Amarillo – Get Your Kicks on Route 66!

We arrived near the city of Amarillo, Texas so we turned on the Garmin Girl who then gave us excellent directions to our Koa Campground. We were greeted by furious, hot wind so much so that just opening the door to the office yanked my hand and slammed it against the side of the building. Ouch! Dust was flying all around and the trees were swishing in a wild dace with the wind. I wondered how we would be able to set up our tent let alone sleep with it blowing everywhere. To my surprise, John opted to getting a log cabin which came to $60. The cabin had air condition and electricity for recharging the computer and all the other gadgets that needed recharging which was a must on this trip. It had two sets of bunk beds in the back room and a full bed in the main room. We used the full bed for our entire luggage and slept in the bunk beds in the back with John choosing the bed near the air conditioning.

By now we had accumulated lots of laundry, so we decided we would do this and take a swim while we were waiting for the wash to end. The pool was perfectly cool and refreshing and we managed to do our laps as the water in the pool was too cold for other campers to enjoy. Because we were the only ones in the pool, we also got to play our favorite game of catch with our sponge football. By and by more campers came so we decided to check on our laundry. While the clothes were drying, we had an opportunity to talk to Jeff and Marie who were retired teachers from Ft. Lauderdale. They traveled every summer and since they knew we were going to southern Utah, they told us of some of the best trails to follow. They were on their way to meet other campers in Colorado. They traveled in a fifth wheeler which is a camper pulled by a pick-up truck. They used to tent for many years when their daughters were growing up. Now they felt they deserved a bit more luxury. We gathered our laundry and placed it back in the cabin then made plans for dinner.

The BIg Texan's Boot!

A New Hat for Mary

This Chair is TOOOO Big!

John likes the Western Stringers!

A local restaurant called, The Big Texan, sent a courtesy limo come to the campground to pick people who wanted to enjoy a steak dinner. We joined another family and left in the limo which we thought was great since we didn't want to go driving around in the wind to places unknown. We arrived at the Big Texan and everything was BIG! The limo, of course, then the Boot…perfect for a picture. We walked in and I headed to the curio shop, much to the dismay of John who was on a budget. I found the perfect red hat and told John to put it on my credit. As we waited for our table, I spotted the largest chair I had ever seen and climbed on it to show you how big it was. We then were guided up stairs which was great so we could see all the action below. We split a meal because we knew it would be BIG! We were right. Our server, Andy, prepared our meal in two separate dishes. As we began our meal there was great drama occurring down below. A fellow who sat at a raised table was attempting to complete the challenge of eating a whole meal consisting of a huge steak, spud, salad, vegies, and desert. If he was able to eat it all, the meal was free; otherwise he would pay the restaurant $100.

Andy stopped by from time to time to see how we were doing and we would chat with him for a while. He was twenty-three and just graduated from University of Texas and was looking forward to getting him Masters in finance at NYU. His secret passion was surfing in Hawaii. John pointed out that he was probably pretty good since he had a low center of gravity. And added, "I bet you played football." Yes, he had been a fullback in high school and though he could have gotten a scholarship to play in college, he opted not to and to concentrate on his studies. We asked him where he liked to go surfing in Hawaii, thinking he might be one to hit the North beach. He said he had an aunt who had a condo on Waikiki beach and he liked to surf out by the farthest swell. We sympathized with him as we loved to surf Waikiki with the long rides into shore.

Suddenly, we heard a great hoopla downstairs and looked over the railing. The challenger had done it; he had eaten the whole meal. Several people came up to take a picture of him as he sat on his high thrown with a big belly and a sheepish grin on his face. By the time we had finished our desert, we were serenated by the Western Stringers who had made their way to the balcony. John told them that I was a line dancer, so they played a fast two step with the fiddler doing his best to keep to moving at a fast pace. It was a great meal and a great evening and it did not break the bank. As we were waiting for our limo for our return trip, we watched the eating hero waddling out the door with a tooth pick in his mouth and still wearing a grin on his face.

We returned to our cute little log cabin and tried out our bunk beds. This was not unlike our experience on the cruise ship. The beds were just as narrow and a challenge for both the top and bottom bunks. John chose a bottom bunk and had to be careful not to bonk his head when he got up and I chose a top bunk and had to be careful not to fall over and carefully make it down the wood ladder. Outside the wind kept blowing and we were grateful to be in our cozy cabin.

The BIG Texan Limo at our Service!

Our Little Log Cabin