There is a rout that goes from I-70 in Limon Co., to Amarillo Tx. that is very popular with truckers. It's an easy drive with some mildly interesting views and weather patterns for the observant. All except for Dumas, Tx., that is.
With the exception of Dumas, you can count the number of traffic lights with your fingers along the entire 326 mile trip. But then you get to Dumas with more than 20 traffic lights all in a row and all set up so if a semi stops at one, you'll likely have to stop at all of them. The only way to not stop at them all is to go a maddening 25mph in a 40mph zone and hope they all cycle through before you get to them. Each stop will cost a truck up to 2 gallons of fuel (usually at least 1/2 gallon and typically about 3/4 gallon), times thousands of trucks per day. There is no bypass and the police watch truckers like hawks (which I don't mind, but it's kinda like ratcheting up the frustration then waiting for that frustration to get to someone - and it usually does get to several someones every day).
Dumas is the only frustrating part of the entire 326 mile leg.
As an aside, I mentioned the mildly interesting weather along the way. Heading south, you can often start out in one type of weather, and just like passing through a wall, you will drive into a completely different weather. It might be cloudy and rainy, then suddenly, in the span of maybe 15 miles, you're in sunny cloudless weather. From rain soaked, to drought in a matter of 15 miles. One year, I saw what looked like the clouds were contained by an invisible wall all summer. I think this happens just a few dozen miles north of the Oklahoma border, though it moves north and south from year to year. Also, the wind farm at night is an amazing sight the first few times you see it.
And Amarillo is a nice place to stop if you like your steak big
Submitted March 18, 2020 at 10:06PM by jdlech https://ift.tt/3b6alDn
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