Day 2: Cows, and casinos, and dust storms! Oh my!

Hey everyone!

Day 2 is officially complete! If the map above doesn't give you a good indication of what out day was like, the one below this will.

Just your typical Oklahoma dust storm.

We started from Little Rock around 9:30 this morning with beautiful weather and clear skies. We knew it would be a relatively uneventful driving day, but we were both looking forward to getting to see the land really start to change. Arkansas wasn't very interesting, and it wasn't until we started getting close to OKC that we started noticing how different the layout was. Jared said it reminded him a bit of South Jersey. It became such an odd mix of wind farms, Indian casinos, and cow pastures. The trees are just kind of there occasionally, scrubby and bent from the wind.

A little note on the bathroom door.

We stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post, which is where we noticed that the wind had really picked up. Weatherbug said that it was 25-35 mph, with gust up to 50, and it definitely felt like it! After trying on some hats and looking at some of the beautiful artwork, we kept on.

The last bit of blue sky we saw.

The dust storm really freaked us out, since neither of us had ever experienced anything like it. It definitely made the last few hours feel longer.

My view in the car.

9 hours later, we finally made it to our hotel. We dropped off our stuff and headed to one of the highlights of the trip... The Big Texan Steak Ranch! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for most touristy things. I've seen this place on more Travel Channel shows than I can count and was DETERMINED to get here once in my life.

Jared fighting back the wind.

The food was excellent and plentiful. We both tried the Mountain Oysters and thought they were pretty good! We also go to see a guy attempt and beat the 72 oz. steak challenge, which according to our server is a pretty rare treat.

This guy beat the 72 oz. challenge!

Rocky mountain oysters!

Omnomnomnom

We only have a 6 hour drive to Gallup, NM tomorrow, so luckily we don't have to worry about getting up too early! Hopefully we don't get swallowed up by any more dust! :)