Amarillo (Wed. July 28)

The theme for today “FOOD”. Though that seems to be the theme of every day around here!!!

This morning I woke up and went outside while the boys slept (pretty much what happens ever morning!!) and met the couple the boys had met last night. They were such nice people. We shared tips since they were going east to west and we are going west to east on the Route. They took my e-mail and said they would contact us when all get home in a couple of weeks and we will get together and share pictures.

Once the boys got up we headed from Tucumcari to Amarillo. We knew it was only a short distance but I wanted to spend about 4 - 5 hours getting caught up on work as I have many exams and homework assignments to grade for my online class so we decided it would be good to make it a short day. We really didn't want to go further as we had a special place in mind for dinner in Amarillo.

Good thing we didn't plan to go far! We first stopped in Adrian, TX at the Midpoint Cafe. The Midpoint Cafe is one of two places claiming to be at the exact middle of Route 66. Of course the middle changed (and is still changing) constantly as some cities or towns changed the alignment of the Route over the years. The Midpoint Cafe is known for their "ugly pies". While Conor and Colin opted instead for a sandwich Pedro and I chose the signature pie which is a chocolate chip pie sundae. A chocolate chip pies tastes just like a chocolate chip cookie. Mmmm that signature pie is soooo good. We ended up buying the cook book with all the recipes for all the pies they make. Midpoint Cafe is also famous because it was the inspiration for Flo's V8 Cafe in Cars.

We then made a stop at Cadillac Ranch which the boys really enjoyed. They emptied almost all the contents of two cans of spray paint on the cars. It was amazing how many people are there at once adding their personal touch to these cars. It was really breezy so you had to be really careful not to get to close, up wind from anyone or you would go home looking quite colorful.

From the Ranch we went to Arnold Burger. Arnold Burger is a few blocks off of Route 66 in Amarillo. They are well known for their burgers (of course, what else!!) This place makes really unusual burgers. They make really large ones, the largest being a 24 inch family burger with 20 lbs of meat in it! They also make burgers shaped like Texas. They will even mail burgers anywhere in the world and do mail them out quite often. We didn't want to eat too much as we had supper plans so we ordered two burgers and cut them each in half. Good thing we did. Those burgers are so big that 1/2 a burger is equal to a whole burger anywhere else. We stayed for a long time while the boys played checkers and I chatted with Gayla Arnold one of the owners and the woman cooking the burgers (feel bad I didn't get her name!).

After burgers we headed for the campground. We had a couple of hours to wear off the burgers before the Steer Limousine from the Big Texan was scheduled to pick us up for dinner. This restaurant offers a free ride in their steer limousine to anyone staying in a hotel or campground on Route 40 in Amarillo. Luckily the KOA in Amarillo is. The campground calls the restaurant and arranges the time you want to go. The limousine then shows up right at your campsite to give you your courtesy ride in. You stay as long as you want at the restaurant and then they bring you back.

The Texan is well known for good steaks but even better known for their 72 oz challenge. In the 72 oz challenge you need to eat a 72 oz steak along with a salad, shrimp appetizer, baked potato and roll all within 60 minutes. If you do it then the meal is free. They really make a huge deal about it. The contestants sit on a raised platform. Someone from the restaurant gets up and announces to everyone who they are and where they are from. Then the big red timer behind them starts. There are two web cams focused on the table so you can get online at any time to see if anyone is taking on the challenge. The record holder ate the entire meal in 8 minutes, 52 seconds!!! Ugh!!! The youngest person to ever do it was only 11!!! We were all dying to see someone take on the challenge and were not disappointed. There were 8 people who tried it while we where there. No one succeeded but it was sure a lot of fun watching them try. The one thing really nice about this restaurant that in spite of it being a big tourist attraction the food was really pretty good and the prices were not bad either. It was a lot of fun and the limo really added to it.

So, glad we didn't try to get beyond Amarillo today because even it was only short distance the day was totally used up. So much for getting any work done today!!! I hope those online students understand why their exams are not graded!