July 23, 2013

road trip -- tulsa, oklahoma to santa fe, new mexico -- day 4



in the course of driving across the country, we noticed that every part of the country is distinct -- the landscapes for each region are unique and different. the east coast is a plethora of tall trees and rolling hills. and it's green. green green. (at least in the spring and summer.) but as we traveled west of the mississippi we started to watch the landscape change. in missouri, it was still green, we were driving through the ozarks after all, but the hills began to flatten. and then we started driving on day four, the day we drove across oklahoma and texas. and we saw a whole new landscape start to emerge. 


 


oklahoma and the texas panhandle are flat and covered in farm land. specifically farm land for grazing and raising cattle. as a result, we saw a lot of cattle during the course of our twelve hour drive across the two states. one of the farms we passed had more cattle on it than i've ever seen before in my life. and because i know nothing about cattle, i couldn't even begin to guess at how many cows there were. but it was a lot.

 


 this region is also known for it's tornados. in fact, a pretty deadly tornado had destroyed a couple of towns in oklahoma the week before we drove through, so we made sure to read up on what to do in case of a tornado as we drove through. (in case you're wondering, don't pull over under an underpass, it creates a wind tunnel. instead you should pull over, get out of the car, and get into the ditches that are so conveniently dug along the side of the highway.)

 




  


we didn't stop in texas for very long, because we were trying to hightail it to santa fe for the night, but we did take in some of the route 66 wonders along the way. like the leaning water tower and the giant cross in groom, texasthe midpoint of route 66 where i desperately had to pee, and for a quick dinner at the big texan in amarillo. since we were in a bit of a rush, we didn't get a chance to pull over to check out cadillac ranch just west of amarillo, texas. which is unfortunate, because i would have enjoyed checking out those ten cadillacs buried in the ground. they're supposed to be quite the sight. all we saw of this historic art piece, was what we viewed at 70 mph from I-40.



but we made it to new mexico before it was too dark and we couldn't get a good picture of the  welcome sign!

maybe the coolest thing that happened during this long day of driving was after we put the camera away for the night -- we drove through one of the craziest, most awesome lightening storms. we were never in any danger, in fact, we were barely even rained on, but the lightening was spectacular. it was like the god's were at war and throwing lightening bolts at one another. the flashes were constant but muted because most of the lightening never even hit the ground; it was all in the grey and angry clouds.   it's a bummer it was too dark for pictures because those photos would have been amazing.

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