Lexi Goforth

Lexi Goforth

Lexi lives in a truck camper down by the river.
  • Joined: February 14, 2019
  • Articles: 750
  • Comments: 149

Santa Monica

Well, this is it, guys, the end of Route 66. Ignore that we only picked it up in Oklahoma City and missed everything to the north east. Ignore that we never attempted to spend more than the token amount of time driving the original route, rather than I-40. Ignore our frequent deviations from the route for one stop or another. Instead, bask with us in the sun of the clear crisp day that we walked down Santa Monica Pier to the Pacific Ocean and arbitrarily decided that this meant we had completed our journey.

Arizona

I really have quite little experience with Arizona and, like Texas and New Mexico, I assumed that south meant warm. Yet, after a few nights on the road, like Texas and New Mexico, I had learned that elevation is rather critical. Thus, last night, we bedded down in Cottonwood, just south of Flagstaff, Arizona. The partner had advocated for saving the drive from Flagstaff to Cottonwood for the next morning so that we could enjoy the scenery. Yet, I won out with the point that Cottonwood is more than half the elevation of Flagstaff. And what a sweet victory it was. For the first time on this leg of the trip, we slept where the lowest temperature was above freezing, where our winter coats were sufficient in maintaining a comfortable body temperature, and where the walk across the parking lot to the Walmart restrooms was only a minor inconvenience. To my mind, were were in heaven. It is, after all, the small things that count.

Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Texas. While, in this rare case, Texas size isn't the biggest, it certainly is still impressive. Back in the day, the steep walls of the canyon also made for effective fencing, as ranchers kept their steer in the canyon. Today, it is a park where visitors can camp, hike, and come for the occasional activity set in the park. We came for the hiking, but didn't say "no" to the opportunity of snapping a picture of a rare longhorn.

Texas Big

The Big Texan Steakhouse is not an eatery to be found. It is an eatery that proclaims its presence with ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and multiple exclamation marks and offers up every reason to make your next meal there. As soon as we crossed into Texas, we knew that there was a massive tourist trap outside of Amarillo that offered a 72 oz. steak to anyone who could eat the whole thing in the course of an hour. We knew this because every other bill board from the Oklahoma-Texas border to Amarillo said so. Given that we were on a quest to experience the delights and uniqueness of each region, it only made sense to eat a massive steak in Texas. Granted, even between the two of us, there is no way we could have eaten a 72 ounce steak. So we decided to keep it simple by just ordering the 40 oz. "Dallas" cut.

Little Ice On the Prairie

Yes, that is ice on the side of the road in Oklahoma.

With one-stop left in Oklahoma it was time to be introduced to winter camping in the van.  We did successfully graduate from kindergarten so we had a basic understanding that winter is cold and the closer to the equator you get, the warmer it is.  Yet, we overvalued Oklahoma being considered "South."  While we were assured that ice storms are not common this time of year, that is very, very cold comfort when you are sleeping in a van in below-freezing temperatures.  We woke up in a Pilot parking lot, flanked by roaring trucks and with an iced-over windshield.

Oklahoma!!!

Horses roaming in Oklahoma

Well, looks like winter is rolling in.  We made it out to Oklahoma and a break with friends just before torrential rains came to meet us from the west. We enjoyed one-day leeway of riding around on four-wheelers across an…