Amarillo, TX — “Don’t mess with Texas” That’s the first highway sign I saw after crossing into Texas from Arkansas. The rest of the sign lets you know that you’re not supposed to litter. What a nice welcome!
I came to Texas to visit more relatives. They live near Atlanta, a small town not far from Texarkana. The terrain there is a lot like Missouri and Arkansas, though the hills are less pronounced. What you can’t see in the pictures are the bugs, and other critters. There’s a lot of life in these woods! I almost ran over an armadillo one night.
As I was in Texas to visit relatives I haven’t done any sightseeing. I did stop at this “picnic area” which is Texas’ version of a rest stop, except without rest rooms.
After two weeks, I’m now getting closer to home with each mile traveled.
Today was a rather long drive — my longest so far. I want to have some time in Santa Fe and hope to be there tomorrow afternoon. I don’t think there’s much to see here in Amarillo, however there is a scenic canyon just south of here called Palo Duro. I don’t think I’m going to have time to see it, but I’ll look at the map in the morning
Since this is a rather short posting, and since I’m now headed towards home, I’ll expand on some of the trip metrics. In the two weeks I’ve been gone, there are only three days where I haven’t traveled.
Costs to date (10/1/2015)
Total Lodging: $186
Total Fuel: $699
Total Trip: $885
Avg Cost/Day: $59 (fuel and lodging)
Avg Lodging: $12.39 (includes no-fee parks and 4 nights in relative’s homes).
Most expensive gas: $3.25 at Yellowstone’s South Entrance
Cheapest gas: $1.89 at a station on the Missouri/Arkansas border.
Miles traveled today: 507
Total Miles Traveled: 3638
Average Miles per day: 242 (includes zero-mile days)
I had hoped that the truck and camper might be a bit cheaper than driving the car and staying in motels (and eating in restaurants). From the data so far, it looks to be a lot cheaper. Of course, $2 gasoline helps!