Our RV Adventures

Speaking of that, here’s a little musical interlude – Amarillo By Morning by George Strait

First – This announcement::

My daughter has instructed me to tell you that, when I said the other day that it would be a “boring six weeks until we saw Nick and Terry again”, that this did not include her, or anything to do with her wedding.next Monday.

She also said to tell you that she is not boring.

Hopefully this will get me out of the doghouse. I just want to remind her that I hugged her first.

We left the coach about 11:30 am heading for the nearest Kohl’s. But before we left the park we stopped by the park office so I could drop off a bunch of Gypsy Journals Newspapers for the office and the laundry room.

We were going to Kohl’s so that Jan could find a pair of sandals for Brandi’s wedding, and luckily she found just what she wanted.

Leaving Kohl’s we headed down the street to have lunch at a Jason’s Deli we saw on our way there. We have always like Jason’s and it’s the first one we’ve seen since we left Texas this past February. Jan had her favorite Turkey Muffelata with Broccoli Cheese Soup, and I had the Southwest Chicken Chili and a salad.

After lunch we headed about 30 miles south to visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park, a place I’ve wanted to see even before we starting RV’ing.

The first thing we saw after entering the park was a Texas Longhorn.  No, not a college football player, but the real thing. According to the signs, there’s a whole herd of them out here, but this one is the only one we saw.

Then, as we started into the canyon itself, we came across this sign.  Glad we weren’t in the rig, although we took our coach up and down 12-15% grades in Canada on our way to Alaska two years ago.

Here’s a brief description of the canyon.

As the second largest canyon in the United States, Palo Duro Canyon is roughly 120 miles long and has an average width of 6.2 miles, but reaches a width of 20 mi in places. Its depth is approximately 800 ft but in some locations it can increase up to 1000 ft. Palo Duro Canyon has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas," both for its size and for the dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls similar to those in the Grand Canyon.

The scenery was as spectacular as I had heard. We drove the loop out and back in about an hour, stopping at the Gift Shop on the way back where Jan bought a couple of books about pioneer women, and a Lighthouse postcard.

But the real signature formation of the canyon is this – The Lighthouse. And unfortunately you can’t see it from the highway. It can only be reach via a hiking trail,  which, since Jan was wearing sandals, we took a pass on. So here’s an Internet photo.

Heading back toward Amarillo, Jan said it was nice to be back in Texas again after spending time traveling thru the desolation of Arizona and New Mexico. I said that a lot of Texas out there next to Arizona and New Mexico looked just as desolate.

Jan said “That’s because they sucked all the life out of Texas”.

That’s my Jan!

Along the way home we stopped at a Tractor Supply Store so Jan could pickup a copy of the latest issue of CountrySide magazine, which as it turns out,  they did not have yet.

Closer to home we stopped off at a WalMart to get some groceries, and Jan also wanted to get a pedicure before the wedding. But this particular Walmart did not have a nail salon. We try again tomorrow in Abilene.

After we got home we decided that since we had such a big meal yesterday, and a good lunch today, we’d just have the rest of the Big Texan carrot cake from last night for supper tonight, along with a pot of coffee.

Quote of the day:
I’m glad I didn’t have to fight in any war. I’m glad I didn’t have to pick up a gun. I’m glad I didn’t get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood. – Tom Hanks

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We left Valley View RV Park in Ft. Sumner, NM about 9:30 am after getting 107 gallons of diesel at a Valero. It was $3.09 a gallon, which is better than the $3.69 I paid in Washington State a few weeks ago, but not as good as $2.89 in Salt Lake City about a week ago. And of course it was $2.74 when we got into Texas today. Oh well.

About an hour later we passed thru Clovis, NM, our daughter-in-law Linda’s home town, though we didn’t really get to see a lot of it just passing through.

Then, about 10 miles later we were back in Texas and the Central Time Zone, for the first time since late February.

