Route 66 - Day 11 - Tucumcari, NM to Conway, AK

We ate at Kix on 66, which is a diner in Tucumcari. I had the huevos rancheros, which were muy bien! (Lorena Ludeña, que estaría orgulloso de mí: he usado mi amplio conocimiento del español para decir 'gracias' un par de veces en el viaje).

Nik forwarded a list of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' for us to potentially check out from here to Memphis. Thanks, Nik!

While driving through Texas, past Wildorado, there were a few tumbleweeds rolling across the highway. Cool!

What was NOT cool was the cattle ranch after Wildorado . I opened the window to take a pic of all the cows, but should've thought of both the winds and the impact of 10,000 head of cattle in a small area. Smell-ee!

Another cop scare: we were going slightly above the speed limit, but not a crazy amount, when all of a sudden, a Texas State Trooper pulled out of nowhere, and drove up so close and so fast behind us, we both thought he was going to ram us. Then he passed us, drove about 10 ahead of us in the next lane, and craned his head around to look at us. Then he sped up, and kept tapping his brakes. Finally, he slowed down, drove over the grass median, and U-turned onto the westbound highway.

Iv's been a bit worried at different points due to his tinted windows. They're a 20% tint (i.e. they let 20% of the sunlight in). In Canada, they're legal, but in some states, apparently, 35% tints are the minimum you can have on the front windows. We're not sure how the law applies to out of country cars, but it's a consideration that we could get stopped for pimped-out glass...

We stopped at Conway, Texas, to see Bug Ranch, which is a take-off of Cadillac Ranch. It's even more roughed up than Cadillac Ranch was! Oh, well; still photo ops.

We passed by Groom again.









Groom's Giant Cross - redux (recrux?)

Onto Oklahoma! We stopped in Erick to look for a picture of the 100th meridian (everything west used to be the "Great American Desert"), but all we could find was the 100th Meridian Museum and a quiet town. The Roger Miller Museum there was also closed, so we kept driving to Clinton.

Clinton has a few things in it: a Route 66 museum, Jiggs Smoke House (they make jerky there), and the Tradewinds Inn (Elvis stayed there four times). We decided to check out the Route 66 museum.

Definitely worth checking out! Very well maintained, compared to some of the other museums we've seen on the way (the McDonald's museum in San Berdoo, for example, was mostly of the 'get some memorabilia and slap it into a cabinet without organizing it' variety). A lot of good picture moments.

I bought some stamps (finally) to send postcards that I bought over a week ago, and am writing those up now. They'll probably get back after I do, but it's the thought that counts, right?

We hit Leo's BBQ (a triple D featured place) in OKC. SO GOOD! I ordered the Leo's Light, which is obviously ironic, since it consisted of at least a pound of ribs, brisket, baloney, and a hot link, with baked beans and potato salad.

When we walked in, too, the place smelled smoky, like there was a fire burning. Once we looked past the cash, we realized why. There was a fire burning (note in the close-up of pic on right the fire behind the waitress)! Apparently, they smoke all their meat on site. Dinner was great: the hot link was the best sausagey meat I've ever had, and the same went for the baked beans. Their BBQ sauce (which came in the squeeze bottles) was a sweeter variety, and they had both mild and hot versions. I probably ate twice as much as Ivan (I ate my meal, and also polished off half of his baked potato), but this is why he looks like he does, and I look like I do. I can exercise when I get home...

So on to Memphis. Iv's determined to get there tonight, which equals 1 300 km of driving today. Ouch.

After passing Fort Smith around 8:30, a giant glowing cross appeared on a mountain in front of us. We debated whether it was guiding us, or trying to trick us into driving into the mountain. We're still undecided, because it disappeared after we turned a corner.

Maybe the cross was guiding us, because we got pulled over AGAIN for the second time during the trip (this time by an Arkansas State trooper; he was very friendly, too), and got off AGAIN for the second time. Third time's a charm (or maybe fourth time, if you count the cop from this morning)?

He came over to my window and asked for Ivan's license, registration, & for him to step outside. Then he came back, and started talking to me, but I ended up asking him more questions than he asked me (had he ever been to Canada? No. Did he know where Ontario was? Just north of New York State. Had he heard of Nova Scotia? Yes; it's out on the eastern seaboard. And so on), so I think he let us go just to shut me up.

The last part of the conversation confirmed this to me:

Jeff: blah blah Route 66 blah blah Canada blah great trip blah blah...
State Trooper (smiling): excuse me for a minute.
Jeff (ready to ask for Arkansas travel tips when he gets back): okay!

Ivan gets back in the car. The cop's car lights go on and he takes off.

Jeff (slightly hurt): He just took off?
Ivan: Yeah. He let me go, jumped in his car, and drove away.
Jeff: Oh.

Since this happened at 9:30, we decided to stop travelling just outside of Little Rock, crash at a Motel 6, and drive to Memphis in the morning (still four states in one day). Good night, all!

P.S. Watch for rattlesnakes.

Route 66 - Day Nine - El Centro to Flagstaff (again)

Like Bob Seger, I too woke last night to the sound of thunder. A LOT of thunder! I've never heard that much thunder that close to me in my life. And it continued in the morning. The rain had briefly stopped in the morning, but came back with a vengeance when we were ready to leave. The town was flooded! Check out the vid of the road out of town:



Driving out of California, we stopped in Yuma, which, like Flagstaff, was more of a cool name than a place you'd actually want to stop in.

On to Fecility, California: the Centre of the World. At least, according to a guy who built a pyramid there and somehow got France and China to recognize it as such:



And a run-in with border patrol:



Exit 111: it was bound to happen - Ivan got pulled over by Arizona Highway Patrol. There were a few funny things about it:

Cop: How fast do you think you were going?
Ivan: I dunno, about 120?
Cop: ONE TWENTY?!
Jeff (to self): Convert to miles! Convert to miles!

What was funnier was the officer's last name:



The good news is that Ivan got off with a warning (I totally called it. The cop was ballbusting a bit, but was a young guy, and seemed nice). Once he issued the citation, I asked if I could take a picture of his nametag, since our boss has the same(ish) name.

He agreed, and then got a little chatty with us. His great-grandfather was from Maine, and moved down here.

Stopped at Carl, Jr's north of Tucson for lunch. Good burgers! I don't think this breaks the 'no fast food' rule, since it's a West Coast chain, and therefore exotic (I could be stretching it, but it makes sense to me).

We were about to head to Tombstone, when Nik texted, and said not to take the I-10 east of Tucson due to murders, carjackings, and general badassery. Apparently the Canadian government issued a travel advisory, and said avoid all non-essential travel from Tuscon to El Paso/Juarez.

I'm generally a risk-taker, and despite the warning, I was fine travelling that way. Ivan was not. I didn't blame him: after all, it's his car, and for me to talk him into going and something to happen to us or his car would not bode well.

So we headed north to Phoenix, and then to Flagstaff (note I wrote the earlier part of today's blog while on the road, unaware we'd end up in Flagstaff ever again. Ah, hubris!)

We're staying at the Arizonan Motel, which is run by a guy who used to live in Scarborough. Decent place, with renovations going on. And internet (whew). I believe with this post, I'm caught up to present! Hoorary!

Since we got in early, we ordered in from the New Jersey Pizza Company in Flagstaff. EXCELLENT pizza! So all was not lost by staying here. This 'za is comparable to a big city, professional pizza joint, and I'd honestly say one of the best pies I've ever had. We ordered mushroom, bacon, and pepperoni, and they threw on fresh herbs and very fresh tomato sauce. I just had a cold piece for breakfast, and it was still great!