Caprock Canyon, Amarillo, Cadillacs & a giant steak

Sunday 18.05.2014

At 9:30 a.m., the housekeeping knocks on the door and we jump out of bed for breakfast, which is taken down at 10:00 a.m. After breakfast, we take a shower. From here, we book a cabin in Grandpappy's Point above Lake Texoma for the last three nights before our return flight. 

We leave at 12:00 p.m. and today we don't have nearly as much driving to do as yesterday. Caprock Canyon is located 90 miles southeast of Amarillo.

We follow completely deserted country roads here, no people, no cars, no oil pumps - only grain fields and harvested fields, on which a few lonely cows stand, surround us for the entire journey.

Deserted, partially decaying towns lie along the route - like ghost towns. We drive on a plateau that is located between 850 and 1000 m above sea level.

The Caprock Canyon costs 4 dollars to enter, and we slowly roll onto the only street that leads through it.

Bisons are already standing next to us on the road, providing good photo opportunities. This is the only bison herd in Texas, which a visionary person has settled here to save them from slaughter.

Lake Theo doesn't look so great and we give up our plan to have a picnic there after seeing a group of 20 children raid the picnic tables in front of our eyes.

It is 3:00 p.m., around 100°F (38°C), and the air is extremely dry. We can't lure the prairie dogs, so we continue driving.

A short detour on a trail shows us the strange soil composition of this area: under the red sand is a white-green stone that shimmers like slate and has a layered structure.

At a viewpoint, we sit with our chairs in a small, shady spot, and entertain restless flies and other animals with our presence. Annoyed, we leave the place again after 30 minutes, having eaten a few cookies, drank water, and served as blood donors for a few animals. Before leaving the park, you can admire some longhorns.

At nearly 1100m above sea level, we drive through a wasteland of endless fields. After 20 and 40 miles, there is a village with a few hundred inhabitants - at least that's what the town sign says. Why do people live here? At 6:00 p.m., we arrive at the Super8 in Amarillo and shortly afterwards, we drive to the so-called Cadillac Ranch, where 10 Cadillacs are buried at an angle in the ground of a field and have been spray-painted by countless aspiring artists. The light in the late afternoon is great for photos.

According to Wikipedia, the story goes like this: "In 1974, members of the Ant Farm artist group from San Francisco, west of Amarillo, buried ten Cadillacs in a line and at the same angle with the front half in the ground of a cornfield. They come from the years 1948 to 1963 and represent the beginning and decline of the tail-fin models of the 1950s. The angle in which the vehicles are buried is supposed to correspond to the incline of the pyramids of Giza. They symbolize the freedom brought by the automobile and at the same time the fascination and attraction of the roadside attractions along the American highways. The location is right on the historic Route 66, which is now replaced at this point by Interstate 40. The Cadillac Ranch was sponsored by helium millionaire and patron Stanley Marsh III, who provided the artist group with the property next to Interstate 40. Stanley Marsh thinks that the Cadillac Ranch symbolizes "the great escape, the freedom of choice, the possibility of simply running away."

Although a deeper message is supposed to be conveyed here, we simply find this artwork funny and take photos of the colorful cars from different angles before heading onto the Route 66, which passes through Amarillo.

But since there is nothing here except closed bars and an eerie calm, we drive to the Texas Steakhouse, which is located on the other side of Amarillo. Since we have to wait for a table, I have to give (m)y name. Since no one in the US ever understands my real name, I think of a new one every day. Today I am Mable Miller - and especially find the reaction of the girls who manage the seats funny every day because of such names...

The special thing about the Texas Steakhouse is that you can order a 72 oz steak (about 2.2 kilograms) and if you eat it within an hour, you don't have to pay for it. However, if you take on this challenge, you have to sit and eat at a podium in the restaurant. Above them, a countdown timer runs backwards to 0.

The table can accommodate 6 people, and when we sit down, a guy is struggling to conquer the steak. He fails. The next person takes his place and starts eating.

We settle for a 20 oz steak (about 500g!), which looks gigantic but tastes delicious. We also have a driver-friendly Miller Ultra beer - without alcohol. Today, supposedly 2 people managed to eat the 72 oz steaks. The people who are fighting against the beef during our presence go home with doggy bags and have to pay 72 dollars. One person gave up 11 minutes before the end, and another person chewed for 60 minutes but still had a lot left on their plate. The third person had only just begun when we left for the hotel.

It's mild and quite windy outside. Today it was 38°C and the same temperatures are predicted for tomorrow. Due to the low humidity of only 10%, there is a warning in the weather report because the risk of fire is extremely high, also because the wind blows strongly here and can distribute cigarette stubs or similar into the bushes.

You completely dry out in this weather. The palms of your hands, your throat - as soon as you say a few sentences, you start coughing and have to drink something. The altitude, wind, and sand make this even more difficult.

Today, my feet look sunburned, but after a long shower, which washes away the sand from the canyon and the field of the Cadillac Ranch, only a healthy tan remains.

Distance traveled: approximately 190 miles / 306 km