The Yellow Rose of Texas

October 5 – 10, 2021

Our next stop along the trip was Amarillo (Spanish for yellow). Once known as the “helium capital of the world” for having one of the most productive helium fields, Amarillo is the largest city in the Texas panhandle. Although we’ve traveled I-40 past Amarillo on a lot of our trips, this is the first time we actually scheduled a stop here.

Oasis RV Resort

We had heard a lot about the Oasis RV Resort so we decided to make it our home base. Located just west of Amarillo off of I-40, the campground has large paved roads and level concrete pads that accommodate all sizes of rigs. We actually scored a super long site which was great. Amenities include a gift shop, onsite food service, free cable and high-speed wifi, pool and spa.

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Cadillac Ranch

The next day we went exploring. We stopped first at nearby Cadillac Ranch.

In 1973, Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh invited a San Francisco artists’ collective called the Ant Farm to help him in the creation of a unique work of art for his sprawling ranch just west of Amarillo.

The group set about acquiring ten used Cadillacs, ranging in model years from 1948 to 1963. Built along the tattered remains of historic Route 66, the cars were meant to represent the “Golden Age” of American automobiles. Most of the cars were purchased from junkyards and averaged about $200. The cars were then buried nose-down, facing west along the old highway. Those that could run, were driven into the half-burial holes, the rest were hoisted in. In 1974 the project was completed and in no time at all, visitors began to come from all over the world, leaving their mark on the ever-thickening graffiti-covered cars.

At first, the cars displayed their original paint jobs – turquoise, banana yellow, gold, and sky blue, but barely was the monument complete, when people were scratching or painting their names in the cars. Over time, vandals and souvenir hounds smashed the windows, made off with all the chrome, radios, speakers and even some of the doors. The wheels have since been welded to the axles to prevent more theft. However, Marsh still says “We think it looks better every year.”

In 1997, the Cadillac Ranch was exhumed and replanted about two miles to the west, in order to escape the encroaching city of Amarillo. Under Marsh’s orders, even the old site’s trash and clutter was gathered from the old location and spread around the new location. Otherwise, the monument remains the same (and, ever-changing) since it was erected.

Legends of America

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2nd Amendment Cowboy

Just a couple of blocks east of Cadillac Ranch, at the entrance of the Cadillac Ranch RV Park stands the 2nd Amendment Cowboy. The cowboy was originally a Muffler Man.

Muffler men first started appearing in the 1960s as lumberjacks but with some changes to the mold you ended up with a cowboy. The company behind them was International Fiberglass out of Venice California. At the time one of these guys would set you back $1,800 to $3,000 depending on how you had them fitted and as large as they are only weigh 350-500 lbs due to their fiberglass construction. They had to be light due to the nature of their application and transport.

This Glenn Goode variant muffler man actually first made his Amarillo appearance in front of the Cowboy Barn Steakhouse in 2004 after living in Sanger, Texas and actually was restored after hosting quite a few bullet holes which earned him the nickname “2nd Amendment Cowboy”. His origins beyond that are unknown which is very typical of these statues. When the steakhouse was auctioned off in 2014, this fella found his current owners and was placed watching over Traffic on I-40 with a set of celebrity studded caddies (with mannequins of Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and John Wayne) behind him.

The Bull Amarillo

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Route 66

We next drove into the historic 6th street section of Amarillo to walk along a section of the famous Route 66. Unfortunately none of the shops appealed to us so we worked our way back to the RV.

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Big Texan Steakhouse

Later that evening we decided to have dinner at the “famous” Big Texan Steakhouse.

In 1960, R. J. “Bob” Lee opened The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo Texas on Route 66, the “Mother Road”. It’s distinctive architecture soon became recognized across the Mother Road as a good stopping place for great steaks grilled over an open flame. The Big Texan is famous for the FREE 72oz steak challenge, which includes eating a salad, baked pototeo, shrimp cocktail and 72 ounces of beef! 

Big Texan

As a well-known tourist attraction, the place was busy. Fortunately we only had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated upstairs overlooking the main floor. The unlimited dinner rolls and fresh caesar salad were very good. My steak (5 ounce filet mignon) was severely undercooked and I had to send it back for re-firing. Bill found his 12 ounce ribeye surprisingly tough. Disappointing for a steakhouse. The huge slice of carrot cake that we got to-go provided dessert for both of us over the next two evenings.

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Palo Duro Canyon State Park

The next day we drove out to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the second largest canyon in US – 120 miles long and 20 miles wide. Palo Duro is Spanish for hard wood referring to the Rocky Mountain junipers found in the canyon.

Readily accessible by car or motorhome and only 25 miles from downtown Amarillo and 14 miles from the Mainstreet town of Canyon, Palo Duro Canyon is the most spectacular and scenic landscape feature in the Texas Panhandle. It was formed by millions of years of water erosion by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River and the West Texas wind.

With a descent of some 800 feet to the canyon floor and more than 16 miles of paved road, Palo Duro Canyon State Park offers fantastic scenic views, historical sites and markers, picnic tables, public restrooms and showers, miles and miles of hiking and biking trails, horseback riding, a souvenir shop with grill, and a variety of camping & parking areas suitable for day trips, overnight tent camping, or extended stays in the largest of campers and motorhomes.

Palo Duro Canyon

The drive to the canyon is along a flat, rather non-descrpt road until suddenly you see it and say “wow, where did that come from?” We stopped first at the Visitor Center to pick up a map and learn more about the area. From there we drove the canyon loop (P5). Along the way, we stopped to hike the Pioneer Nature Trail – an easy 0.4 mile loop to the river. Our next stop was at the Big Cave where Bill spent some time exploring. Naturally we had to stop at the Trading Post, which we were told had the best hamburgers around. Due to the number of folks in line, we opted to just pick up a water and head back to the RV.

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Jack Sizemore RV Museum

No RV trip to Amarillo would be complete without a visit to the vintage RV museum.

Jack (father) and Trent (son) Sisemore began collecting and restoring unusual vintage RV’s over 25 years ago and have built a museum to house their collection. These include the Flexible Bus from the movie RV, the first Itasca motor home ever built, and the oldest Fleetwood in existence. And many other RV’s from the 1930’s through the 1970’s. Step back in time, reminisce and enjoy the progression of the RV industry from its inception till now.

Visit Amarillo

The museum houses among other artifacts the world’s oldest Airstream and the Wally Byam (who built his first travel trailer in 1929 and founded the company we now know as Airstream in 1931) Caravan with dates of his famous caravan trips.

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Bond, James Bond

From the RV Museum we made our way to a nearby IMAX theatre to see the new James Bond movie. This was opening day for the movie and we had tickets for the very first showing. I was concerned that the theatre would be crowded, especially since the kids were out of school for a teacher work day. As it turned out, there were a total of 3 people in this big theatre. Due to technical issues with the sound (which fortunately the theatre staff overcame), the movie started about 30 minutes late. After the movie, we had to rush to our dinner reservations at the Drunken Oyster. The Drunken Fondue (a cheese, shrimp, and sausage dip) and Cajun Alfredo (with chicken instead of shrimp and sausage for me) were very good. What a fun, busy day!

Once again, it’s time to move on.

Next up – Kerrville with an overnight in Big Springs.