sandcastle – Page 2 – The Sandcastle

Day 26 Route 66

Dave had a bad night last night. We are both subject to acid attacks. I take Prilosec which pretty much put an end to mine. Dave’s doctor prescribed Previcid which pretty much put an end to his. Then our insurance decided Previcid is too expensive so Dave should take Prilosec. It sometimes works for him but he is now having attacks every week or two. When he has one he gets up, takes a Rolaid, eats some crackers, and hopes it goes away so he can go back to bed. Last night he didn’t get to go back to bed. Which meant I didn’t get as much sleep as I would like either. So today we are both having to help each other think.

The five day weather forecast says we can go to Albuquerque before we have to reevaluate whether or not to head south. So we headed out driving along between the freeway and the railroad tracks. Sort of. The tracks themselves are long gone but the right of way is still visible.

Vega, Texas, is a small town but they have a lot of Route 66 stuff still there. These pictures are the Vega Motel, Roark Hardware (doing business since before Route 66 was established), Magnolia station, the courthouse, and Dot’s Mini Museum-mini is right.

I know I’ve titled this Day 26 but you probably realize by now I am only counting travel days. The days we stay parked to visit family or friends or do laundry and research are not included in that count. So we’ve actually been on this trip for five and a half weeks. Today we reached Adrian, Texas, the halfway point.

We saw the Bent Door Trading Post but it is closed. The rumor is this structure was taken from a military observation tower which is why the door and windows on the left side are bent. Unfortunately, the angle of our photo doesn’t show that bend as well as I would have liked. It’s pretty dramatic in person.

And we had lunch at the Midpoint Cafe, a route 66 tradition.

That white car belongs to Herb. Herb has been traveling parts of Route 66 for six years with his postcard sized travel guide, collecting signatures of business owners at the stops along the way. He’s still working at gathering signatures between Los Angeles and Springfield, Missouri. He hasn’t even started on the section between Springfield and Chicago. So, those of you who think we are traveling slowly, think about Herb. He was happy to have us confirm that places he plans to stop someday are still there, though.

Dave said Route 66 would end six miles west of Adrian. And he was right. But it wasn’t long after that that it came back. So all that work I did to get my mind ready for freeway travel was wasted.

The town of Glenrio straddles the Texas/New Mexico border. That caused a lot of confusion over the years. I don’t think it does any more because I don’t think anyone lives there now. Glenrio’s claim to fame is a motel. On one side the sign said, “Last Motel in Texas.” On the other side it said, “First Motel in Texas.” The owners wanted you to think their place was your only choice and I think it worked for a long time.

The two lane through San Jon, New Mexico, was so freshly oiled it was still black. It was old enough to not still be throwing up oily rocks, though. Still, Dave slowed down for each of the three vehicles we met on that road so that, if they were throwing rocks, we wouldn’t hit them so fast.

We are now in Tucumcari, New Mexico, at the Kiva Aok RV Park. The current owner only bought this place a couple of months ago and he promptly installed a wireless network. I’m glad he did because his network is a lot faster than our Sprint aircard. And I have no bars on my T-Mobile phone. So if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, it’s because we may not get any signal between here and Albuquerque.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 25 Route 66

We started the day at a Flying J in Amarillo, Texas, but the lines were long and other places were selling diesel cheaper so we backed out of line and headed back up to Route 66.

Rumor has it people are trying to preserve the Triangle Motel. They aren’t yet doing a good job of it.

The Triangle is doing better than the Natatorium, though. The Nat started as a place to swim then converted to a ballroom. There’s now so much stuff built around it that we couldn’t get a decent picture.

Next we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. I’ve been having trouble sleeping on the jack-knife style sofa bed. On the View/Navion discussion group someone suggested getting a king bed bridge from BB&B. That turns out to be a t-shaped piece of foam that’s designed to go between two twin beds to turn them into a king bed. It was only $15 so it seemed worth trying. It turned out to be worth a lot more than that for me.

Then we went to WalMart to get new caps for my prescriptions and to stock up on groceries again. The pharmacy clerk who originally filled the prescriptions left something to be desired; she never did get our address right even though she copied it off the prescriptions. After watching her struggle with that I forgot to ask for easy off caps. So, Dave took the caps into this WalMart with him and asked them for some non adult proof caps. That got him a double take but he did come back with caps I can remove without his help.

By the time we got through there all we wanted to do was veg out. So we went next door to Burger King for lunch. We don’t do that often but, for me, BK burgers are comfort food.

That helped enough to let us continue. Next stop: Cadillac Ranch. This place is a hoot! Ten Cadillacs buried nose down in the dirt. The owner, Stanley Marsh, encourages people to walk through the gate in the fence and add their graffiti to the cars. We took pictures instead. I especially got a chuckle out of the sign posted along the fence. The dumpster was on the road side of the fence.

We were too tired to head on down the road but not thrilled about going back to the campground we’d stayed at the night before either. So we were pleased when we found another campground right at the corner by Cadillac Ranch. The Amarillo West RV Park only wanted $20 for full hookups so we stayed there. It wasn’t fancy but it offered everything we needed and then some. Dave even used their shower facility before we settled down to sleep.

TTYL,

Linda

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

Day 23 Route 66

Our first stop today was at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, which had as advertised “a mother lode of stuff”.

