May 15 Amarillo by morning....

 May 15    Shamrock to Amarillo   210 miles including several side trips.   Homewood Suites by Hilton for the night.

Only 100 miles as the interstate runs but our guide book has us on a few side trips for photo ops,  then a potential side detour,  plus we wanted to make a big side trip of our own once we got to Amarillo. So overall a pretty long day.  

Old Phillips 66 gas station

Devils Rope Museum - we were passing by at 10:30 but unfortunately it didn't open until noon.

 Big balls in front of building are made from barbed wire.

Abandoned grain silo - only thing remaining of the town of Mark,TX.

Leaning  tower in Groom, TX.  Holding  a 10 degree angle.  Britten's was a truck stop. Now gone. 

The Giant Cross - 200' high  - also in Groom,TX.    

The life size statues of the Stations of the Cross surrounding it give you a perspective of the size.

Entire site was paid for and erected by a local wealthy rancher wanting to share his faith.

On a lighter side - The Bug Ranch - sort of a cross between the Rabbit Ranch and the Cadillac Ranch.

We were surprised by the how much the scenery and topography changed during the trip.   We were in farmland but then quickly went into a rather destitute looking section of rough gutted gullies, scrub growth and a few cattle trying to graze it.  Then WHAM, all of a sudden you're on the flattest plateau imaginable  that looked like Indiana with flat fields as far out to the horizon as you could see often  populated with  those wind turbines.  

Scrubby  fields and gullies

Flat farmland and wind turbines

So our guide book described a section of Route 66 that was questionable. Definitely not passable in wet rainy conditions.  His directions were a bit ambiguous.   Road ends, turns to dirt, some parts through private property, tractor needed to pull you out if you got stuck but no one around for miles...  We gave it a shot but ultimately turned around and took the interstate for about 4 miles.  First real stretch of it  we've had to do since leaving Chicago.  Felt very odd pushing the car up to the posted speed limit of 75 after so many miles where we would top out at 50-55. 

What does that guide book say to do at the end of the road??

Are  you sure we're reading those directions correctly??

Hello there little fella....   Time for us to turn around!!

Our side trip after arriving in Amarillo was down to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park where the topography and scenery instantly went from flat fields to what looked like a scene in an old western - multi-colored layers of arid desert canyons.   It's where the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River has been carving away at the soil for millennia. It is the second largest canyon in the US - only The Grand Canyon is bigger.  Overall dimensions - 120 miles long, up to 20 miles wide and over 800 feet deep.  The park only encompasses the 20,000 acres at the head of the canyon.  There's a 16 mile loop that goes through the park taking you from the top to the river bed and back up again.  Overall, a pretty awesome  experience. Tons of great hiking trails.

Seems like another day where we squeezed in an awful lot.  Still had a bit more to do. Got checked into the hotel, had a burger at Blue Sky (best bacon cheeseburger ever) and then stopped at Pondaseta Brewing Company to sample a flight and listen to a bit of live music before heading back to the hotel for the night.  On to New Mexico tomorrow.