10 Apr 2019
Crazy weather day here today. Low of 48F last night, high of 88F today. Tomorrow they are forecasting 33F for 0800 hrs. That's a 55 degree temperature swing in less than 24 hours. The front that is driving this is the same system that is bringing the heavy snow to the upper Midwest. So, warm day here today the the wind was incredible. The front was impending, though. So we 'battened down the hatches'.
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| The front coming towards us this morning |
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| The winds picked up and the sky turned gray. Dust everywhere |
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| The pictures don't do it justice. The dirty brownish gray sky's above the RV's is dirt in the air. |
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That 60 for Amarillo is not a misprint. We had 30-45 mph sustained winds
with gusts to 63 mph. |
Not far from the RV Park is the Cadillac Ranch, so we started out there this morning. This started as an art project in 1974 by two architects and an art student, and was funded by a local Amarillo landowner. It consists of 10 Cadillac's (1949-1963) buried nose-down in the ground and painted with graffiti. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own spray paint and do their own decorating, and they are also encouraged to take their empty spray cans with them. As you will see, that is not always done. I did not walk out to see them due to my back, but Doreen did and took the pictures:
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| This is the entrance |
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| This is the mud pathway to the Cadillac Ranch. |
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| Visitor's painting the Caddy's |
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| Thanks for leaving your trash on the ground, morons. |
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| The visitors apparently can't read. |
After the Cadillac Ranch we drove about 30 minutes south to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The Palo Duro Canyon is nicknamed the 'Grand Canyon of Texas' and is the second largest in the United States, second only to the Grand Canyon. It is about 120 miles long and averages 6 miles wide but is 20 miles wide in certain spots. We first arrived at the visitor center where you can get a breath taking view.
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| Entrance to the Visitor Center |
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| A panoramic of the canyon |
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| The roads on the canyon floor are visible here. We will drive them to the south end. |
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| The canyon is massive, beautiful. |
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| There are campgrounds and hiking trails scattered throughout the canyon. |
We drove down the road leading to the canyon floor with grades up to 10%. The rock formations are amazing.
These are pictures from the canyon floor. We drove all the way to the south loop and then returned. There is only one way in and out of the canyon that we are aware. The view from the bottom is incredible! I wished we were able to hike the trails. There is a variety of camping here, some primitive tent camping, some RV camping with electric, some with water also. None with sewer.
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| The rock formations vary in color. |
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| A couple turkeys feeling non-threatened! |
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| This is called the 'Lighthouse' rock formation. |
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| The 'Lighthouse' from a distance. |
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| Deep reds. |
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| Caves in the stone. |
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| Cactus everywhere. |
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| Rains can cause flash floods quickly. Gauges near the washes/bridges help judge water depth. |
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| Veins in the rocks |
By the time we drove out of the canyon, visibility was dropping. It became very hazy so we are glad we visited early before the winds picked up.
From the canyon we drove to downtown Amarillo and the Route 66 Historic District, a section of 6th Avenue. It is lined with antique shops, boutiques, restaurants and other stores to help preserve the memories of the Route 66 days.
By now the wind is ferocious so we headed back to the RV for a late lunch. We stopped for Subway sandwiches and to fuel the truck for our travels tomorrow. When we arrived at the RV, all of our tire covers had blown off and one was gone completely. Doreen went on a hunt for it and luckily she found it stuck to a fence.
Tomorrow we will bug out of here and head eastbound for Oklahoma City. The wind is supposed to be 20-30 mph out of the north which will be a cross-wind for most of our trip. At keast it is not as strong as today, and we won't be driving into a head wind.
Next report, OK City!
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