Amarillo Day 2

Today we extended our stay here by one day. Since our stay in McKinney ended so late on Friday and being unwilling to drive 7 hours at night, we changed our arrival in Amarillo to the following day. Today's extension brings us back to the length of our original stay, but at a cost; we had to shorten our Albuquerque trip by the same and being Thanksgiving weekend Albuquerque was full for the weekend so we couldn't extend there. That leaves us with one day to see Albuquerque and one to explore Santa Fe. For the weekend and beyond we made reservations in Truth or Consequences (TorC), New Mexico, from the 26th to the 30th.

TorC is right along the Rio Grande River, and has many natural hot springs, some right next to the river. People have reported heating up in the springs then jumping in the river to cool off. Not sure we will do that,  but we do intend to frequent the springs. 

So today we visited PetSmart for a winter coat for Tiffin (Cocoa  already had one), and some anti-itch spray for Cocoa. No fleas, but probably an allergic reaction to something. He started scratching all the time.

We dropped the dogs back home and then visited the Cadillac Ranch, a tourist destination/curiosity site. The owner of the ranch half buried ten Cadillacs in a section of his fields and sells spray paint to tourists so they can "decorate" the cars as they see fit.

 Afterwards, we went to Salt Grass Steak House. Good food during which we struck up a conversation with a fellow at the next table by the name of Abe. He was a photographer for the University of Montana's football team in Missoula, but due to covid all games were canceled. He got hired as a production assistant last season on the blockbuster TV show Yellowstone, and was hired back this year as the dailies coordinator for the Yellowstone origin series, 1883, which is being shot somewhere near here. (They no longer film in Utah as that state did not extend the tax credits to the production company as they had for the previous seasons). His job is to collect all the dailies, the film that is shot each day, catalog them and get them to Los Angeles for processing, then get the digital copies sent back to him to put in order for the editors. He has been here since the beginning of November and won't leave until the season is finished shooting, sometime in January. His position at the university was filled in his absence, but he doesn't mind too much as he said he makes the yearly equivalent of his university salary in 3 months with the production company. It was very interesting speaking with him.

Tomorrow  we plan to visit Palo Duro Canyon.