Week 3 - Amarillo Texas to Arlington Texas

Our general travel route for this week...

We've also added some more pics to our photo album.

Left Amarillo in a chilly drizzle on Monday morning. Took secondary highways through much flat farming country. This area is so flat it makes Saskatchewan and Manitoba look downright mountainous. Passed through a place named Hereford which proclaims itself to be the "beef capital of the world". There are so many feedlots along the way that you'd have to think the ground water must be contaminated for many miles... the air certainly is... just a tad malodorous! Stopped at many historical markers; very interesting. For example, one identified a spot where more than 7,000 Italian war prisoners were held in a prisoner of war camp during the second world war. Who knew? Arrived in Lubbock Texas where we stayed the night. As all the interesting stuff is closed on Monday and we wanted to see the Buddy Holly Center we stayed an extra night and left Wednesday.

Since we were entering Texas BBQ country (they don't raise all those beeves as pets, you know) it seemed a good time to look for authentic BBQ pits. Normally I have a theory that any place with the word Pit in its name should be avoided, but for BBQ an exception is made. A good website called Full Gospel BBQ indicated that while one local pit had made the Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas for Texas Monthly, it was not as good as another place. After drivin up and down to scout the location and finding it suitably authentic, we planned to go for lunch on Tuesday. Many BBQ places are 'lunch only' or until they run out of whatever was smoked the night before. Late Tuesday morning set out to Eddie's Texas BBQ shack and were not disappointed. The staff were super friendly, the food excellent and they gave us a sample of sausage and beef that was as large as Kris' meat order. It was a real treat.

After lunch went to the Buddy Holly Center. What a well done museum. Exellent chronological time line of his short career and the phenomenal impact Buddy had on the beginnings of the Rock and Roll music industry. Did you know that the first 40 Beatles songs were based on Buddy Holly's music legacy? and the Beatles chose their name in response to Holly's band's name The Crickets.

Later Tuesday we went to the Silent Wings Museum. Very interesting story of the use of glider planes during the second world war both in Europe and in the South Pacific.

Wednesday we went to Abilene. Mostly a travel day with some rest in the evening. Abilene is a fairly typical western town. Drove around the old downtown part. Some western heritage areas but not much to see here.

Thursday we hit the hill country to fulfil a primary objective of our overall trip. We drove through the Texas hill country to just north west of Austin. OMG...The Texas Blue Bonnets and many other flowers are out in full bloom. What a sight! And never ending it seems. All along the highways and many large fields were just covered with beautiful colorful flowers. Pictures do not tell the story. It was like driving through a Monet painting.

Stopped at the Hard Eight BBQ pit in Brady. They have an excellent strategy of making you line up beside the BBQ pit to place your order and of course everything looks and smells like it belongs on your plate. Apparently it is dove hunting season (as if anyone needs to hunt doves - I mean, what on earth do you do with a dead dove?? sounds like 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie, just like the nursery rhyme). The men ahead of us in line were on a hunting trip, but they indicated " they ain't kilt nothin yit. Just a big ol' snake". seriously. One of the fellows was wearing an FBI Swat team tee shirt; it seems this was not just a gift shop item. He was talking on his cell phone while getting iced tea at the drinks area .... just a point of etiquette, if you work in law enforcement try to avoid shop talk in public places. I don't want to know where they found the skull even if you do.

Stayed at the Leander/North Austin KOA and had our first swimming pool encounter...wonderful.

Friday was another freeway day as we drove back north to Arlington/Dallas.

On the way, We stopped at Baylor University campus to stretch our legs by walking around the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. A lot of people I have never heard of have given their old football jerseys for display - would have been very interesting for anyone who cared.

Drove past Clem Mikeska's BBQ place (may have to correct that mistake later in this trip). The Mikeskas are several brothers who have BBQ places in Texas and are generally listed among the Kings of BBQ. We did stop at another place which was OK, but not spectacular (see how picky we are getting already??). It was however, at this place where we found just how friendly (maybe sharing is a better word) Texans can be... to wit the following dialogue/script...

