Today was our second drive-all-day day. We made it from Rollo, Mo., through Oklahoma (past Tulsa and Oklahoma City, neither of which we stopped in) to Amarillo–about 650 miles–and arrived just ahead of a huge rainstorm. It was hot today, but not quite as hot as yesterday when we were driving through Illinois. We hit 100 again, but only briefly.

This is going to sound really hokey, but this country is beautiful. Even the flatlands are awesome in their vastness and you can drive really fast. We went from the lush, rolling hills of the Ozarks to the brown, flat Texas panhandle. Let me tell you, there are places where there is NOTHING. Like, nothing can even be seen from the exit off the highway. Where are those people going? I spent some time staring and trying to imagine how I would paint the landscape, flattening it in my mind into rectangles, triangles, and arcs. Greens, grays, silvers, yellows, blues, and browns as far as the eye can see.

OK, now I really have something to write about. We decided to brave the crazy Texas rain to get some food. We do have our priorities. First we ran through the rain to the grocery store for a drink to go with our food and ended up with pineapple cider. It’s OK and that’s not what I want to talk about. It’s A Punjabi Affair is. Yes, that’s right, we got Indian takeout street food in Amarillo and it was fabulous. The place is not set up for pouring rain as you either walk up to the window or drive up to order. There is a small covered area where you can eat in, but not in a downpour. I was going to have the biryani, but then when I got to the window, I saw that there was a chickpea masala special, so I went for that. I also ordered the salad. Steven got tandoori chicken, which came with both rice and naan. For good measure, we added a couple of samosas. Wow! The potato in the samosas was fluffy, the crust was crunchy; the whole thing was delicious. I couldn’t tell you why, but the salad, which was warm, was very tasty. It had lettuce, chickpeas, carrots, pickled onions, rice, and their own dressing. I’m probably missing something, but boy, was it good. The masala was spicy and tasty. Just enough burn so that the flavors really shone through. Steven said the chicken was tender and moist and, just like mine, perfectly spiced. Oh, and the portions are huge. The woman who took our order seemed surprised at how much we were ordering. We found out why: We could have fed four people or at least three very comfortably. All for $30.