Day 4 of 16

We started this day with an Cowboy Morning breakfast. This was not something we were planning to do, but we were able to squeeze it in because of the 2 hour time difference between Texas and Arizona. It did make for a long day, God forgot to tell our bodies that those 2 hours really didn't happen :) We woke up at 6 am to be at the ranch by 8:30. We were taken on a wagon ride for about 2 miles to the edge of a canyon where the cookout was being held. Saw some Longhorns and other cows on the way. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy and strawberry jelly, Orange Juice and coffee. It was all cooked in Dutch ovens over a wood fire. After breakfast, Heather learned how to rope and rode a horse. I tried my hand at hoping too and then the final event was the cow chip tossing contest. They had bags of the stuff and Heather wasn't told what it was until we were in the car leaving. The expression on her face was priceless :)

 

Before leaving Amarillo, we made 3 quick stops at Bug Ranch exit 95/I-40, The Big Texan and the Cadillac Ranch. The Bug ranch was 4 old Beetles buried nose first. You were encouraged to sign them, so we did:) On the way to the Big Texan we keep telling Heather we were having lunch there and she had to eat the 72oz steak. They had a display of what one looked like, a small roast would be a better description. It was a cute place, including the hotel. We got a boot cup to go and were off to the Cadillac ranch. The cars were so far from the road we almost drove right by even though we were looking for them. They were interesting and attracted allot of attention. Then we were off to a long drive of around 500 miles to the Petrified Forrest.

 

The drive was easy with a little construction, I-40 must be the worst Interstate in the country from Arkansas to Texas. We got to the Petrified Forrest around 5:15 and they closed the part at 7 pm. The best viewing spot for logs is at the south end of the park, 26 miles away with a very low speed limit. The Ranger told us it took 45 minutes to drive the park without stopping so we figured we had plenty of time to make it to the "Long Logs" by their 6:45 closing time. We got to the "Long Logs" at 6:32 but there was a problem, they had removed the parking lot and it was now a 15 minute walk from the south visitor center parking lot to the logs. The sign at the entrance to the "Log Longs" said it closed at 6:30 but since the paperwork and the Ranger told us 6:45 we did a force march to the logs and got some pictures. I really don't understand what they did, completely inaccessible to the handicapped.

 

We had a short drive to our hotel for the night, something a little different. The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. Because of the time changes we got to the hotel at 7:30, went to dinner and to bed. We were exhausted since we had been up and on the road since 6 am CST and were now on MST - Daylight savings or West Coast time.

 

It was a great day, saw allot of neat stuff and had a good driving day. Most expensive gas has been in Texas? Yes, Texas, makes no sense to me either.