Texas Panhandle

April 14, 2013

Had a great, quiet night at our little FREE campsite by the disappearing lake in OK. Still can’t believe they’re giving away electricity in this little city, not to mention a well-maintained, paved RV campsite with picnic table and trash dumpsters. Thank you, Elk City! 

We got on the road about noon, after some serious reorganizing of the RoadTrek. We’re still heading for Amarillo, TX to visit our granddaughter at her university.   

The land we drove through got flatter and flatter, until it finally was flat as a pancake as we got nearer to the Texas border. It looks very dry too—not much green showing yet in western OK, except where it’s obviously being irrigated.

When we passed over the border into Texas, we started craving TexMex food immediately. As soon as we got to Amarillo, we found an authentic Mexican restaurant and stopped for tacos, beans and guacamole. Although it was almost 2 pm, the place was still full of families, many dressed in their Sunday finery. The food was delicious: I love the thicker, fresh, handmade corn tortillas.

Our granddaughter Jennifer recently got a part-time job at a Hallmark store at a mall in Amarillo, so we went there first. It was great to see her—she looked very sophisticated, all dressed up for her job. The shop was pretty busy, and we bought a few cards. Her manager let her take her break while we were there, so we went to the food court and gabbed, making a plan to meet her when she gets off around 6:15 pm and go to dinner with her and her boyfriend Austin. While waiting for her to get off, I managed to get in a little clothes shopping (Charlotte Russe, some good bargains!) and we bought some other stuff on our list for the RoadTrek.

After Jenn got out of work, we headed for the West Texas A&M campus in Canyon, TX, about a half hour’s drive, in the direction of Palo Duro Canyon, which is the second largest (deepest, longest, both???) canyon in the U.S. We plan to explore the canyon with Jenn and Austin tomorrow. 

Jennifer and Carol by Jenn's car and just outside her dorm.

We walked around campus for a while before dinner, getting a feel for the place. 

 

Grandfather Jack and granddaughter Jennifer.

We saw both Jenn’s and Austin’s dorm rooms, and met Jenn’s roommate (actually interrupted her nap—she was very gracious about it). 

Jenn's room. Her roommate is off to the left just waking up from a nap.

Austin, as an honors student, gets a single room!

Jennifer and Austin in his dorm room.

The most scenic spot on campus is a plaza with a fountain and a massive marble sculpture by sculptor Doug Scott of a buffalo with calf; this is said to be the largest quarried block of marble ever sculpted in the U.S.  (Thunder the Buffalo is the school mascot.)

Life-sized buffalo nuzzling a newborn calf. VERY impressive sculpture.

When the hunger pangs hit, we walked over to Feldman’s, an eclectic restaurant near campus, and had an enjoyable dinner and interesting conversation. We made plans for tomorrow to hike the canyon and also visit a great natural history museum on the campus. Another fun day with loved ones, old and new.

We left the kids on campus and drove a couple miles to the Palo Duro RV Park. It’s like a little village with streets of RVs. Seems nice and quiet, just the way we like it…

State count: 8 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas]

Odometer count:

Surber, VA: 107,435

Canyon, TX: 109,227

Accommodations avg cost: 9 nights @ $21.78/night

Where we are in the journey...