Texas smells like cow shit. At least Amarillo does.

That has been my experience so far.

I am at the end of day two of my cross country trip. I am currently in Amarillo, Texas. As I mentioned it smells kind of funny. It's also a little scary. A.L. and I stopped for dinner at Applebee's tonight. The place was filled with rednecks. And I'd swear everyone turned and looked at us as we walked in. It also didn't help that I had to ask for the manager to get served. We showed up a few minutes before 11:00 and were told that the restaurant had just closed. When I asked for the manager the story changed. I sat there during dinner thinking they were going to beat the crap out of us before we left.

My trip started Sunday morning. A.L. and I woke up early, finished packing the truck and then headed out. We started by stopping at Ikea so that I could pick up a bookcase and some shelves for my new apartment. From there we headed north on I-15. If you're from Southern California that's THE 15. We drove north to Barstow where we met my friend T.M. who was driving south from Las Vegas. We grabbed a quick lunch at Denny's and laughed over T.M.'s vacation and my upcoming trip and then we were on our way.









From Barstow we continued north to I-40 (THE 40) and then headed east. We continued east to Winslow, Arizona. Winslow from the looks of the town is a little on the depressed side. It's run down and has definitely seen better days. However, in the middle of downtown right on Route 66 is a hotel called La Posada. It's an old railroad hotel that has been renovated in recent years and is now having a boom in this little town. The hotel was created in the 20's and 30's to serve the railroad passengers that stopped there. During it's busier times the restaurants there would serve over 3,000 meals a day. During the 60's and 70's the hotel was used as an office by the railroad. They sold off all of the furniture that had been designed for the space, then added linoleum and drop ceilings and made it look like every other office building in the country. The offices closed in the 90's and the hotel was supposed to be torn down. But a couple of guys stepped in and convinced the city, state and some investors that it should be saved and now it's a booming hotel. The hotel is beautiful and charming and it's like stepping back in time to stay there. A.L. and I stayed in the John Wayne Suite. It was small but comfortable and I would stay there again in a heart beat.



We got up this morning, toured the hotel and it's many rooms, ate breakfast and then were on our way. We continued on I-40 east on into New Mexico. We stopped for lunch in Albuquerque. Then continued on into Texas. We are now in Amarillo. The drive has been beautiful so far. The scenery is to die for. The desert is amazing with all of the rock formations and plants. New Mexico is easily the most beautiful of the three states we have been in, unfortunately their roads suck. We were in road construction most of the way east. Of course Texas is a close second so I'll let you know tomorrow how the rest of the state is.

Tomorrow we head on into Oklahoma and then turn north. I'll report tomorrow night how that segment of the trip goes. In the meantime, I can't wait to get to New York. My biggest current problem is where to park the truck when I get to the city until the movers can come and unload it. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

That's it for now, will report more tomorrow.