3000+ miles in 3 weeks, Route 66 & all that. Episode 7

[Sue]

Saturday 27th March

Well for those of you who like lots of pictures, this one should be a treat. The day dawned bright but windy, there is a mega storm happening in Arkansas and Kansas, we are getting the wider band winds from it. With a lot of miles to cover today (first booked stop was at Kayenta in two days time) we were on the road before 9am.
Groom is famous for having a landmark of a gigantic steel cross -it is 19 stories high and weighs over 3 tons:



It is surrounded by the Stations of the Cross and a sculpture of Calvary - as a non-Catholic and pretty much non-believer I found it a bit creepy. Made even more so by the fact that as we approached it, there was a woman prostrating herself at the base of the cross?





I have to post the obligatory Texas Route 66 sign:



And one of the motel signs we saw on our way into (or out of) Amarillo:

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Plus, the olde cafe:



No breakfast available at the motel and Amarillo ahead - we set Gary Garmin to find us an IHOP and despite Gary giving us the run around, up one way streets the wrong way, on and off the interstate loops, we got there in the end:



None of my fellow travellers had been in an IHOP before, although they had all been the to the States. Suffice to say that they are now all converts! It was not cheap compared to some of the places we had eaten in, but it is good and a lot! Our server was great and I think it was this one where she wanted to adopt Charli and when Charli asked to buy an IHOP mug, told her "just take it honey"

After our habit of getting lost in cities was discovered, we decided to give Amarillo centre a wide berth, this is the only proof I was ever there, honestly:



West of Amarillo, we made a detour to see the 'famous' Cadillac Ranch - this apparently was set up as a working sculpture and has featured on album covers and in many photo shoots. The cans lying around are spray paint as it appears you are supposed to add your bit and make it a living art work - tbh, none of us were that impressed, but each to their own:



On route we also came across this sign which amused us all:



Charli was navigating today and after a shaky start, she was doing well. The guide book took us into a town called Vega and we were encouraged to stop and look at 'Dot's Museum':





(yes there are boots hanging in the tree)
By now - we were wondering if we were on the same wavelength as the guide book authors, as were left seriously underwhelmed by many of these roadside 'attractions'

[Sue]

Continued:

We passed several more old motels:





And a "Drive-In" - not sure what though?



Then, we reached a very significant spot:



This, dear readers, is ... Ta Da...



The Midpoint Cafe...



The owner was really chatty and friendly, this place is famous for it's 'Ugly Crust Pie' and the interior was a treasure trove of old and new memorabilia. We bought postcards and stamps, fridge magnets. Charli bought a hoodie and J and I bought t-shirts. We also had some pie, the girls had the coconut cream pie, Phil had ice cream and J and I shared the peach pie, it was yummy:



And here is the inside of the Midpoint:



As we were at the border now, it was interesting how the terrain was starting to change, from this in Texas:



To this, just over the border:



In:



The really strange thing about this pic, is that none of us remembered it raining as we entered New Mexico, but all of the photos were the same. It must have lasted minutes at most!
New Mexico had a few decent Route 6 signs, but still not great at it:

[Sue]

Continued:

We pressed on and having read a couple of interesting things about the place, decided to head for Tucumcari. We had never heard of this place before, but apparently it is well known to fans of Route 66. We arrived early in the day for us and had some spare time to explore it.
J and I both loved the place and it would be nice to go back sometime. We headed to get our rooms at one of the early route 66 motels - the Blue Swallow:




It was no problem to check out the rooms and we paid $50 per night for the one bed rooms and $60 for the twin for the girls. This had to be my favourite motel of the trip. The rooms were tiny, especially the bathrooms, but just lovely:





And a view from the outside of our room:



This motel had garages between the rooms for you to put your car in the old days, we were not allowed to use them now, only for bikes, but they look great.

Tucumcari publicised itself well for a long time and they like to decorate the walls with murals. This one was on the Blue Swallow Motel:



And this one was on the wall of the K Mart:



With some time to kill, J and I decided to visit the local museum:



It was interesting but also amusing to see what constitutes "historic" to Americans, they seem to think that if it is around 100 years old, that counts lol.



I was quite taken by this exhibit, but quite saddened by the explanation. The Navajo and other native Americans have used the Swastika (Whirling Logs) symbol for thousands of years, but since Hitler and the Nazis, they have refused to use it.



These other two exhibits amused me as well:





We spent some time reading up on the history of New Mexico as a state of America - it was one of the last to be allowed admission (in 1911) and only then because Mexico owed so much money to the USA, they had to hand it over! This was a shot of the grounds as we left to get ready for dinner:

[Sue]

Continued:

We had spotted a restraurant on the way into Tucumcari that we fancied and so met up and headed off to Dell's for our meal. Although it was sunny, it was very cold and overnight it dipped below freezing:



We passed an old Lounge bar:



And several old, some famous and still operational motels:









Plus a gift shop:



This is the main street in Tucumcari:



J had struggled to get online the last two evenings and just wanted to catch up on his emails before dinner:



Dell's was a really nice Tex Mex style restaurant - we all really enjoyed it here. Unable to resist, four of us went for the fajitas and they were the best I have ever had. Quesadillas were also popular, although we agreed that they were not as good as last nights. We were given tortilla chips and a really spicy salsa to start with and also a dessert called a Solpapilla afterwards. This is a sweet dough pastry that is deep fried - sort of like a mexican doughnut and is served with syrup. All of us were full after the main course and so they gave us these to take away with some sachets of syrup. The girls had them for breakfast the day after and said that they were delicious. I also learned what a Rellenos is!
Here is the yummy food:



Total cost was $80 including tax but not tip. Another dry restaurant, so it was water or sodas all round.

We wandered back to the Blue Swallow and it was lovely to see it all lit up:





Phew - a picture fest. Hope you don't mind. It was just lovely to see the scenery start to change and to end up in such a fascinating little town.

Mileage today = 182

Total so far = 1416

Tomorrow - the road to Santa Fe and more lovely New Mexico

[KarenG]

Wow! Awesome photos Sue. I have to agree with your comments about some of the attractions, but I love the journey you're sharing here.

[kissimmee girl]

Great photo's really enjoying your trip, keep them coming.

[Guest]

Brilliant, just brilliant! Off to read your previous trip report now!

[Nicksgirl]

Love it, Love it, Love it.

That food looks gorgeous. x

[sue.o]

Another great day! Thank you for sharing!

[purple myra]

A really good day... I didn't know that the native american tribes had used the swastika! I'm sure the roman centurions used it too...shame its image is now tarnished

Loving all the photos, the motels along the way all look really cool