March 27 – “‘Merca Bird Wars”

We had a leisurely breakfast with Cary and KayLynn to start the day.  Once again Cary fixed us bacon and eggs and biscuits.  He’s got that one down to a science, and it is really good.  We sat around the table and chatted about our time there and a little about past (They went with us to Alaska) and upcoming trips (They are going with us to Hawaii).  Finally we washed up some clothes and got all packed up to head out on our actual road trip toward our first stop – Amarillo – ish.

 

Of course, on the road we were entertained probably more than we should have been by the random sights.  There was the “Merca” bird.  A taller than a house specimen of the massive eagle-ish birds that once invaded that part of Texas from outer space.  This one was captured, stuffed and painted red, white and blue as a warning against future attacks.  In one small town I saw a giant tennis shoe.  Yep.  Chuck Taylor-type tennis shoe.  Just one, though.  And we didn’t get a picture of it.  Couldn’t get Chris to turn around.  I suspect it belonged to one of the aliens who set the ‘Merca birds loose.  There was also that wind farm.  You know, those massively gigantic poles with the pinwheels that are supposed to spin and generate power?  Come on.  I know you have heard about their effectiveness in the ‘Merca Bird Wars.  The pinwheels kept the creatures so fascinated that we were able to orchestrate and carry out a massive counterattack and win the war.  One thing, though.  When we came through, it must have been somebody’s break time.  Just two of the pinwheels were spinning.  Kind of sad.  Speaking of the counterattack, you probably remember that it was our own population of rattlesnakes that proved the crushing blow to the aliens.  One tiny bite on those huge, Chuck Taylor clad toes, and all was finished.  Now all that remains are the warning signs originally placed to caution locals.  We actually stumbled upon a home for those wayward rattlesnakes when we stopped at a rest area.  At least that’s what I assumed.  The sign did say, “Watch for rattlesnakes.”  Sigh.  Battlefield heroes have become a simple nuisance to watch out for.  Sad.  Oh … I think there may be some small remnant groups of the enemy still alive somewhere out there.  As we drove through, I received word that suddenly my FaceBook account had been attacked and my identity co-opted.  Fortunately, some friends reported the action, and I took the steps needed to take care of things on my end.  Thank you, my fellow-freedom fighters.  It’s people like you (and the rattlesnakes, of course) that changed the course of human history.

 

But back to our journey.  Once we left that historical area, we moved on.  We had one traffic slow-down in Wichita Falls.  Construction on a portion of the road we needed to be on.  It didn’t last long, though.  We also saw a lot of burned-out fields and trees and brush from the recent fires.  We did finally arrive at our hotel in Amarillo.  We even received a free night’s stay from previous loyalty points.  Good way to start the trip. 

 

We had supper with a college softball team from El Paso at a local McAlister’s Deli.  They “didn’t do as well as we had hoped” in their tournament.  There was also some kind of youth basketball or soccer team there as well.  In spite of the influx of customers, the short-handed staff did a great job.  The food wasn’t all that great, but the service was good.  Of course, there was one distraction.  The two girls taking orders had eyelashes at least four inches long.  Never seen anything like it.  And one of them had fingernails the size of railroad spikes.  How she managed to punch the right buttons on the computer, I will never know.  Her teeth had jewelry stuck to them, and she had piercings on her face as well.  Oh, and a pretty hefty tattoo on her arm.  I was beginning to wonder if a second wave of invasion had begun. 

 

After the meal, we headed out to our first tourist leg – The Cadillac Ranch.  It was less than ten minutes away.  This was one of my two designated bucket list items for this trip.  The other is to touch the waters of the Great Salt Lake.  But back to the cadillacs.  It was kind of disappointing, actually.  Guess I expected a whole field of vehicles, but there were only ten.  And they were all stuck in standing water, so it was difficult to get close enough to do the whole point of the excursion – sign in on one of them with your own personal tag.  We had a problem, though.  No spray paint.  All we had was a sharpie.  I did manage to carve out our names, though.  And we got a picture or two.  Even a selfie, as I recall.  Bucket list one … Check.

 

We still had some time before sunset (thanks to Daylight Savings Time), so we headed south of the big city about thirty minutes to take a drive through Palo Duro Canyon.  There were some cool striations and mesas.  And we saw a really beautiful sunset.  The whole place seemed to be highly touristified, though.  Definitely a camping mecca.  Too much human wildlife.  The only animals we saw were the deer and Texas longhorns they kept fed at the park entrance.  The gift shop was already closed, so we weren’t able to garner any new friends to join us on the trip … yet. 

 

Back at the hotel we met some folks in the elevator who were in town for a kids’ basketball tournament.  The dad found out I had been a basketball coach for years and said he could sure use my help.  It was tempting to follow up and see where their games were so we could go watch a few.  Instead, we wished them well and retired to the room to watch the last half of the NCAA tournament game.  Good day.

 

1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

 

Father, thank you for your beautiful world and beautiful people.  Amen.