Well, we woke this morning to another rainy day. Makes us VERY glad we decided to forego the motorcycle!
We headed on down the road from Edmond towards Oklahoma City. I may have mentioned this before, but trying to stay on the Historic Route 66 through big cities is quite a challenge. The road tends to winds through some less than desireable neighborhoods. Unless you really have a need to cover every inch available, I suggest circumventing the cities when possible. That being said, we tried to navigate through OK City using the directions from Historic66.com, If you are using this site, when they say turn right on 39th, TURN LEFT. Turning right, while taking you through a very lovely neighborhood of ol craftsman homes, will get you lost. We met a very nice older gentleman who was able to get us back on track. Thank you to him!
Back on the road we headed to Yukon, where we discovered a nail in the sidewall of one of our tires. Of course it couldn't be patched which necessitated our purchasing a new tire. After visiting 3 tire stores/service stations, we ended up at the Walmart. Sherri, the tire department manager, is an angel! She was able to get us out of there for $60 in less than an hour.
Heading out of Yukon, on the right you will see the GRASCAR riding lawnmower racing track. I kid you not. It is an official lawnmower racing track.
Travelling along, it seems that there are a lot of recently created 'ghost towns' along this section of the road. Many of the old gas stations dotting the roadside have been converted to antique shops, but have once again been abandoned and people are scarce.
We passed through Texola and into Texas. The town of Shamrock (known for its St. Patrick's day celebrations) has some nicely restored buildings. Particularly the art deco U-Drop-Inn Restaurant.
As we neared Lela, TX a pack (and I mean a PACK!) of mongrel dogs charged out from the front lawn of a house on the side of the road and proceeded to chase us down the road. There must have been seven or eight of them. I don't think they were dangerous, just bored. They probably see fewer than a dozen cars a day. Again, glad we were not on the bike!
McLean, TX is the home of the first restored Phillips 66 station. It is very nicely done, but completely decorative (and tiny!).
Through here Route 66 hops back and forth across Route 40 on the frontage road, so if you want to, you could just stay on 40. Hop off at Alanreed to see the Oldest Super Service 66 station and the oldest Baptist church. Back on 40, as you approach Groom there is the 'Leaning Watertower of Groom', and the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere.
Coming up on Conway, TX, you really do want to stay on Rt 40 so you can see the 'Bug Farm'. A little sister of the Cadillac Ranch, the Bug Farm is a series of VW Beetles planted in a row alongside the road. If you stay on 66 through here, you will see it in the distance, but not clearly.
Finally made it to Amarillo! We thought about going to the Big Texan for dinner, but the parking lot was jammed, and since neither one of us could possibly even consider taking the 72 oz steak challenge, we passed and instead went to Zen 721 for a very nice dinner. I recommend the 5-spice Pork Tenderloin, or the Raspberry Barbeque Quail.
More tomorrow!
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