It’s good to be home, and “back to civilization’” as Jan says.  Of course, Jan defines “civilization” as any place that has a nearby WalMart. And today in Clovis was the first sign of a WalMart in 4 days.

Compared to the RV park from Hell in Magdalena night before last, the park in Ft. Sumner was a Rivera resort.  And they were both the same price, $20. Here’s a couple of photos of the Ft. Sumner park.

The kind of funny thing about here in Ft. Sumner is that, although I had no usable cell service, just a signal, but with no bars, I had good Internet on my Verizon AirCard, which is supposed to use the same signal band. If I tried to make a phone call, it would try to connect and then just drop out. Funny.

And,although it’s hard to tell from this photo, the Amarillo Ranch RV Park we’re now at here in Amarillo for the next two nights is even nicer, and only $16.50 with Passport America. Whoopee!

After arriving at Amarillo Ranch RV Park about 2 pm we got set up, and then a little while later headed out for some shopping. Our first stop was Sam’s Club, and after that we headed toward Kohl’s so Jan could find some sandals for Brandi’s wedding.

But we discovered that the Kohl’s was way west of town about 12 miles away, and we’d decided we wanted to eat at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, which was the other way, before it got too crowded. So we headed back toward the RV park, and the Big Texan, which is is about a mile on the other side. We’ll do Kohl’s tomorrow.

Let me tell you, the Big Texan is big!  It not only has the enormous two-story restaurant and gift shop, but a small casino with slot machines, and a motel next door.

Jan was apparently too hungry to get up close and personal with Big Tex here,

like she did with Babe the Blue Ox in Klamath, CA last month. Maybe next time.

The Big Texan claim to fame is their 72 oz Steak Challenge.

Free Steak!  I’m going to have to check this out.

The decor can be described as “Western Chic”, but who cares if the steaks are good.

And here’s where the action takes place. It’s up on a stage, complete with two live steaming Internet WebCams to record all the action.

And here’s the deal.

You have 1 hour to eat a 72 oz Sirloin steak, shrimp cocktail, salad, baked potato, and a dinner roll.

If you do it, it’s all free.

If you don’t, it costs you $72.00.

I assume they get their money up front.

Yikes!  That’s not a steak, that’s a roast. That’s 4 and a half pounds of meat!

I don’t know if you have to eat the two raw jalapenos or not.

The oldest person to complete the challenge was a 69 year-old grandmother.

The youngest was an 11 year-old boy.

The record time is 8 minutes 52 seconds by Joey Chesnut, the World Champion Hot Dog Eating Contest Winner.

And a Bengal tiger once ate the 72 oz  steak in 90 seconds. Don’t know what he did with the baked potato and shrimp cocktail.

We found out later that they have this limo that will come over to the RV park and pick you up and return you.

This is probably a good idea if you plan on trying the Challenge, since you’ll probably be too stuffed to drive, win or lose.

For our part, Jan had the 9 oz Filet, and I did the Quarter Challenge, with the 18 oz. Ribeye.

Unfortunately I was  too hungry to take a picture first, but 18 oz. of steak is big!

And, although I finished the 18 oz. steak, salad, baked potato, and a roll, I don’t think i could handle 3 more steaks and a shrimp cocktail.

I told Jan that I’d be willing to starve myself for a couple of days and give it a try if someone else wanted to foot the bill.

We were certainly too full for dessert, but we’d heard they had really good carrot cake so we ask for a slice to go.

And this is what we got.

When they say Big, they mean it.  It fills the whole container!

As we staggered out to the truck, almost too stuffed to walk, our daughter Brandi called to check up on things since we had had spotty cell service for the last couple of days

Then it was back to the rig, to just sit around and digest.

More tomorrow…

but we probably won’t eat again ‘til Thursday.

Quote of the day:
For a while we pondered whether to take a vacation or get a divorce. We decided that a trip to Bermuda is over in two weeks, but a divorce is something you always have. — Woody Allen

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