Amarillo had it’s start back in the 1880's as a railway junction and shipping and marketing area for cattle ranching in the area. Originally called Oneida, the name was changed to Amarillo, Spanish for “yellow,” a few years later. The name was believed to have come from the windflowers that grow in the area. Gradually the town grew into the primary economic center for the panhandle region of Texas. Today Amarillo has approximately 190,000 population and still relies heavily on the ranching industry. Jackie was very pleased to learn that Amarillo sets at an elevation of 3,600 feet.
We also learned that Amarillo is known as the “Helium capital of the world.” Large stores of helium were discovered along with the discovery of gas and oil deposits in 1918. In 1927 the Federal government bought up the local gas fields that provided the helium and opened a processing plant that was the primary source of the world’s helium until after WW-II. Although the industry is now again in private hands, the area remains a source of helium and the government’s strategic store of helium is located not too far from Amarillo.
Saturday, August 6th, we set out after lunch for our very first caching experience in the State of Texas. The last time we came through Texas was back in 2006, quite some time before we got interested in geocaching. One of our first finds for the day was a virtual cache (no physical cache container) located just a mile or so from our RV park. The cache took us to a fairly well known piece of public art called “Cadillac Ranch.” It was created in 1974 and it consists of what were (when originally installed during 1974) either older
running used or junk Cadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the birth and death of the defining feature of early Cadillacs; the tail fin) from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. In 1997 the entire work was moved two miles West from the original wheat field to a cow pasture in order to get it further away from the expanding city limits. Both pieces of land belong to the original patron of the work, a wealthy local rancher.
The cars are a couple hundred yards off of the interstate and are accessible from the access road. Not only are people encouraged to come into the field and right up to the cars, graffiti is also encouraged. While we were there several people, including both kids and adults, were climbing
around on the cars with spray cans. The grounds around the art work are littered with hundreds of empty spray paint cans and lids. I have seen this work a couple of times in the past from the highway as I was driving by, but this was the first time I ever got up close and personal. A very interesting piece of Americana. Interestingly, our RV park, which is only around the corner, has it’s own version of this type of art. In front of the office is an old class A motorhome, buried in the ground, nose down, just like Cadillac Ranch. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Another piece of public art we visited, drawn there again by a geocache, is a huge modernistic sundial located in front of the Discovery Center in an Amarillo park. It is a stainless steel tripod with a central spire that tops 60 feet in height. Each of the four “arms” of the work are also a time capsule. The piece was installed in 1968 and the time capsules were designated to
be opened at 25, 50, 100 and 1,000 year intervals. The first was opened in 1993 and the second will be in 2018. One of the interesting tidbits we discovered is that the 1,000 year capsule holds a bank book with a ten dollar deposit made in 1968. The claim is that it should be worth about one quadrillion dollars in 2968 when the capsule is opened. My guess is that, based on current economic conditions in this country, it should be worth about nine dollars.
All together we garnered a dozen new finds in a few hours of searching, with no new DNFs. After our caching we drove around town for a while, just seeing what Amarillo looked like. We drove down Amarillo Boulevard, which lies at the North edge of town and was an original part of old Route 66, to see if it held any Route 66 memorabilia, but it basically just goes through a crappy part of town and looks like any other big city. We also checked out The Big Texan Steak Ranch, located on the East side of town just off the freeway. We have read a lot
about this place and plan to go there for dinner once during our stay. It is supposed to be one of the most famous steak houses in Texas. It certainly looks pretty kitschy. One of it’s big advertising features is a 72 ounce (4.5 pound) steak that is free if you can eat it within one hour. You have to eat all the steak, plus a roll with butter, baked potato, ranch beans, shrimp cocktail, and salad. You have to pay $72.00 in advance and if you complete the challenge you get your money refunded. Those who have successfully consumed the Texas King meal have their names recorded and posted at the restaurant. As of March 15, 2011, over 8,800 people out of about 50,000 have accomplished this feat.
