Blogs from Amarillo, Texas, United States, North America - page 4

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 ... read more

Despite initially thinking we had a bargain with the Tulsa hotel, in the end all except the room itself were add-ons. Breakfast was not only not included but extortionately expensive. I bought cereal, for instance, and the milk did not come with it. Instead you had to buy a $3 bottle of ridiculous size when less a quarter of it would be needed. In protest, the brothers and I collectively used around 20 mini tubs of the hotel's Coffee Mate to fill up the bowl - The most British form of passive resistance possible. Today we arrived in Texas and saw traditional cowboy country. After travelling the day on Route 66 we had a lovely, stereotypical Texan evening of thick fillet steaks, chunky chips and gorgeous margaritas. The progression of my "beard" seems to have reduced ... read more

Vendredi 4 octobre 2013 Nous quittons Las Vegas ce matin vers la 15 nord par où nous sommes entrés. Nous irons voir « The Valley of Fire State Park» qui vaut le détour selon ce que l’on nous dit. À peine à une heure de route, nous arrivons à la barrière où le garde nous informe que le camping est complet depuis la fermeture des parcs nationaux! Déception! On nous réfère une zone permise pour y passer la nuit sans service ni frais de l’autre côté du parc à l’est. Nous payons les frais d’entrée pour la visite du parc. Nous sentons rapidement que la chaleur y est intense, que de la terre rouge et de magnifiques monuments grugés par l’érosion tels d’immenses fromages gruyères: vraiment très beau! Tout est couleur feu, il y tombe à ... read more

Two years ago, we met a little girl and her Dad while hiking in Big Bend Nat'l Park. We were impressed that they were obviously good hikers and had been there many times before. The little girl knew all the trails, described the hikes and then the "payoff" for every endeavor. She used the word "payoff" several times and it made an impression on me. The payoff is the whole reason we ditch work, pack up the truck and head out to places unknown. And that's exactly what we did on Sunday. Michael and I grabbed the tents, tarps, camping stove and cooler for our slow road trip from San Antonio to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. We planned to camp along the way and Michael picked out some great spots for us. The ... read more

Today's drive was a short 280 miles in beautiful weather, there was a little wind but nothing much to write about. Right after leaving NM, the landscape quickly shifted from desert to grasslands then rolling hills to the flatest land we've seen on the trip. I'm not sure if it is due to lower altitude, but our mileage returned to 8.5 MPG. On the way into Colorado, the milage dropped to 8.4 MPG, not sure I can explain the difference. The Camp Boss MPG has historically been 8.5 whether I tow a vehicle or not. Today we were about 20 miles from Amarillo when we happened upon a mile-long feed lot w/ thousands of cattle just waiting around...before I could turn off the vent/AC the smell reached Mi Hyon. And I guess you could say it ... read more