Amarillo By Morning

 We have arrived at one of our longest stays of this trip, the Big Texan RV Park in Amarillo. We’re here for six days while catching up for the next leg of the trip. The 171 mile trip east from Santa Rosa was reasonably awful, considering the condition of I40, the wind, and the traffic. Eastern New Mexico looks alot like northwestern Texas, with miles and miles of rangeland and we have already graduated bored with it 

Eventually we left New Mexico and entered Texas. 

The park is a fun Texas kind of place, with friendly staff, hints of the Texas oil boom, and some grass for Sasha!

At the entrance to the park off of the I40 westbound frontage road, a takeoff on the Cadillac Ranch is the first thing you see. Welcome to Slug Bug Ranch!

The RV park is connected to The Big Texan Steak House, just down the road. Established in 1960, The Big Texan lays claim to providing a free steak dinner to anyone who can eat it in 60 minutes. All 72 oz, vegetables, salad, drink and dessert. Some have done it and have their names on the wall, the most recent was a 70 year old! Look in the middle distance for the latest contestant, on the raised platform in the yellow shirt. He didn’t make it.

We contented ourselves with 10 ounces of filet and a 12 oz sirloin!

Texas is home to thousands of towns, large and small, but one has attracted our interest for some time and it’s not to far from Amarillo, at least in Texas distance.

Muleshoes claim to fame, along with grain elevators, feed stores, and truck repair shops is the Dinner Bell Cafe. Known far and wide, and a star on the television series Texas Country Reporter, we had to try the food at the Bell.

The customers were few on a Saturday afternoon, two tables of locals and a vacationing couple from upstate New York, so we had plenty of time to look at the menu.

Donna ordered the Green Chile burger and I had to have Grandma Bell’s Fried Steak. Both were delicious and huge, with a good bit coming home with us!

Try it if you’re ever in Muleshoe!

Eighteen miles east of Muleshoe, the hamlet of Earth, Texas, occupies the center of our lives.

And that is just about how long it takes to drive through Earth.

A few miles north of Earth lies the biblical town of Nazareth.

The city fathers have decided to capitalize on the name…

A replica of the Statue of Liberty, hand carved from a tree trunk, greets visitors coming in from the west, and is protected from the harsh weather by a modified water tank.

A short city block later, a sign advertises Nazareths most famous attraction: a truck stop…

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This is a legit photo of the fence post that is the only thing between Canada and Texas! We finally found it! Al Roker will be proud!