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Tales from Amarillo
November 20, 2007So Zach Duncan and I made it to/from Amarillo without death... for the most part.
Sadly, the most scenic part of the drive was counting how many dead deer lay on the side of the road. Three was where we got to.
To make matters worse... it was a dreary looking day on the drive up, only adding to the sense of whatever you want to call it.
I call it boring.
We arrived at our hotel, the Quality Inn, around 4 p.m. It was anything but Quality, I promise you that much. Driving past all of the newer, nicer hotel chains, I had a bad feeling about this one.
The front desk folks were nice enough, even gave us a room on the back side of the hotel, where we were the only car parked there in the broad daylight. That was kinda creepy.
The hotel stay also started out possibly more awkwardly than I've ever seen. It was mid-afternoon, and the cleaning lady was in our room.
Zach and I weren't sure whether to go in or wait it out. I had already loaded up with all of my gear from the car and wanted to get it in the room as quickly as I could. So we just went on in...and she stood there and looked at us.
She went about cleaning and finishing up and Zach and I just kinda pretended she wasn't there. It was odd.
So we just kinda chilled out for a little bit, and Zach realized he needed an Ethernet cord for his laptop. Wal-Mart was just an exit or two away, so we headed there. I grabbed a bit of allergy meds (I could already feel everything starting to clog up badly).
Dinner was next on the list of things to do, and instead of going to the Big Texan (Home of the 72 oz. steak).... we went to Dyers BBQ.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't make it to the Texan, but Dyers advertised their award-winning ribs, and I felt like that was a good choice. 'Course, Zach and I both thought the stand-by Texas Roadhouse would work too. Luckily, half of Amarillo was there and we didn't even bother to go inside to check out the wait.
To Dyers we went... and we were not left hungry. Zach went with the sausage sandwich and I had a pork rib basket. Let me tell you folks... those were some dang good ribs. Holy moses. Melt in your mouth kinda good.
After that, we went to the Burkburnett/Canyon playoff game and then back to the hotel to hang out and get to bed.
The next morning... I was miserably stopped up. Zach wasn't sure if I had survived the night. It was pretty bad.
But... we had plenty of time before we went back for the football doubleheader, so we made a side trip out to Cadillac Ranch.
If you've never been out there... it's a road-trip fan paradise.
Here I am in front of one of the buried Caddys... (photo by Zach)
And here's the self portrait (a la Myspace style) with the cars.
Was it a random trip.... well yeah, that is what a good roadtrip is supposed to be like. The rest of the day went fairly normal, with the exception of my never-ended supply of sinus problems (which have lasted to this very day)
Where will the football playoff travels take me this week?.... That would be little Justin Northwest Stadium to watch the Rider Raiders against the Stephenville Yellowjackets in a rematch from earlier this season.
I'm riding with Andy Newberry.... and hopefully we're not going to have car problems this time. In case you don't remember THAT story.... This is worth a read.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
