Road trip - day 3

the row of cars seen from the road - what a random spot
for buried cadillacs haha!

Day 3 had us still just driving I-40, a little monotonous for sure - the land between New Mexico and Oklahoma is completely flat and quite uninteresting, good for raising cattle I guess but boring for driving thru! I've spent years watching for an actual cowboy riding a horse on these vast ranches next to the highway but no luck yet - I've seen Cowboys but they are driving pickup trucks and that's just not the same!

Just west of Amarillo is Cadillac Ranch - do you guys know what that is? I have no idea why (or how? Or who?) but out in the middle of a field there is a line of cars buried nose-down in the ground with the rear of the car sticking up. There is parking in front of the field and then you can walk back to the cars,  up close you can see how they've been graffitied over the years and it's pretty cool.



I just googled to find out more of the story - in a nutshell an eccentric millionaire got some artists together in the 70's to come up with this monument to the "Golden Age" of American cars. At first the cars were in their original colors but people stole anything they could off the cars and started spray painting them, the owner thought they looked even better all painted up so he encouraged people to stop by with their spray paints and continue the tradition.

On the east side of Amarillo is the "Big Texan " restaurant known for its gimmick of giving away a free 72 ounce steak dinner if you can eat the entire meal in one hour or less - that includes a roll, baked potato, salad, and shrimp cocktail! Seriously, who can do this?!! I can eat a lot but...

I took this picture from the car, no way I'm letting Dave stop there - he always asks ;)

Also on the east side of Amarillo is a huge stock yard packed full of cattle. I was in the back of the rv crafting and all the sudden got a very strong stinky smell and jumped up thinking Sarge was sick and had an accident in his car seat! Once I saw he was okay I naturally figured it was Dave but nope, we were just passing the stockyard. He goes "oh nice, you thought I smelled like that?" I laughed hard.

We passed a couple more landmarks in Groom, Texas: first is the "Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" a giant Cross erected in 1995 that is 19 stories tall (190') and can be seen from 20 miles away. Around the base are bronze sculptures depicting Jesus' journey to the cross. Their website says one thousand people stop every day. The other landmark in Groom is the leaning water tower - it used to be functional but now it's just decorative.

That's about it for sights to see today - the rest of the drive is just lots and lots of open land, some tumble weed, and a whole lotta cows. Oh and there's a big sign painted on a water tower in Yukon, Oklahoma that Garth Brooks lives there - he's even autographed the tower - if you're interested...

We ate dinner in Choctaw, Oklahoma at the Old Germany Restaurant - it's become a tradition to eat there if we are camping in Oklahoma City. D likes schnitzel (flattened and breaded pieces of meat) but that's not my favorite thing, I had the daily special Sauerbraten (pot roast) - delish - I took half of it back to the rv and will eat it for breakfast! Yum.