Yesterday’s long and amazing day required a celebratory Shiner Bock or three and an Allsup’s something and cheese sandwich all consumed after 10pm. In retrospect this was not a good idea, my kingdom for a bottle of Gaviscon. A severe warned storm rolled in after 1 a.m. which further disrupted proceedings and caused an undiagnosed clattering noise from the bathroom…seriously, it was like sharing a room with Cosy Powell. Next thing the alarm was going off at 6.15 a.m. So glad I sorted everything out last night, just need to get up, shower and figure out which article of clothing I carefully laid out goes where…
So today we’re returning to Colorado, a cursory check on Google Maps suggests it’s a mere 517 miles to Lamar where we were the other day.
On the road at 7 a.m. and off to McDonald’s. Avoiding the horrific McGriddle, Alex orders two sausage McMuffin “meals”, a barely edible affair which included an oily hash brown. Dreaming of Gaviscon we say goodbye to San Angelo and head north on Texas 208. It’s raining, then sun breaks through; we reach the I20 at Loraine and continue north on county road 139.
Today is an double anniversary, first an all time day at Campo, Colorado and the second, El Reno, Oklahoma and the sad deaths of Twistex team members Tim Samaras, his son Paul and Carl Young.
A small tortoise randomly crosses the road. We continue north. The SPC update is fresh out, a slight risk with an associated 2% tornado risk in eastern Colorado up on the High Plains. Perfect.
We have a pit stop at Stripes at Snyder, politely turning down the two tacos for $4 special. A hearse is parked next to us; I hold the door open for the smartly attired, elderly undertaker, and I get a “thank you sir” delivered in typical Texan style. Back to our northern safari on US84, popping an indigestion tablet as we go.
A minor issue: a good 4g signal and this blog updates like a charm, but for some reason the occasional 5g signal is positively pedestrian. We stop in Lubbock, the morning sun shining and the sky blue; even the KFC looks great. We head up I27 towards Plainview.
Amarillo rolls into view for the third time on this trip, one of my most visited cities in the Plains. A quick stop at Walmart and we head west past the Cadillac Ranch then up farm road 2381 north. The plan is to have a picnic in Boise City in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Me and Alex have already scoffed ours, another chef’s salad disappears. it’s amazing how much groceries are in the US. Alex got a small pot of mixed olives for $5. A similar size in the UK is £2. I had to Google that; I went into a supermarket once back home, didn’t like it and never went back.
We eventually stop for lunch in Dalhart at the Rita Blanca Park, very green, leafy and well kept. It also has a disc golf net so out comes the frisbee. Arron thinks it’s a rubbish bin. Some innocent play followed by Alex going into pro mode, launches one in my direction, it hits a boundary layer causing a downdraft redirecting the missile which smacks me straight in the eye nearly destroying my specs. While assessing this potentially serious head injury the dozy arse manages to deposit the oily contents of his olives all over my suitcase. Doyle. Turns out he’s also covered himself in oil, to the extent that he has to change his shorts. It’s actually all over the place with several other things now displaying a glossy sheen. Mega Doyle. And the frisbee can’t be found either. The criteria for getting left behind is reviewed, some how he’s still with us. We head north up US385.
We drive into Colorado, through Campo and have a pit stop at Springfield before resuming north. A severe warned storm has bubbled up to our south west. It’s 16:00, 9 hours since we set off.
It’s 17:00 and we’re sat in the Days Inn in Lamar, Colorado having gone through the most unnecessarily, painfully long check in process. As we’ve got time to kill we cross the road to Tavern 1301 for food and a drink. I was going to have a salad but as we’ll be chasing late I force down most of a burger.
It’s 18:20 and we head north towards Kit Carson with a severe storm in our sights.
We head west at Kit Carson. There’s a bowl like lowering and a 84 knot rotation marker. We head west on Co94 and are looking straight at our storm with a clearly defined wall cloud with intermittent lightning. It was rotating, then an outflow boundary from the south arrived, kicked up another small cell in front of ours and put paid to a tornado. So close again. We retrace our steps back towards Kit Carson, it’s dark and there’s plenty of lightning so a couple of stops are in order. We get back to the Days Inn at Lamar at 22:15 mountain
A long day, 16 hours but that’s 7 for 7 storm days. Out at 8 tomorrow.
Total miles: 710
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