After saying farewell to Cathy's family for the second time in the same trip, our next goal was to get to Amarillo, which we figured would be a good stopping point on our way to Albuqerque. The only particular attraction that we had ambition to see was the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the "free" 72oz. steak (provided that you finish both the entree and the sides in less than one hour...or else you're out $72.00). But only a couple hours into our ride, we could not overcome our hankering for Texas beef. So, we stopped at the Armadillo Grill (sorry, no website) in Bowie, Texas. It definitely fit the bill of a protypical roadside cafe. Cathy recalls enjoying her chicken-fried steak. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly what I had...but I'm pretty sure it was steak...and I'm pretty sure l liked it!
Clouds started to form as we continued our trek and, as we were approaching Amarillo in the early evening, it started to rain. Let me rephrase that: it started to rain cats, dogs, armadillo, buffalo, lions, tigers and bears.
OH MY!!!
By now, we were traveling on I-30 and searching for a comfortable-looking hotel. Through the downpour, we could barely makeout the Big Texan Restaurant...and its packed parking lot of evening diners. About a minute after that, the storm became so fierce that we basically had to pull in the first place we saw - a Comfort Inn, if I recall, and hope that they were not sold out. The good news is that there was indeed room at the inn. The bad news was that we had to leave the hotel canopy and park the car in the torrential rain.
When we turned on the news later, we discovered that I-30 was essentially flooded out. So we got there not a moment too soon. It was so bad that it took a pizza deliverer over an hour and a half to reach us. We tipped him generously for his effort.
The sun was shining through clear blue skies the next morning as we enjoyed our hotel-provided breakfast before heading off to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
States visited: still 8. Needless to say, Texas is HUGE!
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