Sunday August 3, 2014 Dallas to Amarillo, Texas

I started my trip toward Montana at about 10 AM.  The goal for the day was Amarillo Texas, right on the panhandle.  I suspect the quickest route would be up the 35N to 40W, but I didn’t do that.  Instead I took a route headed generally to the northwest using state roads.  Generally, the route remained a divided highway with two lanes in each direction.  The difference was that these highways weren’t as limited access as the interstates.  Plus some of the route (part of the old Route 66) went straight through town, so you had to slow down to about 30 MPH from time to time.
The towns seemed typical with one or a few streets intersecting the road I was on.  Some towns looked rundown, others had new buildings.  I noted one town (I forget which) that had a visible mix of rundown buildings, renovated buildings and new buildings.
Along the way I saw a sign for a Muslim Cemetery.  Nothing really extraordinary about that, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a sign before and I certainly didn’t expect it in rural northern Texas.  I’d be interested to know if there was a group of families that emigrated from the Middle East (or elsewhere) at some time in the past and formed a community near where I saw the sign.
The other thing I saw were several flatbed trucks carrying long tapered and twisted tubes which I thing were blades from wind turbines.  I saw two groups of three flatbeds coming in from the other direction.  About a half hour after I saw the first group of flatbeds I then saw an actual wind farm (pretty much in the middle of one or more farms).  I have no idea whether the blades were new blades going to another site or bad blades going back for repair.  It seemed a little odd that they would be traveling on Sunday, but I’m sure there are deadlines that have to be met.
I saw several trains along the route as well.  Most were modern box transfer trains, some stacked two high.  One train appeared not to be moving, but when I saw some trees behind the train I realized that it was moving backward in reference to the direction the locomotive was facing.  Since we were traveling in the same direction and I was traveling relatively faster, it seemed to be standing still until I got up close.
The state highway fed right into the interstate (which caused some initial confusion) so I actually arrived at Amarillo about thirty to forty minutes sooner than I expected.  After getting a hotel (on the I40) I drove into the city to have a look around.  Unfortunately, I left my guide book in the hotel room and just navigating from a map I had printed found me nothing interesting.  The city center seemed nice and shiny but it quickly petered out to used car lots and depressed-looking buildings.
I had dinner at the Big Texas Steak Ranch which was a very kitschy place (all of the employees wore straw cowboy hats for instance).  The review guide made note that it operated like Walls Drugs in the Dakotas by having signs many miles (hundreds?) ahead of the actual place so that people were interested in it well before they got near the place.  The wait was a bit of a problem.  They gave you plenty to look at while you were waiting with a gift shop a bar and some games.  They also have a hotel painted in very bright colors and sort of looking like an 1800’s town (at least the Hollywood concept of one) and a horse hotel (i.e. horse stalls).  There was a giant cow on a trailer (not real obviously, but not surprising given that it was a steakhouse.  There was also a giant dinosaur (I think) with a cowboy hat and scarf climbing some poles for some reason.  Oh yes, and there was a limo service with horns on the front of the car.  It was all very cute.  The food was fine, but the people watching was more interesting.