The record for the shortest time needed to finish the entire Texas King meal is held by competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut. He finished the challenge in 8 minutes and 52 seconds, breaking Frank Pastore's 1987 record on his March 24, 2008 visit. The unofficial record is held by a 500-pound Siberian Tiger, who ate the steak in 90 seconds. I believe I will pass on the big boy.
After our caching adventures and exploring we went back to the RV park. I walked over and tried out the hot tub at the recreation center. Although more of a “warm tub,” it was still relaxing and I enjoyed it. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the coach. Although we didn’t get any rain before bed, we did wake up about 1:30 to lightning and thunder and a brief spate of heavy rain. About 2:30 I woke up to the sound of a distant siren that sounded much like a tornado warning. There didn’t seem to be any storms left around, and the weather radio hadn’t gone off, but I got up anyway and checked the weather radar on the internet. Nope, no storms, no tornados and no warnings. I guess the siren shorted out. After about a half hour it finally went off. I feel sorry for those who were close to where ever it was located.
Sunday, August 7th, we decided that today would be a stay at home day. We stayed around the coach all day, playing on computers, watching TV and enjoying the relaxation. I did a few chores, including starting on scanning the last couple of photo albums from my mom and dad. I have been working on this project for a couple of years and am finally down to the last two albums my dad had. Once they are scanned everything will go on DVDs and be distributed to the family for their viewing pleasure.
Monday the friendly neighborhood weather bureau said it was going to be hot, as if it hasn’t been since we got here. Nonetheless, we decided to not go geocaching but to complete some chores instead. Today, the 8th of August, would have been my mom’s 85th birthday. Happy Birthday mom. After lunch we drove into town to do our laundry. After laundry we went to the local Walmart for provisions. The weather guy was right, it was HOT. The car thermometer said 108 at one point, and later on the local news they said the “official” high for the day was 105. Inside the laundry, which did not have working A/C, it was stifling. After our chores we went home and hid inside the air conditioned coach for the rest of the day and night. I though we left the desert to get out of this kind of heat.
Tuesday, August 9th, we went out after lunch for some more geocaching. The weather said it was “only” going to be 97, so we decided to take advantage of the cooling trend. Actually, it wasn’t too bad as long as you didn’t stand in the direct sun too long. There was a little breeze and it was very dry, so the heat wasn’t unbearable. We managed to get a dozen caches in about three hours of searching. We also topped the 2,700 finds mark. Yea! Several of the caches took us into the alleys of the residential areas in Amarillo. The descriptions even called them “alley caches” and named them as a type. We are not too used to alleys, as they are not used much in the Coachella Valley. Even in Phoenix, where I grew up, they are only in the very old neighborhoods. None of the new tract home areas have alleys.
After our caching we went to the mall and walked around for about 90 minutes, getting some exercise and doing some window shopping. A little before 5:00 I glanced outside and noticed that it was getting very black and nasty looking in the West, the direction our RV park was, so I told Jackie it was time to go home. We got home before the storm hit, but within the hour we had severe thunderstorm warnings going off on the weather radio, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. At one point we pulled the slides on the coach in to protect the topper awnings because the weather radio was calling for 70 mph winds with the storm cell that was tracking towards us. We got maybe 35 or 40 mph winds, lots of rain for about 30 minutes, and then everything cleared up. We put the slides back out and chilled the rest of the night.
Wednesday, August 10th, we hung around the coach until mid afternoon when we went into town for a movie. On the way we stopped and picked up one geocache that we had passed over a few days before because we weren’t sure of the general location. I did a little more research and narrowed down the area and we found it pretty quickly. For our movie choice we went to see “Cowboys and Aliens” even though it had not received the best of reviews. I like action movies, I like alien movies, I like Harrison Ford. I am somewhat ambivalent about cowboy movies, but have enjoyed some. Not the best movie we have ever seen, but enjoyable and entertaining, which is what I go to movies for; to be entertained. This was sort of Indiana Jones meets predator meets True Grit. A lot of critics panned the premise of aliens visiting in 1875, but in my estimation, if an alien civilization is a million years advanced from ours, what difference does it make to them to come in 1875 or 1975? Probably the oddest part of the movie was that the aliens captured earthlings by lassoing them from flying machines. No “beam me up Scotty” for these guys, it was strictly “git along little doggy.”
