2024 EB Day 10 - Texas Law

We packed a lot into Texas…

It started with the country’s second biggest canyon and the only one you can drive down into - Palo Duro Canyon.

Back at Doves Rest we met owner Sharon, an ex pat Kiwi and discovered the back story to our overnight stay.

There were Aoudad (aka Barbery) sheep, introduced from Africa in the 1940s roaming Sharon’s property…

…and next door Lindsay found Long Horn cattle.

Two metres between the tips!

Back in Amarillo at The Big Texan we see a rattle snake close up…

Meet relatives we never knew existed…

And we’re crooned over lunch.

A block away is the new sight for the Slug Bug Ranch, where the old wrecks have found a new home.

Right now they’re prepping the land, perhaps by our Westbound trip, they will have completed their transition.

Our own transition continues across the lone star state.

It seems ironic that the state built on fossil fuel would boast so many wind turbines.

The sacred cross at Goom, once towering 190 ft above the ground is swallowed by the 600ft wind generators.

Britten’s angle at attracting people to the gas station was slanted, but is still eye catching decades later…

…and Allenread’s own station, is slipping back into history after a restoration several years ago gave it a reprieve from complete degradation.

Devil’s Rope museum in McLean has a story about the dust bowl from a very dark period in the Mother Road’s past…

…and one of the more unlikely ways to make the barbed wire that fills these walls.

Down the road a quick fill would have kept cars ticking along.

Long enough to get them to Shamrock.

Where the welcome is warm and personal.

Hazel’s love of meeting people never wanes.

…although some of the methods of affection might be questionable.

Our introduction to the iconic Conico Gas Station is palpable…

And continues at dinner, a short walk away past an old garage, the Kiwi boys consider reopening!

Bob has a little trouble with the local law,

But is eventually deputized.

Paramedic Jess meets a lady in the same game,

And Hazel and her friends continue to welcome their guests as they are want to do!

Paul’s night got lit up when our friendly Deputy Sheriff Geoff offered a replacement lead car.

And we all regrouped outside Rusty’s to record what turned out to be a very memorable night…

…in Shamrock, home to some beautiful people as well as this beautiful monument Route 66.