• Brian enters the men's washroom and uses the urinal. Upon finishing turns to use the sink when a stranger (and I mean total stranger) emerges from a toilet stall...
• Stranger: "That is the smallest gol'darn poopin room I have ever been in".
• Brian: "Uh-huh".
• Stranger: "I swear, if you turn the wrong way you'll get stuck in there"
• Brian: "Really"
• Stranger (after washing up): "Well, I emptied 'er out from that end; I guess I'll go fill 'er up from the other end now"
• Brian (pretty much at a loss for words): "ok"

Arlington was one of our baseball stops so we spent a few days vegging out at the Treetop RV Resort. Went to the Sunday afternoon Detroit @ Texas game. We called the Rangers ticket office to get our tickets. They gave us a 2 for 1 since we were out of towners. Sat up fairly high looking straight down the third base line. A fine ball park. This time the home team came out on top by a score of 8-4. Two homeruns and lots of other hits.

Thus ends week 3.

---

Back to Week 2

On to Week 4

---

Week 2 - Cheyenne Wyoming to Amarillo Texas

Our general travel route for this week...

We've also added some more pics to our photo album.

We arrived in Denver Colorado after a short freeway road day from Cheyenne. We stayed in Denver from Monday, when we arrived, through Thursday. So 4 days of the week were basically staying put in Denver.

That said, Monday afternoon was a bit of an orientation day, did some shopping in the fancy schmancy Cherry Creek shopping district. Very nice indeed. Tuesday we tried out the light rail rapid transit system and went downtown. Spent time wandering around downtown and a couple of hours at the Denver Art Museum. What a fabulous place. Their western art exhibits, not to mention everything else we looked at there, are just terrific. This was one of our favorites.

Wednesday we did a day trip out to Boulder. Spent the afternoon wandering around the historic downtown (Pearl Pedestrian Mall) and had a great lunch at the old Boulderado Hotel. What a sweet city to wander around it. Walking down Pearl Mall on a lovely afternoon, Kris asked if this was better than sitting in a meeting discussing data model designs?.. DUH...Later in the day we returned to Denver via Golden. Too bad the Coors brewery tours were closed but that's life.

On Thursday we took in the first Major League baseball game of our trip. The Mets beat up on the home town Rockies by a score of 5-0. We sat in the right field bleachers but no home runs came our way. We did see Jason Bay (Canadian) play but his only hit came while we were still finding our seats, after visiting the gift shop, in the top of the first inning. Note to selves... get there a little earlier next time :-).

Friday we departed Denver and headed south into New Mexico where we stayed a night in the old town of Raton New Mexico. Not much to see there, but had a decent stay at the KOA. During the drive south of Denver we stopped in the old town of Trinidad, Colorado. What a gem of an old town. The old architecture on the main street appears to have been maintained very well. From what we could see, this town was a significant place in the lives of Kit Carson and Bat Masterson (famous wild west folks). Further wiki research reveals that Trinidad is also known as the sex change capital of America... hmmm, that aside, this is a must see place. If the weather had been better we would have lingered much longer but decided to keep moving south.

Leaving Raton, in the morning, to go east across the north eastern part of New Mexico, the clouds were very low. Visibility was poor, not that this was an issue. There is nothing to see. When the clouds did lift, there was just a whack more of nothing to see. A vast empty landscape. After a while you start to long for the majestic beauty of a plastic bag flapping in the wind as it tries desperately to escape the grasp of a barbed wire fence. After we crossed into Texas, the amount of irrigation increased and the scenery changed for the better.

We stopped at a roadside historic marker for the oldest cemetery in Potter County. Reading the list of people buried there and how they died makes you realize what a hard country this must have been for the settlers. A mother buried soon after the birth of a child ; six months later the child is buried; a rancher found dead in the paddock with a bridle in his hand, another died after being trapped in quicksand; all young lives ended in a rocky land.

