Despite the affects being felt County wide in Texas of Hurricane Patricia, we made landfall in Amarillo without seeing a drop of rain. Mind you that wasn't to say that they hadn't experienced any as it was clear to see from the considerable amounts of standing water that they had been been quite badly affected.
The city, the largest in the Panhandle, appears to be renowned for three things, The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Cadillac Ranch and Route 66 of which a little of the original still exists here.
Let's start with Steak. This restaurant is one of the largest in the country, able to serve up to 400 customers at any one time. They were awaiting the arrival of a party of 200 whilst Linda and I ate there yesterday. But, it is more famous for its offer of a "free" 72oz steak to any client that can devour this gargantuan lump of beef together with a shrimp cocktail, a salad, a baked potato and a role and butter in under 60 minutes?? Finish and it's free, fail and you pay.
A table for six people sits high above the restaurant in order that the regular diners can watch the gluttony unfold. Each seat has a timer attached so there is no hiding place. Fortunately, we were able to watch one person attempt but fail the challenge miserably and that was as we were struggling over our 9oz rib-eyes!
The record is currently held by Molly Scuyler, a young lady weighing just 120 lbs who in 2014 consumed the whole meal in under 5 minutes and then repeated the exercise before the 60 minutes was up!!! Google her and watch the stomach turning feat.
Perhaps less impressive but more of a spectacle is Cadillac Ranch, an art installation completed in 1974 which was designed to pay homage to the many variants of this giant tail finned automobile. The photos attached tell the story better as visitors are expected to bring spray paint and leave their mark on these pieces of history. Vandalism and graffiti on an approved basis. I was able to get close enough, despite the wet ground to leave our mark and also one for a great friend Bryan who is battling illness at the moment and is rarely out of our thoughts.
Finally Route 66 which originally ran from Chicago to California but was removed from the official US Highway network in 1985 having been replaced by Interstates, the equivalent of our motorways. A number of parts of the old route still exist today and one of these runs through Amarillo where some of the original businesses that served travellers back then, still serve them today. It is now recognised as "Historic Route 66".
A 1000 mile round trip from Austin to visit The cities of Abilene, Lubbock and Amarillo but I would do it again tomorrow at the drop of a hat.
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