Day 24: Fort Stockton, TX to Elk City, OK

Stops:

Amarillo, TX

Conway, TX

Shamrock, TX

The drive between Fort Stockton to Amarillo is quite mundane, but the fast speed limits help it go by faster.  There aren't really any interstates that run North to South in West Texas, so you have to take many isolated state highways.

Amarillo is in the panhandle of Texas, which is also our inflection point to Oklahoma.  It is also known for an ever changing art exhibit known as Cadillac Ranch. 10 Cadillacs buried at an angle, nose first into the ground, where the public is allowed to become graffiti artists and paint what they want to.  Every day, the installation is unique because of this.

A lesser known exhibit is in Conway, TX, known as Bug Ranch, where 5 VW bugs are buried in a similar fashion.

There is also a famous steakhouse in Amarillo called The Big Texan. If you can eat a 72 oz steak and all the sides in 1 hour, you get your meal free. If you fail, you pay $72. Only 1 out of 10 attempts succeed.  Everyone from a young boy to a 69 year old grandma have won.  

I40 follows part of Route 66 and there is great old historic ConocoPhillips gas station in Shamrock, TX that is worth a quick visit.

We finally arrived in Elk City, OK where that darn storm caught up to us again.  After parking in Wal-Mart, the edge of the storm caught us, rocking the van with 60 MPH winds and large amounts of rain.  For a moment, I thought the winds would push us over on our side.  Finally, the worst of the storm was over and the sounds of the rain hitting the roof if the van put me to sleep.