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 Five - Albuquerque, NM to Holbrook, AZ

We woke and got the bugs of one province and seven states washed off the car. On to Old Town.

I was disappointed with Old Town: very touristy, and the one place I wanted to stop in (the Rattlesnake Museum) was closed. San Felipe de Nevi was a nice church, though.


From there, we took off to Acoma Pueblo (aka Sky City), and stopped at the Rio Puerco Bridge on the way. It was an old Route 66 decommissioned one-lane bridge in the middle of the I-40. Still looks impressive.

So Sky City is the oldest permanently inhabited North American settlement (since 1150), and was down a side road that had big 'ROAD CLOSED' signs all over it. We pulled up to one, and one of the native road workers waved us through. He also said something to me, but could not understand the accent at all.

I'm usually pretty good with thick accents, and this is probably the third time in my life I heard something spoken which I knew was English, but just couldn't figure it out.

Anyway, he waved us through, and we weaved through some big roadwork machinery to get to Sky City. I wanted to ask if they serve vodka at Skyy City, but that joke doesn't really work when spoken...

Sky City: fantastic! The sun was crazy hot, though, and despite Ivan reminding me to put on sunscreen, which I did, I got burned. Which drained my energy levels a fair amount.





Another thing that drained my energy levels was was the climb down. We got a tour bus up, and the option to climb down a natural staircase. Four of us (me, Iv, and two women) took up the challenge; the rest went down on the bus.

A couple of things I should have considered:

• my ankles don't bend that well
• I am very scared of heights
• IT'S A FREAKIN' STEEP MESA

Before, during, and after

I made it down successfully, but sat down a couple times and scooted on my ass. This was not like climbing a church tower...

From here, we broke a cardinal rule: we went to McDonald's, rather than a diner on the way. It was about 2:30, and we had looked for the Uranium Cafe in Grants, but couldn't find it, and instead of driving on any further, we gave up and got some chicken McNuggets. Come to think of it, that was my last meal on this day. I guess the steak in Amarillo is still in my system, keeping me full...

We then took Highway 53 to the El Malpais National Park to see the ice cave and the & Bandera Volcano. The volcano was a 20 minute hike up the mountain, which further tired me out, since it was still about 30C out. But it was beautiful. Another half hour down to the ice cave had me exhausted, but at least the ice cave gave me some respite from the heat...you could feel the cold air after taking four or five steps towards it.



Finally, we raced the sun to get to Painted Desert & Petrified Forest National Park, but it was too late. So we hopped it to Holbrook, where the Wigwam Inn awaited us. Our first real Route 66 motel!



Definitely worth staying at (except for the A/C unit in our room that didn't work)! We were in tepee #12; all tepees have classic cars parked outside, too.

Nik informed me that teepee #1 was where Oprah & Gail stayed. There, the similarity between them and Ivan & me end. Goodnight, folks!

Route 66 - Day Four - Joplin, TX to Albuquerque, NM

The stars at night! Are big and bright! CLAP CLAP Deep in the heart of Texas! We're more on the panhandle, rather than in the heart, but still...

First stop: the Devil's Rope Museum in McLean. A must-see! It's all about barbed wire. I know: you're thinking "must-see" and "barbed wire" are mutually exclusive. But it was a lot of fun, and there were some Route 66 exhibits, too, plus a room about the Dust Bowl in the 30s. We bought some trinkets, talked to the old lady who was volunteering, and met the guy who started the museum in the first place.

My friend Molly recommended Groom, which has a big cross. I thought it'd take about 30 seconds to see & take pics, but it was actually pretty interesting to stop there for a bit. Thanks, Molly!



When standing near a cross, make sure it is firmly entrenched in the ground. Otherwise, this will happen to you.

Nearby was the leaning water tower. Leany!


(although the one on the right that we passed in Illinois was more interesting...)

On to Amarillo, and the Big Texan: second of my must-sees/must-eats. I didn't order the 72 oz. steak, despite Ivan's urgings, but I did get an 18 oz. ribeye, which was DELICIOUS. There was a West Texas A&M football thing going on there, too, so a lot of clapping, which I initially thought was related to me eating an over 1 lb. steak. Apparently not.

We headed off to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which was the first (but not last) canyon we saw on the trip. Beautiful!











After that, we went to the iconic Cadillac Ranch. When you see it in movies or on TV, the cars look pretty good. Apparently, they get cleaned up for photo/film shoots. The rest of the time, they look like this: Still impressive, though!

Plus, since all the punks who spraypaint the cars leave their cans there, I also got to spraypaint a 'J' on one.

For late lunch/early dinner, we wanted to hit the Midpoint Cafe, located midway between Los Angeles and Chicago on old Route 66.


It was 4pm, and should've been open, but the 'Closed' sign was up, and when I walked towards the door, I heard the definite snick of the lock. Hmph.

We bolted to Tucumcari, NM, which is a pretty divy town, but La Cita had good Mexican food (but bad service).


Tucumcari also has the Blue Swallow Motel, which reminds me of a place Tobias Fünke would work at.

Finally, we did take a left turn at Albakoikie, and ended up there for the night at a Super 8. It wasn't super, but it worked.