I've selected 3 places along the way to stop and absorb a little road trip history.
- Lucille's Service Station in Hydro, OK. (about 1 hour from here)
- Cadillac Ranch, outside Amarillo, TX. (about 3:45 from here)
- Tucumcari, NM (about 5:15 from here)
- Find suitable Route 66 souvenirs: tee shirts, key chains, etc...
- Expose the kids to some iconic scenes associated with Route 66 through the area.
7:40am
We're starting to rise, messing around in the hotel room. They only serve breakfast until 9am this morning, so maybe that will help us moving a little earlier today. We pack up, check out and eat breakfast. We're on the road by 9:20am.
Day 29 - mile 6986
10:05am
We're at Lucille's Service Station in Hydro, OK. I've included a picture of the plaque below that tells the story. Basically, this station operated for a LOOOONG time and got to be pretty renown. We look around and take a few pictures.
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The owners built a modern "roadhouse" down the road 4 miles in Weatherford, OK, so we drive along the old pavement to there, stop in and buy a few souvenirs.
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[video of Elodie doing the twist]
Day 29 - mile 7106
1:27pm
We pull off I-40 at McLean, TX and visit the Devil's Rope Museum, a tribute to barbed wire. At first, it looks pretty small. I walked in and the place was dark... no one was around. Then, this guy comes out says "Howdy, I was in back eating my lunch... com'on in... have a look around, it's free." He flicks on the lights and ... whammo! The place is huge!!! And, it's filled with exhibits about barbed wire. Pretty hard to imagine that there's that much to know... but, there it is.
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On the way out of McLean, we pass numerous examples of buildings and businesses that didn't survive the construction of the interstate highway.
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We also visited a restored Phillips 66 station.
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About a half hour past McLean is Groom, TX. Home to the leaning water tower
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and the second biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere. (Apparently there's one in Effingham, IL that's 8 ft larger, that's why this one is second largest.)
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Day 29 - mile 7185
3:15pm
We visit Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, TX [which is the home of Big Texan Steak Ranch where your 72 oz steak dinner is free if you can eat it all in one hour.]
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It's very iconic... and very low-key. Just the caddies in a field. No more... no less.
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[video of us leaving the ranch]
Day 29 - mile 7284
4:15pm
Crossing into New Mexico, we travel back in time to the Moutain Time Zone. along the way, we also got off the interstate to drive through through Glenrio, TX. It's a sad, lonely forgotten place; another town killed off by the interstate. I wondered what would be left of it and other places like it when my kids are old enough to take a similar trip with their kids. Would anything be left? It already reminds me of Bodie, CA.
We're pulling into Tucumcari, NM. It used to advertise 2000 hotel rooms. Now, the signs all say 1200. We can see more boarded up motels on the way in. We stop at the Tee-Pee Curio Trading Post and buy a few trinkets. We don't see any place we want to stay long or even eat at, so we hustle on out of town toward Albuquerque.
[video of Elodie playing with her doll]
Along the way west of Tucumcari, we skirt some storms that are moving through. They are impressive.
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Day 29 - mile 7452
7:10pm
We arrive at our hotel in Albuquerque. Following what's become a pattern, we gas up the car and look for a restaurant before hitting the room. It's tough to get everyone loaded up in the car after they've been liberated. We try hard to find an authentic "New Mexican" restaurant, but after three failures, we give up and settle for a Chilis. Not a terribly proud moment in our travels, but we're hungry and just looking forward to rest.
We get back to the hotel and I spend some time uploading pictures, video and writing this blog. It's past 11:30pm and I'm still not done, but the text is ready. I need to go back and link in the pictures.
Tomorrow we get to the Grand Canyon.
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