Amarillo is not exactly a rocking place - but it has its charms. The local sights include the Cadillac Ranch which consists of a whole whack of Caddies planted nose down in a row in a field. As we were driving out there Brian said "I wonder how we will know when we get there" . Basically you don't need detailed instructions, just drive until you see cars sticking out of the field.

Another local site (we did not partake) is the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Their claim to fame is a 72oz steak; if you can eat it and all the trimings in under an hour, it is free. Apparently over the past 5 years 35,000 people have tried, 5,000 or so have succeeded. No reported number on casualties. We also discovered a large sign on a hill side (and I mean HUGE) that just says 'ACTUAL SIZE'. Not sure what that is about; but it seemed pretty much to scale. They say everything in Texas is bigger!

---

Back to Week 1

On to Week 3

---

Week 1 - Calgary Alberta to Cheyenne Wyoming

Well it has been a week now and time to "check in" on the travel blog. We have covered over 2500 kms so far and are currently in Denver Colorado. This post covers the first week which we finished in Cheyenne Wyoming.

Our general travel route for this week ...

Day one was from Calgary to Fort Benton Montana. Fort Benton is a little town situated in a beautiful spot on the Missouri River. We decided it should be called the "Horseshoe Animal" capital of America as we spotted several metal animals sculptured out of horseshoes! Below is a picture of a horseshoe bull. Also spotted what we can only presume might be Stephen Colbert's home - have never seen bald eagle lawn ornaments before. Managed to parlay $2 into $3 in a small casino. Watch out Vegas!

Day two was from Fort Benton to Billings Montana where we stayed two nights. Exceptional scenery through Montana. We travelled secondary highways and along the way passed through small towns which apparently offer their own local traditions. As inviting as the "Testical Festival" sounded, we decided to give it a miss... it was too cold for anything testicle related, no matter how you spell it. Explored Billings for a day. Parlayed $5 into $25 this time. Vegas is getting nervous.

Day four from Billings to Hardin Montana. Hardin is a small town near the Bighorn National Monument (Custer's Last Stand). We went out to the monument and spent about 3 hours there. Very fascinating. The battlefield contains markers where individual soldiers actually fell. There is also a very moving monument to the Indian warriors who fought and lost their lives in the battle. Although the Indian warriors won that battle it was to be their last great victory before their traditional way of life was essentially lost forever. The visitor's centre is very well done and the ranger gave an excellent talk about the battle.

Day five was from Hardin to Sturgis South Dakota. Yes, that Sturgis. Again, really great scenery all along the way. Sturgis is a tad quiet when it is not "rally week". We dined at "Knuckles Saloon". Can't image what it might be like during rally week. Note to selves... do not order the wine! Food was good. Great atmosphere and it appeared they had both kinds of music... country and western! There was a big truck event in town and we saw this truck being prepared for travel. They took the giant tires off and put them on another truckbed for transport and put little wheels on the monster truck ..... reminded us of ladies changing their heels for walking shoes.

Day six was from Sturgis to Douglas Wyoming. BIG GIANT HEAD DAY! We went to the Mt Rushmore National Monument and to the Crazy Horse Monument. These are great to see in pictures, but way cooler to see in person. The Crazy Horse Monument is still under construction and will likely take many more years to complete. It will be absolutely fascinating when finished. The size of it is unimaginable. The head of Crazy Horse, by itself, is bigger than the entire Mt Rushmore monument. The drive through the Black Hills of South Dakota reveals more great scenery. On highways we often see odometer test sections. On the way to Douglas one part of the highway was so jiggly that Kris declared that it must be the "bra test section".

Day seven was a short freeway drive from Douglas to Cheyenne Wyoming. Douglas has the distinction of being 72nd of the top 100 small towns in America as rated by someone who had apparently not travelled much. It is also the Jackalope capitol of America (possibly the entire universe) and their local radio station announces itself as 'RADIO JACKALOPE!!!!' Below is a photo of a young one (you can tell it is young because it doesn't have antlers yet).

Cheyenne is a little city in the middle of a large ranching area. Kris always complains that she never gets to see an aramadillo .... and now she has had lunch with one. Travel is broadening.

---

On to Week 2

---