Our next stop was McLain Rogers Park, site of some beautiful neon and a Depression era outdoor ampitheater. When we drove under the sign I heard a terrible scraping noise and thought we were surely tearing something off the roof. Nope, it was just our Segway hitch scraping on the dip in driveway. I should recognize that sound by now.

Then we drove by the Tradewinds Motel but the sun was wrong so our picture of the sign is not worth posting. The Tradewinds claim to fame is that Elvis slept there. Four times. So, if you are an Elvis fan, you’ll want to stop there sometime yourself.

Next we went to the Anadarko Basin Museum, in Elk City, Oklahoma, which has a display portraying Route 66’s relationship to oil and gas. We didn’t get to see the display, though, because the museum was closed. And it wasn’t even late in the day yet. We did take pictures of the rig on display outside. We had to take two pictures because it’s too tall to get it in one. That’s our RV parked at the base of it in the second photo.

Then we stopped at the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City. I don’t know why they got to call theirs the national one. It was located in the Old Town Museum. My impression is the Old Town Museum wasn’t drawing enough traffic so they put a few things from Route 66 into part of it. It did have a good video, though, which made it worth the stop. If we had more time and mobility we might have enjoyed the rest of Old Town but we only paid for the Route 66 part.

Then we headed west, enjoying the scenery but not making any stops. It was interesting to watch farm land turn to ranch land. You can feel the transition from Midwest to Far West.

Texola is the last town in Oklahoma before you cross into Texas. We made that our stop for the night. Actually for two nights since we decided to do laundry here. The Double D RV Park is located at what I suppose is technically a truck stop, but it’s gravel drive kind of place with a small town feel to it. You check into the RV park at the gas station. The restrooms with their showers are shared with the restaurant where we ate supper along with plenty of locals. And the laundry had one good washing machine and one dryer. So Dave spent most of a day doing our five loads of laundry while I, once again, worked on our trip research.

I’m far enough along on that project now to be able to start branching out beyond Route 66. I started a new spread sheet for Highway 101 since I’m sure we’ll do that sometime. I probably should have focused on the southern U.S. border, though, since that’s where we plan to go when we finish Route 66. Highway 101 traveling south to north is not something we want to do at this time of year.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 22 Route 66

Yesterday we drove from the Lucky Star Casino in El Reno, Oklahoma, to the Lucky Star Casino in Clinton, Oklahoma. The first one had full hookups but no shuttle. At the second one the shuttle driver said they had no hookups until we said we wouldn’t stay then he found a 30 amp electrical one for us. Neither charged a fee and neither made us sign up for a player’s card so they don’t even know who we are. This free camping is helping our budget a lot.

When we left camp we went first to WalMart where we mailed our absentee ballots, filled some prescriptions, restocked our groceries, and bought a hanging shoe bag.

The shoe bag is designed to hang on the back of a door. We cut the bottom off it and hung it on the back of the dinette just inside the door. Now we have a place to keep our shoes handy where they won’t rattle around.

Then we went to a recycling center that didn’t want our pop cans. They were closed for lunch and were frustrated that we couldn’t find the container labeled cans. We were frustrated, too; we are still carrying that bag of cans.

Finally, we headed on down Route 66. As we neared a place where there were two possible routes, there was a big sign from the Calumet Chamber of Commerce urging us to take their route. The smaller sign said “Paved Route 66”. We chose paved.

The route we chose was “interesting” enough. It was two narrow lanes of the original pink concrete and it followed the contours of the land; they didn’t grade the roads back then like they so now. So it was full of what the turn-by-turn author called “dipsy doodles”. It felt a lot like some kiddy carnival ride. To make matters worse, the angled curbs they used channeled all the water to the bottom of each hill where it froze and broke up the concrete so each of those places had been patched with asphalt which also didn’t hold up well. Like I said, it was an “interesting” ride.

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop at a Cherokee Restaurant. I had a barbecued buffalo sandwich. I like buffalo; it’s lean but tasty. Dave’s French dip was made with slices of real beef roast. So we both went away happy.

Next we did take an alternate route because we wanted to cross the bridge of 38 spans. Most of it went over flood plain but it did eventually cross a river.

Our next Route 66 stop was Lucille’s in Hydro, Oklahoma. Unfortunately Lucille is no longer with us so there is just the building and a monument telling her story.

In the next town, Weatherford, Oklahoma, there is a Lucille’s Roadhouse in a similar building with an art deco addition. It felt to me like they were trying to take advantage of the original Lucille’s popularity but maybe it belonged to her family. I don’t know.

Also, in Weatherford we found a propane dealer. He was pleased to fill our tank for us so we wouldn’t have to worry about our furnace going out in the night. He had two dogs. The tiny chihuahua marked our tire as if that made him the owner of our motorhome. Oh, if only it were that easy!

It was still early when we reached Clinton, Oklahoma, but not early enough to visit the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum located here. We didn’t have any potential campgrounds on our list here, either. So when we saw the sign for the Lucky Star Casino we felt lucky indeed. Another night’s free camping and another night when we didn’t have to cook. This casino’s restaurant turned out to be just a fast food style deli but their sandwiches were good. And we have a good internet signal. What else could we want?

TTYL,

Linda