Mmmm God Bless Texas!

Sonny in our hotel in Monroe, LA getting ready for bed

I snapped this in Texas...really? Rattle Snake warning sign...in the designated pet area. Great.

The Big Texan Ranch Hotel

The Steak Challenge at the Big Texan Ranch
A country singer comes around and sings to the tables
Inside the main dining room
Banquet Room
Outside the Steakhouse
This sums up Texas, HUGE wide open spaces
New Mexico

Well, we woke up this morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and overall New Mexico was uneventful. We were determined to drive as far as humanly possible to try and put a dent in this road trip. We thought we could make it the whole way, but that would have meant 20 hours of driving. We hit the open road sharply at 9AM, and crossed into the Texas border within 3 hours.

Texas is really amazing because it is so beautiful, and you literally just see flat land as far as you can see. It really is God's Country. We passed hundreds of Cattle Farms and horses...I was really living my country dream today.

It was on my bucket list to eat a steak in Texas. We kept seeing these signs that read "BIG TEXAN RANCH STEAKHOUSE! HOME OF THE FREE 72 OUNCE STEAK!" It was located in Amarillo, Texas and we decided this would be the place I checked off this item on my bucket list! Let me just say...this place is UNREAL. You pull in and they have a ranch in the back that you can dock your horses, also included on this Ranch/Steakhouse is : Hotel, Limo Service, Banquet Hall, Dog Park, Gift Shop, full Steakhouse, and full saloon. As promised, they do have a 72 ounce steak...sort of free. You have to eat a salad, 3 shrimp, baked potato, rolls, and the 72 ounce sirloin steak in less than an hour and it is free, if you can't finish you pay $72! This place was featured on Man VS. Food a while back. Anyways, the steak was GREAT, and I washed it down with Sweet Tea...HEAVEN. The servers all wear full cowboy gear, and they have an old man with a guitar walk around and sing country songs to tables. Perfection.

After stuffing ourselves, we got back on the open road. We really wanted to make it all the way to Mobile, Alabama. We kept driving all the way until 2:30 AM, and our ETA according to the GPS was 7AM. Our sister Rachel called, and when she heard we had driven 14 hours, she told us needed to stop and rest and just finish the last leg tomorrow so we didn't fall asleep at the wheel. So I am writing this from our hotel room in Monroe, Louisiana! This is one of the nicer hotels we have stayed in, with a full continental breakfast in the morning. We will be back on the road tomorrow once we sleep in. We have 5 hours left until we get to Mobile. So tomorrow night we should be home! All in all, a productive day, and I can say I completed one item on my bucket list!