In Texas everything is bigger!

Our Fearless Leader (and Stuart too…)

Into Texas we go…

After a good night’s rest it’s time to hit the road again. Today we go from Clinton, Oklahoma into the secon largest state in the United States, Texas. We get going on the road and after a brief breakfast we stop in Elk City for a look around the national route 66 museum. This is a wonderful museum and gives a great history of both the road itself and the cities it helped create. Many towns wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for route 66. This was very evident once the route was bypassed by the interstate system. Many towns almost entirely disappeared once the new interstate came through the area, sometimes turning a thriving community into a deserted ghost-town. After the museum we comtinue on toward Shamrock, Texas. The home to one of the most beautiful art-deco service stations remaining on the route. We stop at the old

station for some photos and th take a quick break and then off to lunch. After a good lunch at a local diner it’s back on the road. We keep going for about an hour until we get to our next comfort stop and photo opportunity at a Texas highway rest area. This rest area has one of the best views of the great plains of America. On a clear day one can see for well over a hundred miles and see the curvature of the earth. Here we take a group photo, get some water to drink and go to the restroom before we head off to our final destination of the day, Amarillo, Texas.The Great Plains of America

Once we arrive at our hotel for the night we have a couple of hours to go clean the road dirt off, hit the pool and finally get ready for dinner. For dinner we always go to the world-renowned and route 66 landmark, The Big Texan Steakhouse. Home to the free 72 ounce steak, yes it’s actually free if you can finish the whole dinner in one hour. Not an easy task once you consider that you have 72 ounces of steak (that’s 4 1/2 pounds or just over 2 Kilos), a baked potato, dinner salad, bread, and shrimp cocktail.Bernie tries to help me eat the 72oz. steak! Ugggghhhhh!

If you do it, your dinner is free, you are awarded a tee-shirt, certificate, your name on the list of those who’ve completed it and invited back for the annual steak eating contest, however if you fail it’ll cost you $75.00.
Now that's a big steak!

This trip I was feeling brave and attempted it, with the emotional and financial backing of the group I undertook this monumental task. I started out well and with a steady pace I made excellent progress, I had almost completely finished the steak, and was still feeling good, but unfortunatly time ran out. I would have been able to eat it all, just not in one hour. I still finished all the food however, just to spite them! I’ve never been so full in all my life! Maybe I’ll do it next time through in September, wish me luck. After (a very, very, filling) dinner it’s back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.