5/15/12 – Texas. So much to say about Texas. And that surprised me, because other than the big cities like Dallas, I though it was nothing but prairies. Well that is kind of the truth, but there is so much more. We left at 8:15 AM headed for Amarillo, the city where my father was stationed in the Air Force, and where my brother d*** was conceived shortly after my parents got married. So I was anxious to visit this town.

After some discussion, we decided to take a more scenic route today. Getting out of Dallas was a real challenge, during rush hour and with all of the construction, we might still be there but for the Garmin. She made a few errors today, due largely to construction, but all in all, she worked her magic. Did I say construction? There is a lot of it in Dallas. Makes me think this is a very prosperous town, and it looks like the Bush's brought in a LOT of money for roads. The confusion of raised highways, going in all directions, over one and under another…well it reminded me of a tangle of spaghetti suspended in mid air. And they are building even more. These highways were not designed by the same greenhorn who seems to design all of the mall parking lots in Orlando. You know…the ones that let you in but don’t let you out?

The word for the day is TRAIN. We got on the open road and discovered that the road and the railroad tracks were side-by-side. Sometimes they were on the left, sometimes on the right, weaving back and forth beneath us, staying with us, like a traveling companion/tour guide all the way to Amarillo. And all along the way it was clear that moving things by rail is how they do it in Texas.

As we left Dallas, we saw prairies. The views would have been exceptional but for the massive and countless power lines. And half way to Amarillo, I kept humming in my head "and the Wichita lineman is still on the line…". I know, that’s Kansas. But these structures looked like the old erector sets on steroids.

Along the way we passed many small towns, some rather run down with empty store fronts, others in good repair. From time to time we saw clusters of oil well pumps and holding tanks. Someone was getting rich.

The views really were incredible. Endless fields and pastures as far as the eye could see. Honey colored prairies with hay fields dotted with stands of dark green trees and cattle, gave way to yellow fields of wheat, grain elevators and miles and miles of barbed wire fences, held up by sticks, branches, posts, slats of wood, metal stakes, and anything that would keep the wire standing. My eyes were outside of the car for the entire ride. I was mesmerized by the sight of cattle, oil wells, wheat and hay fields co-existing in apparent peace and harmony. We noted that the medians and roadsides were unmanicured and it occurred to me that they were growing wheat there. I wondered if the State of Texas was going to harvest the wheat and turn it into revenue.  

And as we approached Amarillo, the earth turned a terra cotta color, with occasional twisters tossing the dirt up into the air. Our car was hit broadside by 2 of these twisters, and we felt the jolt of the wind as we passed through.

Just outside of Amarillo, I saw some white structures miles away on the horizon and after studying them for a while, we were able to identify them as windmills on a wind farm. Incredible sight to see.

Texas is rather majestic. I will never think of it the same way again. And hey, where else can you stop for gas and take in the aroma of cows and cow manure while filling your tank with gas?