After the tire incident in Oklahoma, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The scenery gets flatter and flatter the further west you go. So it’s pretty dull driving. Arrived in Amarillo about 6:30 PM CDT. Found a really nice campground. Remember this is Texas, but this place actually has grass and trees. Also has pull through sites, with dog pens, and shaded picnic tables. Along with free WiFi, we really like this place.

Those of you who know Richard very well, and have been blessed with hearing all his stories, will remember him talking about a trip he took in 1970 where he drove through Amarillo Texas, and found a really run down looking restaurant with a lot of local Texas cars parked around it where he had one of the best steak diners he had ever eaten.

Now for the rest of the story. Today 35 years later we had a great steak diner the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Turns out the place was started in another part of town in 1960. Moved to the present site by the Interstate in the mid 1970’s. Still serves a great steak diner. So Sometimes you can go back again.

Tomorrow we head on to Albaquerque New Mexico. The current plan is to spend the day here in Amarillo, and leave around 5:00 PM to do the drive during the cool of the evening. We need time to do some house keeping, etc. and rest a bit. The trip from here to Albaquerque isn’t all that scenic, so we won’t miss much driving at night, and the coach runs better with the cool moist air.

Got an early start this moning. We were on the road headed for Amarillo by 9:00 AM CDT. Made a mistake setting up the Jeep this morning. Figured it out by the time we got to Oklahoma City. The coach was steering funny, and a passing motorist was signaling that we had a problem with the wheels. We finally pulled off I40 and into a Wal*Mart Parking lot on the west side of the city.

Turns out. I hadn’t put the ignition key in the Jeep, and left it in the “OFF” setting instead of the “LOCK” setting. Somewhere outside of Oklahoma City, we hit a bump, and the steering wheel locked. Which caused the steering problem I was feeling with the coach, and ruined a brand new right front tire.

Fortunately Wal*Mart had a comparable tire for a replacement so after having lunch, doing some shopping, and waiting almost 3 hours to get the tire fixed and mounted we were on our way again. (To Be Continued)

After breakfast at Waffle House we visited Graceland this morning. we spent almost 3 hours there. Took lots of pictures. Elvis and his parents are buried on the Grounds.
Click Here to See the Entire Graceland Gallery.

Elvis Presley was an important figure in popular music in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s up until his death at age 42. He bought Graceland when he was 22 years old, and it was always his favorite. place. .

Hit the road after the Graceland tour. Drove through Arkansas, and stopped for diner at a rest stop just across the border in Oklahoma. After diner, we were caught in severe Thunder Storms and Flash Floods. So we pulled into a KOA campground in Sallisaw for the night.