After the movie we went to the Big Texan Steak Ranch for dinner. I really wanted to get a nice “slab o’cow” at a Texas steakhouse and this one had the best advertising. The inside was pretty neat with an arcade
and gift shop in the lobby to keep folks busy while waiting for a table. We were seated right away and had a very nice balcony seat overlooking the main dining room. For a Wednesday night they were pretty busy, but the wait staff was efficient and we had our food quickly. I had a T-bone that was cooked perfectly and very tasty. Jackie had a rib eye and she asked for it charred rare, a difficult request that has disappointed more often than not. In this case it was perfect, black and crispy outside, rare inside. Unfortunately, while we were there they had no takers for the 72 ounce free meal offer. There is an elevated stage with six seats right in
the middle of the restaurant and overhead are six digital timers. That is where they put the contestants. We hoped to see someone try today, but no joy. The meals were great, the service good, the steaks excellent and the drinks a little over priced. If you go, drink beer, its way cheaper than cocktails. After dinner we headed back to the coach for the rest of the night.
Thursday, August 11th, we had planned to go out for some more geocaching today because the weather called for somewhat cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, it was cooler because it was cloudy and rainy most of the day. It started a little before five in the morning when a pretty good thunderstorm rolled through the area. Who has thunderstorms at five a.m.? In Phoenix, where I grew up, thunderstorms were mostly a summer thing and almost always afternoon and evening. When it cooled off in the early morning hours the storms faded away. Here we didn’t have any more real storms for the rest of the day, just mostly cloudy with drizzly rain on and off. That makes caching hard because the hiding places are wet and yucky.
I did go up to the office in the morning and extend our stay here in Amarillo for another week. At dinner last night we were discussing our plans, or more precisely, lack thereof, and decided that we really didn’t have much to do between now and September 2nd when our first reservation in Colorado come around. There are a couple places we want to see, Dodge City for instances, but for the most part we have about 700 miles to travel and three weeks to do it. Anyway, the discussion ended with us deciding that there was plenty to do here in Amarillo, it was inexpensive and comfortable, and we decided to stay. Since the park is about two thirds empty, staying another week was not a problem for the park.
Other than a visit to the hot tub in the afternoon, I spent most of the day on the computer just messing around playing games. Jackie never left the coach. Although we wanted to go caching, we did enjoy our “down” day.
Friday, August 12th, we left the park after lunch for some geocaching. When we left the park the sky was completely clear of clouds, so it had promise of being a hot day. We cached for a couple of hours and got seven new caches, along with a couple of DNFs, our first for the Amarillo area. At that point we decided that we were getting overheated. In the two hours we had been caching there had been quite a buildup of clouds and it was humid as well as hot. Since we were fairly close, we decided to visit the Amarillo Moose Lodge. The lodge is located on a county road North of the city limits by about two miles and is a little bit of a ramshackle building. When we were going in we noticed that they had a swimming pool and spa in the back of the building, but neither had water in them.
We got into the lodge about 30 minutes after they opened and there were about six people already at the bar, along with the bartender. The air conditioning in the building wasn’t working particularly well either. The bartender, Paige, looked at our card and then introduced to everyone else at the bar. That is a nice touch that we have only experienced a couple of times before in Elks lodges. The lodge also bought our first drink, another nice, welcoming touch. The group was very friendly and chatty with a number of the people, including the Lodge Governor (head guy of the moose order), came over and introduced themselves. The bartender told us that the pool had some plumbing problems and there appeared to be no immediate plan to fix it. We had another drink and talked to folks for about an hour before deciding to leave about 4:00.
