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!
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!
Driving through New Mexico to get to Amarillo, Texas
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…
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…
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!
