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Friday, August 12, 2011

The route from Holbrook, AZ to Amarillo, TX couldn't have been more straight forward – get back on the I-40 East for 522 miles and then loop around onto a frontage road to reach the destination of Doug's desire – the Big Texan Ranch and Opry – a motel with a restaurant attached or vice versa. Both Albuquerque and Tucumcari were possible lunch breaks, but again we moved along pretty well and ended up in Santa Rosa, NM for the mid-day meal. We ate in a local Grille which specialized in, no surprise here, red and green chile sauces and anything else they could put chiles in. They also had a sign in the lobby that every parent would love. That was also when Doug found a rock chip in his windshield, our first travel injury. Now we had another meal in the plus column and were already planning for dinner. The reason Doug wanted to stay at the Big Texan was the 72 oz steak that was the cause for their "fame." So after checking in to the Western-style and taking a short swim, we all ambled next door for dinner. The deal here is that if you can eat a 72 oz steak with all the trimmings (soup, salad, potato, bread, etc. - see the photo of a sample plate) in under one hour, it was free. The regular price is $89.95. They also have a large pitcher of beer (see the photo.) The Big Texan is a very large and extremely busy restaurant with seating both up and downstairs. They don't take reservations (except for tour groups, we would imagine) so there can be a wait, but we only waited for about 15 minutes and then were seated upstairs overlooking the huge downstairs dining-room. A stage is set up next to the open grill, but not for musical groups. While we were waiting we noticed a group of Asian tourists with an overwhelming amount of camera equipment. It turned out they were from Beijing, China, and they talked one of their group into trying to beat the clock. He probably has not seen 72 oz (4 1/2 lb) of beef in his life and he wasn't too serious about the whole idea. He mounted the stage, sat down at the table, had his photo taken with and by his fellow travelers and anyone else who asked. He then slowly seasoned the meat and started cutting it into smaller slices, alternating this with something to drink. When we left, he had been eating for 39 minutes and was making very little headway. At our table, three of us had 6 oz filets and Doug had the 18 oz anniversary special. We fought our way through ours and Doug did a great job of putting his away. For all we know, the guy from Beijing was still there when the restaurant closed. We planned to make another early departure the next day as we had a 560 mile target.

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