2. 8-ounce top sirloin, Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo, Texas (July 17)
The Big Texan Steak Ranch is a Route 66 landmark. It’s the home of the 72-ounce steak challenge — but the fine print is, you have to eat the rest of the meal that comes with it. Mortal men and women are allowed one hour for the meal; Molly Schuyler pounded down five of them in two visits in an combined 35 minutes. I did not take the challenge. There was also a strolling singer.
(Don’t tell them I said this, but the rolls are better by miles at Texas Roadhouse … a chain that is headquartered in Louisville. And TXRH doesn’t make me assemble my baked potato while dining in.)
Mountain Time Zone trip OUT: 15 new counties, 2 atomic bomb pair replicas, 5 Route 66 hot spots, 1 new state capitol, 1 previously visited state capitol photographed, 1 Oklahoma State Extension cap, 2 state US route clinches (MO US 54, TX US 60), 1 construction-imposed non-clinch (OK US 60)
Starting about the Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amarillo, I-40 was untraveled territory to me. Empty cans of spray paint are embedded into the ground all around.