The Caddy Ranch near Amarillo, TX

I left home shortly before 0700hrs and after having to fidget with my amplirider's wiring, finally got going just after 0700hrs. Had issues with sound all day long, ended up hooking my earphones directly into my N800 to listen to my E-Books and music.

It was in the low 40s as I headed East on I-70 looking for the junction to US287 which I would take south towards Texas. I was starting to get chilled as I neared Limon, CO and thinking about stopping to don my heated vest but it warmed up to above 50 as I got to Limon and there was no need. The high temp of the day would be in Amarillo at 85 degrees!

I tanked up at Limon and starting riding South n US287, pretty much a straight two lane road, very little traffic while I was on it. The scenery was the eastern plains of Colorado, so not to much to speak off. I'd tank up when I passed the 150mile on the tripmeter and never sweated fuel supplies.

I got to the Oklahoma Border at 1200hrs, after five hours on the road. It kind of surprised me to find the OK border actually, I thought I would hit the Texas border first. Oh well. I should have looked at the maps more closely and noticed the OK panhandle would be the first border I'd hit.


Shortly after transiting the OK Border, I came upon the small burg of Boise City where this metal dinosaur caught my eye and begged for a picture.

Click the pic for the data on "Cimmy"

I was not in Oklahoma's panhandle very long and I got to the Texas Border less than one hour after crossing the Oklahoma border


The remainder of the ride down US287 and several TX State Roads I did not bother to write down was pretty uneventful. I arrived at Amarillo, TX shortly before 1500hrs so I made pretty good time I think. I spotted the Cadillac Ranch and exited I-40 and wound my way back to them on a frontage road.

this is as close as Maria could get

Following are some of the photos I took of the cadillacs that have been buried into the ground in a "artful" display. If you want the whole story, search for cadillac ranch at roadsideamerica.com. People are apparently encouraged to add their own painted graffiti onto the cars and you can see the results.









I left the Cadillac Ranch just before 1530 and headed East on I-40, looking for the VW Bug Ranch, which is apparently a display similar to the Cadillac Ranch but with VW Bugs. i failed to find it but then saw a sign claiming "the largest cross in the western hemisphere".

Of course, this cross caught my eye and curiosity so I exited near it and found my way down to the cross. It is definitely huge....as to whether it's the largest one in the western hemisphere, who knows?


Afterwards, I made my way NE of Amarillo on TX70 towards Perryton where I planned to spend the night.

I raced the sunset since I did not want to be out on this country highway after dark, after all that's when the deer come out and an encounter with one so far from home would really suck.

It was just after 1800 and dusk lighting conditions as I got to Perryton's city limits and I spotted a Best Western with a steakhouse next to it. Easy choice, got checked in, bags taken inside and had dinner. Almost 10 hours, in the saddle today....I'll record the mileage tomorrow, don't feel like going out to Maria to look at the odometer reading. My knees feel sore but not too bad.

Two more states added now to the list of "ridden-in" states!

Update: Total Miles for today: 596