Saturday, 10th September - Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas

Another 260 odd miles today on a combination of old Route 66 and it's replacement, Interstate 40.

First stop was Clinton and its excellent Route 66 Museum.

Incidentally, is this the way to Amarillo?

A few miles up the road in Elk City is the National Route 66 Museum. It had some great exhibits but our vote went to the Museum in Clinton.

A Lincoln Continental:

A Ford Model A:

A Chevrolet Corvette and a Studebaker Hawk:

Onwards, we stopped at another Route 66 icon, the art deco 1936 U-Drop-Inn at Shamrock.

Finally, our ultimate destination today, the magnificently over-the-top Big Texan Steak Ranch and motel. American kitsch at is best (and tastiest!).

We managed to resist the temptation of the "free" (if you eat it within an hour*) 72oz steak and had a modest meal of 5oz filets accompanied by bbq beans, mash, fried okra and coleslaw. Cherry cheesecake for dessert 🍰 
* Amazingly, over 10,000 people have successfully risen to the challenge including an 11 year old boy, a 73 year old grandmother and one young lady who ate THREE in the space of 20 minutes!! Check out the videos on You Tube for the awful evidence.

You can't come to Texas and not try on a cowboy hat ............

Our room .... bit of a "cowboy" vibe going on.

Comments

  1. MawsSeptember 11, 2022 at 12:34 PM

    Can't believe you have been gone for a week already. But what wonderful things you are doing. Loving the blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve CorbettSeptember 13, 2022 at 2:34 PM

    Some interesting cars there. Good choice of hat Suse!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday, 21st September - Williams, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada

Image
Today we put another 280 miles on the clock and entered the 8th state on our trip, albeit not one on Route 66, Nevada to spend a couple of nights in the crazy world that is Las Vegas. On the way we travelled on the most undisturbed and unspoilt part of Route 66 stopping in Seligman, the beating heart of Route 66's revival in the late 80s and early 90s following its official decommissioning. The late Juan, owner of the Snow Cap Cafe, and his brother Angel Delgadillo, a barber shop owner, established the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona so that the heritage of Route 66 would not be lost. Seligman is also home to the Roadrunner Cafe and the infamous Roadkill Cafe whose motto is "you kill it, we grill it". Onward to Hackberry and the delightful Hackberry Stores, home to THE best gift shop on Route 66 and some cracking examples of old cars and Americana memorabilia. ...
Read more

Saturday, 24th September - Los Angeles to Cambria

Image
Our final few miles on Route 66. We drove down Santa Monica Boulevard to Santa Monica Pier, the "official" end of Route 66. We breakfasted on the pier and strolled to the end of the pier. The opportunity was taken to have a paddle in the Pacific Ocean. And with that we bade farewell to Route 66 and headed north up the Pacific Coast Highway 250 miles or so to Cambria and our home for the next couple of nights, The Cambria Pines Lodge. We had a brief stop for lunch in Oxenard where we sampled the delights of Jack in the Box (actually the Oreo milkshake was very good).
Read more

Friday, 16th September - Albuquerque, New Mexico to Chinle, Arizona

Image
Today we entered the 7th state on this trip, Arizona (The Sunshine State), and racked up another 265 miles bringing our total to date to just shy of 2000 miles. We made a "side trip" off Route 66 to a National Monument, El Morro. On the face of it just another spectacular rock formation. The reality is it is known as "Inscription Rock" as there are over 2000 signatures, dates and petroglyphs at the base of the rock evidencing Native Americans (who, incidentally, once lived in a pueblo on top of the rock), Spanish invaders who arrived from Mexico to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism (and, incidentally, to subjugate them) and more recently Americans who travelled through on their way out west, civil war soldiers and surveyors for a proposed railroad. So, why did they all stop at this place in the middle of nowhere? Simply because at the base of the rock is a deep freshwater pool - literally an oasis in the desert. The view looking awa...
Read more