Colorado Day -1

There are a lot of people in this world who know Texas is big.  I don’t think a person can truly understand the size until recognizing that from my home in Central Texas, I have to drive a minimum of 3.5 hours to reach a border of the State (in this example Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico).  Converse to that, I can drive up to 9.5 hours and still not reach the state line in the panhandle.  Getting to Colorado involves one of those epic Texas drives where 9 hours is spent in Texas, about an hour in New Mexico, and 4 hours total in Colorado.  Yes, you drive a full day and still don’t get outside of the State. 

The route we selected for our drive involved splitting the time into two, easier, 7 hour drives each day.  There is a lovely little Horse hotel outside of Amarillo called Bed and Bale.  I overnighted there last year as well, and knew that the facility is top notch and my horses would be very safe. 

Driving through West Texas involves a lot of this:

And not much else.

  

Thrilling. 

Though I do have to say, Texas does have some awesome truck stops

And so fashionable!

Thankfully our trip was smooth sailing, and we arrived at the Bed and Bale at 3pm to some happy horses. 

Did I mention the Bed and Bale has a nice facility?  Their stalls are HUGE.  TJ approves.

We arrived and got settled just in time to watch the Belmont.  I was so sad that Chrome did not pull of the win.  Will we EVER have a Triple Crown winner again?  And no, I don’t believe in dumbing down the competition just for the sake of winning.

After that let down, THE MOST EXCITING PART OF MY DAY was about to happen.  A few years ago, CBS Sunday morning had a segment on The Big Texan in Amarillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7uaQ6AWUhE

It went on the bucket list to go, though trying a 72 oz steak was not in my plans.  This place is a slice of Americana like you wouldn’t believe.

There it is!

YES!!!

They have a candy Store!

And a stage coach!

And a giant steer!

And a shooting range!

And a boot!

And a giant rocking Chair!

As you can tell, I was really excited!

If you wanted to try for the free steak, you get a stage and everything.

The food was honestly just OK, but sooooooo worth it just for the experience.  The most amusing part to me was that a large portion of the crowd was European.  Nothing like showing our great nation off like the cheese of all cheeseball places. 

The last thing to do for the night was to tarp the hay in my truck.  There were storms coming in from the north, and the last thing I needed was a bunch of wet hay.  Some might ask why in the world I was hauling hay halfway across the country.  Well, my precious TJ in all of his precious TJ ways is allergic to the world.  Corn, Wheat, Molasses, Oats, Beets, Pecan Trees, Privet Trees, Thistle, Baccharis, Ragweed, Marsh Elder, Nettle, Sheep, Cats, Flax, Mosquitos, Horse Flies, Timothy Hay, Bluegrass, Bahia Grass, Johnson Grass, Bermuda Grass, and Kochia.  In Colorado, they sell Timothy and Timothy Brome mix. 

I know from experience that Timothy makes my dear TJ look less like a horse and more like a Chenille blanket:

And thus being the good mom that I am, loaded my truck down with enough precious Coastal Hay to last him through the trip. 

Horses.  Seriously.