Cross-Country Drive Day 3 – From the Grand Canyon to Amarillo, Texas

A brief summary of day 3 of my cross-country drive: Grand Canyon to Amarillo, Texas, begins with the stats!

Stats of the drive

Third day: Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) in Arizona to Amarillo, Texas

Routes taken: Route 64 (south) to I-40 east, crossing New Mexico

Departure time: 6:20AM (Pacific time in Arizona)

Arrival time: 7:20PM (Central time in Amarillo)

License plates spotted: 43 (two days in a row! oddly for the proximity, we did not see Arkansas)

A Grand Canyon sunrise with deer

One key benefit of staying right there was the ease of getting to see the Grand Canyon at sunrise. Not that getting up for a 5:15AM daybreak was easy but, certainly, a ton easier than if I had been outside of the GCNP. In fact, I am pretty sure I would NOT have done the sunrise thing if it required an hour drive before 5:15AM!

sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona
sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona
sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona

Needless to say, I was not the only one out admiring the sun’s rise. A few deer accompanied us right between the lodge and the edge of the path though they seemed more interested in the grass than the colors of the canyon walls!

Thunderbird Lodge, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona, deer
A tourist at the Grand Canyon

Driving through New Mexico to get to Amarillo, Texas

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest
Non-descript terrain for a good part
Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, new mexico roadside diner
Diner at Grants, NM, right before the duststorm part of the drive
Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, new mexico
So long New Mexico, I hardly knew ya!
Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, welcome to texas
Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, wind farm, windmill

The windmills above are not properly given justice by this photo. The line of windmills we encountered sometime after crossing into Texas lasted miles and there were multiple rows well beyond the right side of the photo. It was an amazing amount of windmills. As big as everything is in Texas!

Steak night at the Big Texan

And speaking about big in Texas, the Big Texan enters the picture. We stayed next door and ventured to this place famous for its challenge to anyone who dares…

It says ranch but I saw no cows, alive that is!

The challenge is to eat a 72-ounce piece of steak, cooked to order, along with all the sides pictured below in one hour. If you eat it all, besides the stomach ache I imagine ensues, you get the meal for free. Otherwise, you pay $72. We saw two guys get up on the stage to try it but we did not stay to see the drama finish…

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest

I opted for a more modest 8-ounce steak with broccoli!

And with that delicious steak ended day 3 covering the width of New Mexico and parts of Arizona and Texas!

Speak Your Mind

*

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: