Thursday morning, June 7, the sky was clear and we were off to Terrell, Texas. Did not want to go through Dallas in the afternoon traffic, better to wait until the morning. No matter what, getting around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is no fun.After a restful night at the Blue Bonnet RV park in Terrell we were off to Amarillo. The morning temperature was already 72, going to be another warm day! We had stopped at the Welcome Center upon crossing the border into Texas and were told the best way to go through Dallas/Ft. Worth was to take Interstate-20 around the south part of town then take Interstate-35W north through Ft. Worth.
Although it was morning rush hour we made it through with little trouble. There was a bit of construction in town, and then right in the middle of the road was a 4X4 about 8 feet long. Thank goodness we saw it in time and were able to go around it.
It was three PM, we had make it as far as Amarillo, Texas and it was time for us to stop for the evening. We headed to the Oasis RV Resort along I-40. As we were about to turn for the Oasis we spotted a sign for the "Cadillac Ranch". I had seen a story about this on the CBS Sunday morning show awhile back.
The Cadillac Ranch was created in 1974. It was originally located in a wheat field, but in 1997 was moved to a cow pasture along I-40, further out from the city. The ranch consists of very old or junked Cadillac cars. They are buried nose into the ground (see photo above). The ranch is visible from I-40 and located on private land, however there is a gate and a path that takes you right up to the cars. Spray painting or writing graffiti on the cars is encouraged. Very clever!!!!
The Cadillac Ranch was mentioned in the Pixar movie "CARS". The fictional town of Radiator Springs sits at the edge of an area referenced on a map as the "Cadillac Ranch", and throughout the movie rock formations shaped like the upended cars can be seen as a horizon backdrop. Much of the films plot deals with the dying towns along Route 66.
It is more of a kids movie, but I love to watch it as it also deals with NASCAR racing although in the movie it is called the "Piston Cup". Cute movie!
For dinner that evening we went to the Big Texan Steak Ranch. The will come and pick you up from the RV park in a Limo and bring you back. The Steak Ranch is advertised all along the highway as the home of the 72oz steak dinner. If you eat the 72ox steak with the salad, rolls, and potato in less than 1 hour the meal is free! (Not sure what the cost is if you don't finish the steak) They have a special stage that you sit on while you are eating this meal and a time clock counts down the hour. There was no one that night that tried the huge meal. It has been done, the current champ is Joey Chestnut. In 2008 he ate the whole meal in 8 minutes 52 seconds! Not sure that I am up to that!! Have to say that we had a rib-eye dinner and it was very goo.
Saturday and we will be off to Santa Fe, New Mexico. More on that later.
Until then happy trails,
Candy and Johnny
