Palo Duro Canyon

We spent an extra day in Amarillo just so we could go and see this canyon. It is about 30 miles south of Amarillo and even though its the second largest canyon in the country it isn't well known. It was very beautiful with a lot of the same colors as the Grand Canyon -- it's just not as deep. You can drive to the bottom where there are a couple of campgrounds and picnic areas.

The drive down to the bottom is a little scary with a 10 percent grade -- not sure I would want to take a big RV down it but we saw a few large rigs -- even towing cars down at the bottom.

If you look closely at the picture that is a little washed out -- in the middle of the picture is the rock formation that is the most noteworthy in the park. It is called lighthouse rock.

We left Amarillo and headed over to Oklahoma City and just missed all the rain in Texas. The I-40 within the Oklahoma City area is a terrible road. They are replacing it but not fast enough -our truck rides pretty smoothly carrying a load but even loaded we were bouncing pretty good.

Hello from Amarillo

We left Del Rio on Sunday heading north toward San Angelo and then spending the night in Big Spring. The drive up to San Angelo was beautiful. All kinds of wildflowers were blooming including Texas Bluebonnets. The blue flowers in the picture are bluebonnets. The prickly pear cactus were also starting to bloom everywhere. They have yellow flowers but some can be a little pink. We were on the west edge of the Texas "Hill Country" and the hill country is known for the spring wildflower bloom. We only got a little taste of it so I can't imagine hillsides covered in blooms.

We are in Amarillo for a few days and of course had to eat at the Big Texan home of the 72oz steak -- if you can eat it all in an hour its free-- no thanks. Jim had a fabulous steak and I tried the chicken fried steak with fried okra. Good but too much fried food in one meal. So far its just trying to rain a little but its windy. We are in the panhandle of Texas and besides oil wells and cattle they plant a lot of cotton -- that was a surprise.

Last Fishing Day

One of our last days fishing I caught a beautiful crappie. He was almost 2 pounds. We ate him but unfortunately the meat was mushy. Another couple had caught some the day before and ate them and said the meat was also mushy. It was so disappointing after catching a fish we love to eat.

I had to take pictures of the goats grazing along the water. They come in so many different colors down here. The brown ones look like deer because the deer are about as small as goats. It's been hot down here - in the 80's to almost 90 everyday so the turtles have been enjoying sunning themselves.

We will definitely miss the wonderful warmth here although soon enough it will be in the 90's and 100's and thats too hot even for us. So starting next Sunday or Monday depending on weather we will start heading north. We are going up to Amarillo and then across Oklahoma and Arkansas. We want to check out Arkansas, the natural state, and see whats all there. It will depend on the weather though since it is tornado alley and it is April. Many of the campgrounds along the way advertise storm shelters. We plan to dodge the storms but its nice to know we have safe places to go if one catches us.