David was still feeling punky, and still whining a bit, but of course he wanted to drive!
We got into New Mexico and things were a little of the same, the red and striped rocks were thinning out but still present. I feel like we are in a western.....it is just so very different than anything I have ever seen, other than in the movies. We spent a lot of time going.....OH, look at that...did you see those rocks? ....WOW, wasn't that pretty. There was still alot of miles between exits and alot more entrances than exits. Driving made it difficult to take pictures of some things, I couldn't get a shot or get focused. Or David would be looking one way while I was looking another and would say....OH WOW, LOOK AT THAT!! And I wouldn't have time to look AND take a picture, sometimes I didn't even get to look before it was gone. We wanted to slow down and see everything but we wanted to go home, and with David not feeling well he REALLY wanted to go home to his own bed. We could just stop and stay in a hotel for a night or 2 until he felt better or died or I offered to drop him at an airport so he could get home quicker - nothing was going to make this trip faster driving - and I could bring the truck home, when I felt like it!!! He opted to suck it up and stay with the truck. We both were a little crabby at this point. David because he felt like crap but wanted to see and do and enjoy and not feel like crap. Me because I wanted David to feel better so he could see, do, enjoy, stop whining, and we could enjoy this together. Ahhh, in sickness and in health......
New Mexico was flatter land, a little greener
One of the things I noticed in New Mexico was the overpasses were painted, or possibly they were dyed concrete, pale terracotta with designs of flowers, Indians, or horses in turquoise. It was really nice looking......but too quickly passed for me to get pictures, darn it!
Another thing I noticed were picnic areas on the side of the road, out in the middle of nowhere. 6 or 8 Covered picnic tables with a grill and a couple of small dumpsters. The areas were clean and back a little way ways from the road, easy off & easy on, like a rest area, but no restroom facilities. I did see them in several more states, but they were the nicest in New Mexico.
And then we were out of New Mexico (we entered at night & I didn't get that picture)
Then we were into Texas
David had always told me that he would never go to Texas with me because I had heard, a long time ago, that in Texas you could kill a man because he needed killing - that was a legal defense. He said he was always afraid he wouldn't come back from the trip! So I was impressed that he would willingly drive into Texas with me in the truck.....lol. He was feeling sickly, bless his heart, I had to leave him alone.
We continued on in the big state of Texas, we noticed a lot of Moo along side the road
We were planning on eating some good Moo while we were here!
I'm resting my eyes as David is heading towards Amarillo, that's gonna be a good spot to stop for the night, get some tender, cooked just right moo.........and relax.
Next thing I know David is hollering, LOOK AT THAT, WE GOTTA TURN AROUND!
He has spotted the next photo op for us.
The Cadillac Ranch. For some reason some guy has planted quite a few Cadillacs in the ground with their butts in the air. This has been in movies, magazines, and the Internet. So we turned around.
You can park and walk back to the cars.
He was not the first to use a rattle can here
All different years of Caddy's
A few other people were visiting that day
This was above the gate going into the corn/caddy field.
As you can see from the above pictures, with fencing showing in the foreground, no one paid attention to the sign. I didn't realize until we had already left that we didn't get a picture of the dumpster, on this side of the fence, totally covered in graffiti. It was amusing to me!
We went on into Amarillo and stopped at the Hoffbrau Steakhouse for some great steak. The manager and our waitress were friendly and helpful. We now have an appetizer we are going to try to duplicate, Sweetwater shrimp!!!! OH MY GOD. It is yummy, we'll let you know how it goes in the test kitchen!
My favorite beef is brisket, that was not on the menu. The manager was the one that seated us, came over and talked with us for a little while, asked how we enjoyed our meal...so we asked him were we could get some great brisket while we were there, he said they had a new Famous Dave's just down the road. We laughed and said we can get that back home, we want to know where the locals eat brisket.
Ahhhh, the joys of being in the friendly south.
He recommended we go to Dyers, not too far down the road, they were local and had great everything. A few minutes later he came back to the table with a computer print out of Dyers name, address, and phone number along with mapped directions! He even gave us a recommendation on which hotel. Nice place, great food, great people. If you're in Amarillo, stop at Hoffbrau's steakhouse.
We went down to the hotel, told her we were recommended and got a reduced rate! Damn, people are nice here! David started running a fever again after getting into the room, no heater needed in our room tonight! He got shaking chills, was beet red. He took some ibuprofen and a shower. I was wondering if I was going to have to take him to an emergency room somewhere. I knew if he died I would be blamed since I kept teasing him about pushing him off in the Grand Canyon. But I was getting a little worried about him. I don't want him real dead...just the cartoon kind, you know where he pops back up unharmed in a little bit! He felt better after the shower, watched TV for a little while and then went to sleep. He told me the next morning that he woke up around 3 am in a pool of sweat, pillow and bed soaking wet with no fever. The rest of the trip he felt fine and never ran another fever or had chills. I don't know what was making him sick, but it was done with him finally!!
The next morning we got up late, putzed around a little, David got some paperwork done and in the mail, still working on getting the house in Carbondale closed. Then we headed to Dyers for BRISKET...YEA! I must tell you.......it was SOOOOOO very yummy!!!!! It was worth getting a late start.
Next on the agenda was:
Just outside of Amarillo.
A cave in the red rocks
Of course David had to play a little bit
This was the road we took going in and out. It's steeper that it looks..trust me!
Near the front we saw this sign, so we were paying close attention
There were 4 of them, not all wanted their picture taken.
David thought those horns would look good on the front of the Cadillac...I'm not going in for them!
We left the park and headed east once again. We stopped at a rest area, and they do things a little different on Route 66!
Even the bathroom was cool with a mosaic on the wall. David said the men's was bare.
The rest of the interior was a wealth of pictures and information on Route 66
Outside they had really nice picnic areas.....
But the sign in front was a little off-putting
We stayed away.....I promise!
David did a little maintenance and we were on our way
Just so you know.....we did see other things while in Texas, besides moo.....
A cotton field!
David spotted this as we were driving....
I swear he could smell it before he saw it!!
We saw alot of fields that had vehicles parked in them, old, rusting, left for dead. They were in peoples yards/fields. Occasionally we would see a junk yard.....full of cars/trucks from the 50's or 60's, some older. There was a couple of times I thought David was gonna run through the median and stop. He kept muttering ....... if only I had brought the trailer, I wonder if I can rent a trailer here, I wonder if I can just get a semi and trailer, too many, too many........I noticed a little drool on his chin, but I didn't mention it.
We left Texas behind.
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