We Finally Made it To Texas

October 11, 2018 

 From Santa Rosa to Tucumcari to Amarillo this stretch of Route 66 is truly a trip back to the 30's-50's when the interstates didn't exist.

Our first stop was the Route 66 Auto Museum that had a wonderful collection of antique cars, more Chevy’s than any other make, but definitely worth the $5 admission fee, at least for me.  Joni stayed in the car.

Many of these cars were for sale.  $8000 for this Woody.

 an Edsel converted into a backhoe

Leaving Santa Rosa we then drove through Tucumcari, immortalized in the song “Willin” by Lowell George.   This town is nowhere near as prosperous as Grants, New Mexico; there were lots of abandoned motels, gas stations, and other business, but there collection of vintage Route 66 was superb.

Every room at the Blue Swallow Motel came with its own garage.  We saw several others motels that offered this convenience.

Leaving Tucumcari, we soon crossed into Texas, our first visit ever to the Lone Star State. Shortly over the board we stopped for lunch at the Mid Point Café with is located equally distant from Chicago and Los Angeles.  

The Café was right out of Drive-Ins, Diners, & Dives; we loved it and the three women who now own the restaurant couldn’t be friendlier.  

Joni had a chicken salad sandwich and I had a cheeseburger made with local beef.  We shared a slice of Elvis pie for dessert:  a chocolate cream that includes peanut butter and bananas.  Yummy!

Amarillo was next on today’s itinerary.  Just outside the city we paused to take a shot of the Cadillac Ranch, which features 10 Caddies, all in a row with their front halves buried in the field.

Leaving the ranch we continued into Amarillo, which is a one of the larger cities on Route 66, and stopped anytime we notice a great photo-op.  Compared to Tucumcari or even Santa Rosa, Amarillo wasn’t that exciting, so we made a U-turn and headed to nearby Canyon, Texas, home of West Texas A&M, where we had a fabulous dinner at the Imperial Taproom.

Named after one of our favorite doggies! 

Leaving the Taproom, we had a short drive to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, home of the second largest canyon in the US.  Unfortunately, the state park campground was full, so we had to settle for the sketchy Adventure/Zip Line RV Park, fortunately located next to the state park’s entrance.  Darkness was approaching, it was damp and cold outside, and the zip line park was not crowded, so we picked a semi-secluded site, put up our shades and settled in for the night.

The brown shed right behind our van is the shower!