The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo Texas

Somewhere west of OKC, the Wild West starts. As John said, "The women are short and stocky and the men are all beanpole thin with their eyes too close together. And all the men drive pickup trucks and wear tight jeans and cowboy hats". Fortunately, our trek through the Texas part of the journey was short- we drove from Oklahoma City through the Texas Panhandle to Amarillo.

Here, we found another city with only a few highlights. The first one was the "Cadillac Ranch". An eccentric Texas businessman and art patron contracted with some "artists" to create a monument in the middle of his wheat field. They came up with a tribute to the car- saying that what makes America great is the car....So, they buried 10 Cadillacs (the ones with big fins) hood first in the wheat field and let people take spray paint to them. Imagine the Texas landscape- miles and miles of nothingness with wheat fields and barbed wire fences- with 10 up-ended Cadillacs as the only thing on the horizon.

The only thing that could top the Cadillac Ranch was the "Big Texan Steak Ranch". Just a few blocks from our campsite was the site of the Big Texan -a restaurant that advertises for miles and miles via huge billboards "Free 72 oz Steak" (and in small letters, "If eaten in one hour".). And, of course, you also have to eat the salad, shrimp cocktail, baked potato and roll....We couldn't resist taking a peak in the restaurant- and found the list of successful diners-- they all weighed at least 260 pounds- some as much as 360!