Amarillo by Morning...

A continuation of the trip to the cool waters of Colorado...

After we missed the hail storm and the "frightening target", we moved along to the metropolis of Amarillo Texas - located in the Texas panhandle. This would be the last major city we would go through in Texas. Many/most people will not know or realize that built right into the heart of Amarillo is the worlds largest repository of nuclear destruction. Pantex is part of the vast US DOE, Department of Energy, industrial complex. Pantex was and still is the final assembly point disassembly point of all US nuclear weapons. Pantex stores a vast quantity of plutonium pucks that are used in nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Security is needless to say, beyond tight. I believe before 9/11, you could actually get a tour of Pantex. Since 9/11, Pantex is off limits. We started to drive by Pantex on our way home as I am a "nuclear tourist" - having been to the Atomic Museum in both New Mexico and Las Vegas, toured the actual Nevada Test Site, been to NORAD in Colorado Springs, LANL-Las Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Menwith Hill in the UK (home of the super secret NSA-National Security Agency). Anyway, we were tired on our way home and I just didn't feel like stopping by Pantex and snapping some pictures for my collection - we were trying to make as much distance as possible. Perhaps next time... For more information on Pantex, please see http://www.doeal.gov/pxso/default.htm and http://www.pantex.com/ and http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/pantex.htm

Anyway, on our way to Colorado my across the street neighbor Tred whom I was vacationing with suggested we stop here...



















That is I Shane Allen




















Neighbor and good friend Tred Riggs




















Here is the American equivilent of the UK Stone Henge, Cadillac Ranch. You can read more about Cadillac Ranch at http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
























Thousands of years in the future, archelogists will uncover this site and will draw the conclusion that it was some form of pagan worship site and that the ancient Americans "worshiped" the Cadillac.



















The ground was littered with spent spray cans - obviously it is a "ritual" to leave your mark on these Cadillac's. Alas, we did not have any spray paint with us so we could not participate in the ceremony.



















Quite literally, the Cadillac Ranch is right in the middle of a plowed field on the western outskirts of Amarillo and is obviously a popular attraction - perhaps because it is free and an American icon. Some enterprising person should open up a little booth or vending machine to sell beverages and spray paint for those that came unprepared to participate in the pagan worship ceremonies.

See you on down the road...