Amarillo by noon...

Within a block you can grab a beer, see some boobs, and eat steak.

We must be in Texas.

The team had a special projects trip to the Lonestar State on Thursday to talk shop with a group we are excited to have the opportunity to work with. The trip was a solid 12-hour day, but most of it was spent in the car cruising with laptops open and air cards running (depending on the stretch of road anyway).

The intern had quite the trip. She's a Buckeye and had never been south. So, we gave her the tour on our whirlwind trip to Amarillo for a lunch meeting. We left at 6:30 a.m. he team was a little blurry-eyed, but we climbed in the trusty Traverse and headed south. We passed through quite a bit of open range, and even had an in-depth conversation about the Dalton Gang (their "hideout" is located in Meade for all you history buffs).

Once we hit Oklahoma we learned that the mascot for the Beaver, Oklahoma school district is the Dusters. That's right, the Beaver Dusters. Rather unfortunate if you ask me. We cruised through tiny towns in the panhandle before we hit the Texas state line right before Perryton.

"You've just hit your third state in one day," I told the intern. "Most people in their first job barely make it down the block to a cube."

As we buzzed through the Texas Panhandle we got a cotton lesson. This will likely be a shock (sarcasm), but the Buckeye had never seen cotton growing either. Now she has not only visualized it, but knows that it is picked by two different types of machines depending on the quality, that they pack up modules that rest on the outside of the field once it's harvested before it's shipped to the gin. At the gin they clean it, bale it, and it's on the way. She also learned that cotton in that part of the world (Texas Panhandle) is typically used for denim, rather than other materials because of the variety grown.

We drove through a canyon. We dodged a few antelope minding their own business watching traffic at the fence edge, and we drove past one of the smallest Waffle House restaurants I've ever seen. I'm still working on getting the editor to a Waffle House. I have no idea why she's never been in one. That's just un-American, but I digress.

Finally we hit our Lonestar location of Amarillo at 10:30 and realized we were about an hour early so we hit up Cavendar's Boot City. We're in Texas, you have to at least pretend to boot shop. I found a few pair I could live with, but I didn't have an extra $400 laying around. Figures. I still have no idea where this "expensive" taste has come from. Without any boots in hand we vacated and headed to the restaurant and had the tastiest sirloin steak ever. It was so delicious. I may have to make a trip just for the steak. Okay, maybe I won't go that far, but take my word for it - it was good.

Once the meeting wrapped at 2:30 we hit the road and retraced our steps. This time we took a few moments to snap a couple photos so the intern would have a few photos (and proof) for her Facebook page to show all the Buckeyes back east what she's up to.

Here are just a few pics from our trip today.

Boots, boots, and more boots! 

Sound advice from the good ol' boys of Texas. 

We had to get the intern a pic for proof of her journey. 

It exists. It really does exist.