I will give the place credit for being friendly, but a little run down. Pretty cheap drinks, about $2 each, so I can see why the bar was busy in the early afternoon. Shortly after we arrived Jackie got up to use the restroom and went to the door in the bar that showed it was a unisex handicap bathroom. She pulled open the unlocked door and there was an old guy standing in the middle of the room, in the dark, buttoning, or unbuttoning, his pants. Jackie wasn’t sure, she just closed the door and came back to the bar. She said when she opened the door there was an unreal stench that wafted out and punched her in the face. After about five minutes the bartender asked one of the other patrons to “go check on Joe” in the bathroom, make sure he’s OK. I got the impression Joe was very old and had issues. A guy looked in and said he was OK. By this time we noticed at least the light was on. About five minutes after that Joe came out and told the bartender he was leaving. Since he still had half a beer on the bar she asked if he was all right. He said he was, but he was sick, something he ate. That sort of pulled the whole episode together nicely. Bad burrito syndrome.
After visiting the Moose we decided to hit up a different Elks Lodge. I had checked and the closest one to Amarillo, which we visited on our first night here, was the Hereford Lodge, which was located about 40 miles Southwest of Amarillo. We headed down there and arrived in Hereford, which touts itself as the “beef capital of the world.” It has a population of just over 15,000 people and lots and lots of cows. There were feed lots all around the town.
We did three more geocaches in Hereford, so we could get our ten finds for the day. We then went over to the Hereford Elks Lodge. The lodge was in a nice little building at the South edge of town and when we rang the buzzer the door was opened by a four year old boy. Hmmm. Turns out the Exalted Ruler is a relatively young guy and his wife is the Secretary of the Lodge. They were there with their two young kids. The ER was in the bar and we talked with him a little, finding out that the lodge had less than 200 members. That is barely hanging on for a lodge. It had a nice little bar, with a bartender who just started and appeared to have not tended bar before. In fact, she didn’t look old enough to even be in the bar, much less behind it. We did have a couple of drinks and in the hour we were there no one else came in the bar except for the officers that were there when we got there, and they weren’t drinking.
The lodge had a very nice, small but nicely appointed, lodge room off of the bar. There was one mystery however. When we came up to the lodge and parked there were about ten cars or so in the parking lot. While we were in the place we only saw about five different people besides the kids, which made us wonder a little bit. When we left the place there had to be three dozen cars in the lot. We did notice when we walked in the main hallway a door marked bingo hall, but all the time we were in there no one said a word about what was going on, bingo tonight, dinner tonight, nothing. Unless the lodge doubles as a train station, there were a bunch of people in there somewhere, doing something, but we don’t know what. The ER was nice enough, but not very talkative. He would answer a direct question in a quiet Texas kind of voice, but never volunteered a thing. Odd. We did a new lodge pin for our banner and had a couple of drinks.
After the lodge visit we headed back home watching the storms building up all around us. We drove through a couple of light sprinkles, and hit some patches of road that showed rain had been there not too long before us, but we never really got heavy rain. Since it was after 7:00 by the time we got back to the area of the RV park, we just drove another couple miles into town to what we called restaurant row, a mile or so of restaurants on either side of I-40. We settled on Red Robin and went in for dinner. They have a new prime rib dip on the menu that I tried and it was wonderful. Been a while since we tried the chain, but I sure liked my sandwich. Jackie’s burger was OK, nothing to shout about, but not bad either. After dinner we headed back to the coach for the night. Never did get any rain at the RV park.
Saturday, August 13th, we took a drive after lunch to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, about 35 miles Southeast of Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon is described by various sources as the second largest canyon in the United States, after the Grand Canyon. This honorific, however, is based on the size of the canyon in square miles, not depth. It is roughly 120 miles long
and has an average width of about 6 miles, but reaches a width of 20 miles at places. Its depth is around 800 feet but in some locations it can increase up to nearly 1000 feet. This is compared to the Grand Canyon, which is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 ft. deep. Palo Duro Canyon has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas," both for its size and for the dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls similar to those in the Grand Canyon.
