Oct. 5 Caprock Canyon/Amarillo

October 5,  2017 Thursday

We drive through the park early hoping to see some wildlife and stop at a few overlooks.   It is not raining but is very overcast and a ranger tells us they are expecting more later in the day.  We decide to walk part of the Canyon Rim Trail which it is obvious from tracks that at least one bison has walked recently as well. 

 Low clouds, but no rain yet.  A surprising number of flowers.

 Metal cut-outs are scattered throughout the park  - in case the real thing is elusive.  We see assorted buffalo cow pies, so we know they are here but only see a few from far away.

Very pretty canyon scenes.  Interesting tidbit – when a bison is agitated, it will raise its tail.  This is where the term “high-tailing it” comes from.  If a bison raised its tail you were supposed to quickly move away from it.  We have noted that they also raise their tails when they poop – so either way, moving away is a good call.

Then we stop again at a prairie dog town and snap a few shots of the cute, pudgy critters as they dig and chirp at us, waving their black-tipped tails as a warning signal to others when we approach too closely.  

 We see a large deer, a rabbit,  and what I think is an osprey in a tree overlooking a lake – looking for breakfast we suppose.

We leave the park about 11:00  via some back roads, many more cotton fields, cattle and some sorghum.  Then we hit I-27, a larger highway, into Amarillo.  

Greg wants to get the oil changed, so we go to a Jiffy Lube.  The rain continues on and off.  They technicians there inform us that the tube you put the oil in that goes to the engine is messed up, but they are able to complete the job.  As we leave, the check engine light comes on so we head back. They run a diagnostic but swear, of course, that what they did has nothing to do with the light, which has something to do with the exhaust.  Well… they reset the light and it stays off but we aren't comfortable.  As  we will find out later, the Jiffy Lube guys are not mechanics.  We continue to a nearby rv dealership which has an rv museum we’ve heard about – Jack Sisemore’s Travel Land. Lots of classic RVs and Harley Davidsons.  Interesting seeing some from the 30’s which look quite comfortable!

 This is an early Harley made for Military use in WWII.

 This red one was used in an rv movie with Robin Williams.

Good thing to check out in the rain. 

When we leave however, the check engine light is back on.  A man at the RV Museum suggests a dealership around the corner from them, so we spend the next few hours at Brown Automotive GMC Dealership.  They kindly help us right away and after some scritching and scratching and consulting with Greg, they manage to fix things without having to order a new part (which would take till Monday to get).  We leave with fingers crossed and decide to stay at a nearby Walmart for the night.  Soup for dinner.