A three-state day today, but the majority of it was spent in Texas.

Crossing into Texas.

I'm not a religious person, but when I saw the billboard for the "Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere" outside of Groom, Texas, I had to stop. Roadside kitsch and all. Naturally, the cross had a gift store (!) and was surrounded by statues of the 12 stations of the cross. It also had a very creepy memorial to "the innocent victims of abortion", complete with tombstone with sculpted hands reaching out of it, holding a dead fetus. I, um, didn't photograph that because, frankly, I'll probably have nightmares about it anyway. By the way, I've since learned that there's a cross in Illinois (inspired by this one, no less) that's 8' taller. So the cross in Groom is now the second-tallest cross in the western hemisphere. I feel robbed.

That there's a big cross.

After the creepy cross, I had a much more pleasant jaunt around Amarillo.

First off: two huge thumbs up for David Browns Sports Center!  I'd noticed my chain clip had come off, so I looked up a bike shop in Amarillo (the largest city I went through today) and they were the easiest to get to from I-40.  They gave me a rivet link to replace the clip, tightened my chain, and noticed/fixed a loose shock/swingarm bolt...all for $5.40!  They absolutely refused to accept any money for labor.  Plus, Greg and George (the mechanics) were fun to talk to.  

After David Browns, I went to a nearby AAA office to pick up a couple more maps, and the lady there recommended a good sandwich shop.  Amarillo gets the love from me.   Plus, it has the Cadillac Ranch!  I was surprised at how many people were there -- at least a half-dozen couples/families. I talked to one guy there who said he lived nearby, had driven past the Ranch hundreds of times, but had never stopped before. He seemed pretty impressed. It reminded me a lot of the sort of stuff you'd see at Burning Man -- non sequitur art propped up for the public to spray-paint -- but I liked it much more out here in the middle of nowhere on a ranch in Texas. Back to roadside kitsch, I guess.

Cadillac Ranch, just outside of Amarillo.

I was bummed that I had no spray paint.

So, people of Texas, what's with all the dead armadillos? Seems like there's a cracked-open armadillo on the side of the road every 100 yards through this area of Texas.  I'm going to shudder every time I see the Armadillo Willy's by our house now.

For some reason, I always expect states to magically switch scenery right at the state line. I was surprised to see northeastern New Mexico look suspiciously like the panhandle of Texas -- I guess I was expecting instant pueblos and Kokopellis. Instead, New Mexico started out very green (almost as green as Nevada), with rolling hills.

I cheated here -- there was no sign when I crossed from TX into MN, so I I turned around at Colorado and took this photo.

Just west of Des Moines, NM. That's Capulin Volcano in the background.

395 miles today; 4522 miles total.

Next Day --> June 18: Raton, NM - Cortez, CO