While the depth certainly doesn’t approach that of the Grand Canyon, it is still pretty impressive given the fact that when you drive around this area, even for long distances, it looks flat as a table top. As we approached the entrance to the park you could all of a sudden see this big, colorful hole in the ground. It was very pretty, and unlike the Grand Canyon, the road system in this canyon drops right down into the canyon bottom, so you are looking up at the walls, not down. We were very impressed with the campgrounds that the State of Texas has put in this park. There are several hundred very nice, large,
flat sites with 50 amp electric and water at the sites. They also have several dump stations in the park and another camping area with about 35 30 amp camp sites. While we were driving around the place we saw very few campers, I would guess about 20 percent of the sites were occupied. I guess that would be because it was so hot, but with electric you would have A/C if you had any kind of camping trailer or motor home.
We also stopped at the visitors center which was a nice stone building built right on the edge of the canyon. The building was built back during the depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as were many of the roads in the park. We spent a couple hours exploring the park, looking
at the scenery and checking out the amenities. We will keep this place in mind for future trips through the area. We also found a couple of geocaches in the park and then did a few more after leaving the park. All together we had five finds for the afternoon. On the way out of the park we spotted a deer just hanging out with a bunch of cows, eating their food. After our tour we headed back to the RV park for the rest of the night. Another day and night with no rain.
Sunday, August 14th, we left the park after lunch for some more Amarillo geocaching. We targeted some geocaches located right in the downtown area of Amarillo for today. Geocaching in urban areas, especially the downtown parts of cities, is much easier on weekends because most government and big business entities are closed. Amarillo was no exception, there was almost no traffic, auto or foot, in the downtown core. After we exhausted the downtown caches we expanded out to the surrounding residential areas. We managed to get a total of ten finds for the day, but we stacked up four new DNFs in the process. I don’t feel too bad about the DNFs because I noticed when I downloaded cache information from the website that caches seem to go missing here quite a bit, so it may be that we couldn’t find them because they weren’t there anymore. Could be the weather, could be that they don’t hide them real well. Several of the caches we have found over the last week have been very much out in the open. Makes you wonder how they stay without being muggled.
Two of the caches we found were virtual caches, both in the downtown area. One was a very pretty granite monument in a plaza next to the civic center. It was a four foot diameter black granite ball, inscribed as a world globe, that was setting in a base with water between the two. The polishing was
so precise that the ball, which reportedly weighs over 3,000 pounds, can be turned with just a push of a hand. Pretty cool. The other virtual was a restored steam locomotive on display near the old rail station. It was a big, Baldwin steamer that was in use on the local railways until 1953. I can just barely remember as a young kid in Milwaukee when railroads were finishing the transition from steam engines to diesel electrics.
After caching we took a little drive to Thompson Park, on the North edge of Amarillo, just to see what it looked like. This is the largest city park in town and includes a couple small lakes, picnic areas, a disc golf course, the Amarillo Zoo, and the Wonderland Amusement Park. The total park is about 610 acres in size and was named for Ernest O. Thompson, a local WW-I hero and one of the original organizers of the American Legion military fraternal organization. There appeared to be thousands of people enjoying the park on a Sunday as we drove around, including some very large gatherings. Whoever owns the bouncy house business in Amarillo was happy because there were at least seven or eight in use in the park at various parties. Wonderland Park appeared interesting as it looked like a couple steps up from what you see set up at big state fairs, with a couple of big steel roller coasters thrown in for good measure. The place was first called Kiddie Land and initially opened in 1951 with three children's rides and a ticket booth made from a large box. After adding additional attractions during subsequent years, the owners changed the name of the park to Wonderland, inspired by Alice in Wonderland. According to their advertising the park now has 26 rides and hosts more than 200,000 annual visitors.
After our touring we headed back to the RV park for the rest of the night. We will be here in Amarillo for another couple days, but it has been ten days since the last time we published, so I decided that this was a good closing point for this chapter. We will be back with another episode in a week or so. Until the next time, remember that “Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.” (Aldous Huxley) Find what makes you happy!
