Day 19 (July 22): Sunrise, Driving, Texas, A Giant Cross, Fire, Hookah, Sunset

Total Driving Distance: 800+ miles (trip total: 5,800 miles)

States Traveled To: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma

Main Activity: Driving

Over the course of our trip, we had seen some of the most beautiful sunsets you could ever see. On the second-to-last morning of our trip, I decided that we needed to see a desert sunrise.

I woke up at 4:45 and told Liz to climb to the front seat and she could fall back asleep. I drove about 20 miles to Petrified Forest National Park, but the gate was closed and the Park didnt open until 7:00. With only about ten minutes until the sun was going to rise, I drove a few miles down the road and found a good spot on a hill to watch. We threw one of our mattresses on the roof of the van, along with a pillow and some blankets. Then we sat back and enjoyed the sunrise.

We drove back to the KOA to pack the rest of the stuff into the car and brush our teeth. We left Holbrook around 6:30. On the way out of town, we picked up some coffee and were all ready to go.

So we drove. and drove. and drove.

Then we drove more. and more. and more.

We drove through Arizona. We drove through Albuquerque. We drove through New Mexico.

We drove through Texas.

On our way through Amarillo, we really had to use the bathroom so we stopped at a place I'd been seeing signs for since we first entered Texas: The Big Texan Steakhouse.

Now I dont like to judge, but if I had to choose a place that took every stereotype and picture of Texas that I'd had in my mind and brought it to life, it was The Big Texan.

The thing to do at this steakhouse was to take the 72 oz. Steak Challenge (FREE if you win).

Here's how the contest works: If you eat a 72 oz. steak, with a shrimp cocktail, salad, baked potato, and a buttered roll in less than an hour, you do not have to pay for it and you go down in Texas history. Over 40,000 have tried and over 8,000 have succeeded. Needless to say, we did not stop for dinner. But here is a video from a guy who did, the host from The Travel Channel's Man v. Food. (An interesting sidenote: Joey Chestnut (of hot dog eating fame) holds the world record for the 72 oz. steak challenge. He finished in 8 minutes and 52 seconds.)

We didnt stop again in Texas.

On the way out of Texas, we did get to see one more famous site.

In Groom, Texas, the second largest cross in the Western Hemisphere:

A few hours later we were in Oklahoma and I decided that I needed to stop for the night. We located a KOA just outside Oklahoma City and arrived there a few minutes before 9 when the front desk closed.

Since this was our last night, we had to make it a good one. Liz had been wanting to make a fire since the first KOA we stayed in, but most places had fire bans since it was so dry. Luckily for her, Oklahoma City was not one of those places.

So I gathered firewood and Liz made a pile of kindling near our fire pit. It was dark outside so it took a little while to gather all of the wood. While I was working on starting the fire, Liz put the hookah together for us to enjoy by the fire.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, I finally got the fire going.

It began burning very quickly and I knew with the amount of wood we had the fire wasnt going to last more than five minutes. We brought out a bag of marshmallows that we had kept in the hopes that eventually we would have a fire and roasted them.

After about five marshmallows each, we let the fire burn out as we smoked the hookah.

I'm not sure what the green dotted line coming out of my head is:

Then we took some spooky pictures trying to look like ghosts:

After we were finished smoking and had put the fire out, we took showers and got ready for bed, then we laid in the van and watched the final episode of Freaks and Geeks. Here is one of my favorite clips that really sums up the show: