Amarillo Texas

Tuesday May 8, 2018

We are on the road by 10:30. My masters had breakfast at the hotel so they don't have to stop for lunch and worry about me in the car. This is another "make time" kind of day. We are back on I40 east to Amarillo, Texas. We see signs for a blue hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It can't be like the blue holes in the Bahamas since they have tunnels to the ocean. I find seemingly conflicting information about this blue hole. One site says it is an artesian well and another site says it is one of seven lakes connected by underground tunnels to a vast water system. Unexpected regardless of how it was formed. It is a tourist mecca now but I bet it used to be a wonderful, restful oasis out here in the desert.

There doesn't seem to be much commerce in this area. I'm guessing mostly cattle ranches if anything. The road is flat and straight. The monotony is broken up by occasional rolling hills but even then the road is still mostly straight. There is evidence of small towns but they are few and far between. Again there are the trains. Lots of them and with lots and lots of cars. The local businesses sure try to capitalize on the mystique of Route 66. You see Route 66 in the name on almost everything. The trends (terrain, trains, landscape, and signage) continue into Texas. At the Texas border we give back our second borrowed hour. After some distance, the terrain turns to flat prairie with hay and cattle and cowboys.

We stop for a break and to buy snacks near Vega, Texas. Vega is home to a huge wind farm. It goes on for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, cue soundtrack. Just west of Amarillo there are 10 Cadillacs buried part way in the ground. People are encouraged to add their message or art using spray paint. They were quite a way back from the interstate. We would have missed them if not for all the cars lined up along the frontage road. 

We arrive at the hotel in Amarillo around 4pm. It is swanky. There are rusted old trucks and farm implements out front. Best thing is the grass. After we chill awhile, my masters try again for the Mexican dinner they are dreaming of. They have fajitas and pork chucks in green chili sauce at El Tejavan. Karen ate Bob's guacamole since he can't have it. The homemade, fresh flour tortillas were wonderful. Everything was very delicious. Thank you El Tejavan, this is what they were hoping for.