Texas....

So Texas....
Where to start?
It's huge... and we only saw the panhandle! It's just so flat and open, and amazingly beautiful. Ok the vast blue skies help but it is stunning. We loved the drive through to Amarillo, especially once we got off the Oklahoma roads, (beautiful state, if a tad windy, but terribly, terribly bumpy roads!) But it was a long, long drive and we arrived just in time for sunset..... to be greeted not by the campsite people but our friend Julie who was waiting by our pitch for us! After lots of hugs (as always!) we got the RV set up, mainly involving me and Julie teasing Darren while he hooked up for the first time... I've done it most times as he was doing most of the driving!
We spent the next hour or so freshening up and chatting... Julie had told us that we needed to be ready for half eight but wouldn't tell us why....
Right on the dot at half eight we found out why.... a huge old white limo, with COW HORNS on the front turned up to pick us up! Out steps this guy in full "stereotypical" texan clothing.... tight jeans, leather waistcoat, cowboy boots and a stetson, and informs us that our ride to the "Big Texan" is here!
Now for those of you not familiar with Route 66 mythology (and before this trip we weren't very familiar with it either...) this is the restaurant where bikers and the like were offered a free meal if they could finish the 72 oz (yes SEVENTY TWO OUNCES!!!) steak in 1 hour!
So off we went.... well we had a ball.... yes it was cheesy, but it's supposed to be!
And just to add to it 2 crazy dutch bikers challenged each other to eat the 72oz-er, we've got some footage of the start of it, but as we had already eaten and were very tired i don't know if they managed it....
The following day we were treated to some of the sights of Amarillo (Cadillac Ranch) and more amazing texan food.... then we travelled north a bit with Julie to visit her hometown. We stopped for a few picture opportunities on the way there but the real treat was when we got there... it was REAL small town Texas, you could see just how the town had been shaped by the needs of the huge 3 million acre ranch whose land it sat on. It hadn't been consumed by corporate America, there was still the feel of fifties USA that Darren and I were hoping to see a little of. We got some great pics and got up close and personal (well as close as I wanted to get anyway!!!) with a bull snake!
But then all to soon it was time to be off again as we had to get to Colorado Springs the next day... we're so gonna miss Julie and her beautiful strange Texan home.
So we headed north via New Mexico and stopped overnight in a small town called Raton... and when we saw it in daylight we were impressed enough to stay to get some pics... I'll tell you about that when we post those pics.....