Through Texas along Route 66, which follows the highway. Nice again.

Then down TX 207, which is marked as scenic in my Rand-McNally, towards Palo Duro Canyon. I must say I was a bit surprised at the scenic rating of 207. It was perfectly flat country allowing you to see forever. Quite beautiful, to be sure, but not really that dramatic to one used to the perfectly flat planes of Holland and Florida.

Then, in an instant, before I even knew what had happened, I was suddenly on a curved, steep mountain path through the most gorgeously colored mountains you can imagine. The "scenic" rating was no longer a mystery to me. Just as quickly as they came, the mountains dissappeared and I was again driving through pastel colored fields extending to the horizon.

To get at Palo Duro Canyon, you take a right on 207 onto TX 217. Unfortunately, 207 dead-ended at TX 86 without me having seen 217. After careful thought and perusal of the map, it turned out that what I had seen as an extension of TX 217 was actually the "Prairie Town Dog Fork of the Red" river. TX 217 does not meet 207. It dead-ends at Palo Duro Canyon. Some thinking indicated that going back on 207 would still be better than US 27, so that is what I did. Though eventually, you need to detour to 27 anyway. See the map below.

It stayed relatively cool for a long time, so I had the top down until now, but then the definite suggestion of kidney stones acting up suggested that I put the top up pronto and have some water.

Palo Duro Canyon turned out to be as gorgeous as Roadtrip USA suggested. Highly recommended.

I stopped at the Motel 6 in Amarillo, needing to do the laundry because of being out of clean shirts. Good news: they have a (small) landromat in the hotel and it was free, Bad news: apparently running the AC at full blast has depleted the battery. The car will no longer start. I am doing the laundry now and will worry about the car tomorrow.

Pictures (click for larger size):