Alabama to New Mexico

We got up Saturday morning in Red Bay, Alabama.  The generator started so we left headed to cooler weather.  We made it as far as Van Buren, Arkansas before stopping.  Unfortunately the generator didn’t make it that far.   Or rather the two inside ACs refused to both work on the generator.  We’re not sure exactly what the problem is.  We stayed at Park Ridge RV Campground where they had a long pull-through so we didn’t have to unhook.  It is right on a river.

We were parked right next to a pop-up camper that I’m sure was not too happy when we pulled out at 6:30am the next morning.  We were trying to beat the heat.

We made it to Amarillo, TX the next night at around 3:00pm.  It was a record day—111 degrees.  We stayed at the Overnite RV Park which also had long pull through sites.  We stayed in the coach to stay cool.  At 7:00 the Big Texan limo picked us up at our site and took us to the famous Big Texan Restaurant.

The reason it is world famous is that you get this 72 oz steak free if you can it it and the accompaniments in one hour.  The record is 8 minutes and 52 seconds.  We didn’t even attempt it.

The decor throughout the restaurant is western.  All of the waiters and waitresses were in great western dress.

 

This is the stage where people who try to eat the 72 oz steak sit and they set a clock for 60 seconds and it counts down as you eat.

There are also country western singers milling through the crowd and singing requests for a fee.

They also had a bar and a shooting gallery.  All the little red dots are what you shoot at.

 

The experience was interesting but the steak left a little to be desired.  We got up early the next morning and headed out towards New Mexico.  The air was cool so we didn’t need the AC in the coach.  We stopped at Clines Corners for lunch.  It is at the intersection of old Route 66 (now Highway 40) and Highway 285/84 to Chama

I had forgotten just how beautiful the drive up to Chama is.  After we got past the smoke from the Los Alamos fires the sun hit the rock formations just right and it was great.

This is the area where the Ghost Ranch is.  It is where  Georgia O’Keefe painted.    Wikipedia, notes, “she returned to New Mexico in the summer of 1934. In August of that year, she visited Ghost Ranch, north of Abiquiu, for the first time and decided immediately to live there; in 1940, she purchased a house on the ranch property. The varicolored cliffs of Ghost Ranch inspired some of her most famous landscapes. In 1977, O'Keeffe wrote: "[the] cliffs over there are almost painted for you -- you think -- until you try to paint them.” 

Ghost Ranch is now a conference center owned by the Presbyterian Church.

We arrived at Little Creel RV park in Chama hoping to see Ray and Ann who work camp here.  We met them when we spent the whole summer here about four years ago.  Unfortunately they won’t arrive for two more days.

This is the view of the river to our back.

Tomorrow we will drive for about an hour to our summer home in Pagosa Springs Colorado.