Chilly Amarillo

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Greetings from Texas!

We are sitting in a Starbucks off of the main drag in Amarillo. (The Dunkin' Donuts doesn't have wifi.) It's looking a bit like Indiana here - 20 degrees and gray skies. The perfect weather for relaxing indoors with warm coffee and electronics. Thanks for the Starbucks gift card, Mom! It's amazing what a $5 gift card can get you on the road: a place to sit (outside of the van), recharge your electronics, drink coffee, brush your teeth! But the best part about sitting in these coffee shops along the way is meeting different types of people. I'm sitting here watching a middle aged man who resembles Christopher Walken dance to a Taylor Swift song. Madison was reprimanded by an older gentleman for not wearing her coat. People are good.

The buzz around the coffee shop is all about the crazy cold weather. Luckily, yesterday we had a beautiful sunshiny day! (See the picture in our last post.) Halfway through our drive between Oklahoma City and Amarillo, we took a detour to the isolated natural wonder that is the Foss Lake in Western Oklahoma. We turned off historic Route 66 and took this seemingly endless road through open grasslands until the road hit a dead end at a lake that was impossibly bluer than the sky. We looked up to see a sparkling confetti of white cranes floating back onto the water after moving farther down the lake upon the arrival of two foreign humans. The water was surrounded by a red-orange earth that perfectly trapped animal tracks of all kinds. We recognized the tracks of a raccoon, several different types of deer, wild dogs, and a huge elk!

Up to this point in our trip, our eyes have been starving for natural beauty. But once we get to Santa Fe, our next destination, the map changes from its default swath of light beige to abundant patches of green. This is when the good stuff starts happening. We are very excited to be able to share this journey with you all, so stay posted!

Until next time,

KM

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Photos

Fish Skeleton Near Lake Foss
Notice the redness of the earth!