Day 24 Route 66

Some Route 66 states found a couple of good ways to preserve a lot of the old route. In rural areas, they made it the frontage road (or service road or outer road) of the Interstate Freeways. In cities they made it the business route. Those two things help us stay on track as we travel.

Today we crossed the border into Texas. They do things differently here. For instance, freeway rest areas here are picnic areas. They have tables but no other facilities. You can stop and sleep all night if you want to, though. Since we prefer to have electricity to run our furnace fan at night, we probably won’t take them up on that offer.

The leaves are changing color here! It’s hard to remember that they even have trees that have leaves, but in northeast Texas they do. They have seasons in this part of Texas. In fact, Dave says the really bad blizzards we got in Minnesota that came from the south instead of the west originated here.

Our first Route 66 stop today was the former U Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. The cafe is still in business.

The book says Route 66 comes and goes between Shamrock and McLean, Texas, so we should take I-40. We did. Boy did it feel wrong to be on the Freeway! Plus, we could see Route 66 beside us so we think, for the first time, the book led us wrong.  

It was interesting to see how we responded to being back on the freeway, though. Dave has said if we hit snow or freezing temperatures we might have to get on the freeway and “make a run for it.” Was this foreshadowing of how that would be?

Our next stop was the Texas Route 66 Museum. I like their pictures of things along the route because their photos were of the families that owned the businesses standing in front of them. It was nice to have people in the pictures so the places had some life to them. That doesn’t mean Dave or I are going to stand in front of the things we photograph, though.

I also like the Coke machine they had. This one obviously dates from the days when Coke was not in competition with water.

We went to the McLean post office to pick up our mail but they were closed for lunch. So we toured more of the sites in town while we waited. While driving from one place to another we met a John Deere tractor driving down brick Main Street I wish I’d had my camera ready to get that picture! Here’s another Phillips 66 station. Note the outside rack for servicing cars.

And here’s the Cactus Motel. Housekeeping was moving from room to room while we were there.

 

Then we returned to the post office but it still wasn’t open so we snacked while we waited. Then, having received a read a bunch of our mail, we moved on.

This leaning water tower is in Groom, Texas. Lot’s of people stop there to ask them what happened. Which is precisely the point. It was built that way so people would stop rather than just drive by.

Then we stopped in Amarillo, Texas, for lupper. If a combination breakfast and lunch is brunch, isn’t a combination lunch and supper lupper? The Big Texan Steak Ranch’s claim to fame is a 72 oz steak dinner that you get for free if you can eat it all in an hour. Otherwise you pay $72. We were pretty hungry but decided not to risk it. We settled for smaller steaks. Besides they make you sit up on a stage next to a countdown clock if you order the big one. As former Minnesotans that’s too much attention.

Then we went to the A-OK campground where we planned to spend the night. But, they had too much electricity. Our EMS, electrical management system, shuts down the incoming electricity if it gets as high as 132 volts. When Dave plugged in our EMS it read 130 then 131. Rather than having our electricity turn on and off all night again, we moved to the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. It cost more but it also had a book exchange where I traded in six books, so I guess we came out OK.

TTYL,

Linda