaded us with the Alan Jackson song "Livin' on Love."  We had a great time (and took home leftovers, which became a steak quesadilla the next night)!

Ooh, fancy embossed napkins!

We were seated on the main floor, which features a series of long tables covered in cow print tablecloths.

You can also see the second floor in this shot, which rings the main floor and has smaller booths.

Taxidermy everywhere!

My sirloin dinner

The main floor also features a partially open kitchen, where you can see the grill master fixing steak after steak.  Right in front of the grill (divided by a clear partition) is a raised dais with a table and six chairs, and six digital clocks are mounted on the wall above.  This is where the folks who undertake the eating challenge sit; everyone in the restaurant can easily see them, and it's even Live Streamed on the Big Texan's You Tube channel!  About halfway through our meal, a younger gentleman named Connor sat down and started the challenge, and we all gave him a hearty cheer as he commenced; we left before his hour was up, so we don't know if he succeeded (my attempts to find this out on our car ride out of Amarillo did not amount to anything), but our best wishes are with him and his digestive tract.

Young Connor enjoying (?) his meal - he has 30:39 left at this point.

In case you're wondering, the current record holder of the meal challenge is a petite lady named Molly Schuyler, who consumed the entire 72 ounce steak, a baked potato, salad, bread, AND a shrimp cocktail in the mind-blowing time of FOUR MINUTES AND EIGHTEEN SECONDS.  Yes, I'm not kidding.  Here's a link to the video on You Tube, which if not super pleasant to watch, is still rather impressive.  Here's a video from when the show Man Versus Food came to visit as well.

Well fortified with meat and carbohydrates, it was once again back into the rain for the drive to the KOA; we managed to convince (read: drag) the girls to go outside for one last bathroom break, and then it was inside, all warm and cozy, for the rest of the night.  We slept much better, thankfully, and woke refreshed and ready to hit the road again!

See you later, Amarillo!

On the next blog, it's time to change states again - this time, it's off to Oklahoma!

Later!

Amy