A reminder about photographs: Some photographs appear as thumbnails, all other photographs appear within the text as hyperlinks, so be sure to check them out!
Back in Oklahoma, the transition of the terrain from "midwest" to "west" had already occurred and continued in Texas, with more sprawling flat land as far as the eye could see. Views of farm land and cattle are in oversupply here!
About 14 miles into Texas we reached Shamrock. On Route 66 in Shamrock is another
Route 66 landmark, the U-Drop-Inn.
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We continued on into Mclean, where we found the Devil's
Rope Museum, but at this hour, it was closed. For those of you who are not aware,
"devil's rope" is barbed wire. In my video by Michael Wallis, Journey
Down Route 66, they show the museum and explain how the name came about.
Originally, fencing was made with slick wire (without the barbs), and the cattle used to
rub up against the wire to scratch themselves. When they started marking barbed
wire, the animals, not knowing any better, injured themselves on the barbs.
Outraged religious groups, thinking this was the work of the devil, called it the
"devil's rope."
Also in Mclean is this Phillips 66 station restored by local volunteers.
In Alanreed, we passed by this old restored station.
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In Groom, I took these photos, from L to R:
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Approaching Amarillo on Amarillo Boulevard, we followed a short loop of old alignment near
the Triangle Motel. We took a left, went past Buster's Cafe (below, L). Back
at the intersection of Amarillo Boulevard, I took this photo of the Santa Fe Railroad
(below, center). We made a left back onto Amarillo Boulevard, and I took a picture
of the Triangle Motel (below, R).
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We continued into Amarillo on Amarillo Boulevard, and passed the Cowboy Motel. We started exploring Amarillo a
little bit, since we were intending to spend the night here, anyway. Amber was
interested in finding a book she wanted, so I took her to Wal-Mart, then we spent the
night at a Motel 6.
It was a bit early in the trip, but we decided to do some laundry this
morning, since the Motel 6 had the facilities. Afterward, we doubled back east to
Exit 75, and went to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant for breakfast. As we left Cracker
Barrel, Amber spotted the Hollywood Museum. Since we had done laundry and taken our
time at breakfast, it was late morning, and I was hesitant to stop, but Amber thought it
would be fun. I didn't want to worry about time, so we went. I am glad we did,
it was a great place! To see pictures from our visit to the Hollywood Museum in Amarillo, click on the link to the
left.
After the Hollywood Museum, we passed by the Big Texan Steak Ranch.
Of course, I had heard of this
place in my Route 66 resources, the first being the video Journey Down Route 66 years
ago. Even if you had never heard of the Big Texan before, once you have
been to Amarillo, you will know about it...it's impossible to travel through there without
seeing a FREE 72 oz. STEAK billboard (see the photo above, taken 12 miles east of
Amarillo). They offer a free 72 oz. steak dinner to anyone who can eat it in one
hour (that's the fine print in the billboards! LOL). As if the steak wasn't
enough, you must also eat a roll & butter and shrimp cocktail. Ever since I saw the Journey
Down Route 66 video, it reminded me of one of my favorite John Candy movies, The
Great Outdoors, when he ate a "96er," a 96 oz. steak, in a similar
challenge. I can only imagine that the Big Texan was the inspiration for this.
Top left: The Big Texan Motel; Bottom left: The Big Texan Steak Ranch; Above,
right: the back of the Big Texan Steak Ranch.
West of Amarillo, stands another Route 66 landmark, Stanley Marsh III's Cadillac Ranch. I always enjoyed Michael Wallis talking about Cadillac Ranch in Journey Down Route 66:
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"Well, let's see here. Trying to figure out why anybody with a reasonably sound
and sane mind would cross an old wheat field where a lot of cows tend to jungle up and
mess around to come out here in the middle of nowhere on the edge of Amarillo. What
could possibly lure all of us out here? Hmmm...it could be ten cars, nose down,
right in that Texas turf. Stanley Marsh's Cadillac Ranch, that's what it is. So this is what it takes to get people out on the western edge of Amarillo, Texas - these ten Cadillac automobiles. Models from the late 40's through the mid-60's, through that great heyday of Route 66. Stanley Marsh III put them here so they could not just capture tumbleweeds blowin' across this wheat field around the cattle, but so that people from the Interstate and from beyond over on old Amarillo Boulevard aka the Mother Road - Route 66, would come over here and go through that break in the fence and come down that dirt path and pay homage to the era of the great Detroit sled - of the big car - of the wide open spaces. And I can't tell you how many people have stopped here. Some of them scratchin' their heads, not knowing why, but they come here anyway, and they leave their generation of graffiti - their initials tattooed on those old cars." |
It was certainly not difficult to spot the Cadillac Ranch, which was on
the south side of I-40 (we were heading west on the north side). We drove ahead,
crossed over the Interstate, and did a brief double back on the south frontage road. There
were a few other people there at the time, but they were just leaving.
We walked toward the cars over the dry, cracked land. 
I simply could not help but
also think about how interesting 
it was to be in a place like this. While most people go to Europe,
Disney or the Bahamas on vacation, I was in the intense Texas heat, looking at ten old
Cadillacs, covered with spraypainted messages, buried in the ground! But this is
classic Route 66, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. At the left is Amber
leaving her name, and at the right is a photo of our simple message, just our names, the
date and our state of Connecticut. (Note, Amber put down the wrong date, August
18th! LOL!)
Based upon the 2,778 mileage chart, Adrian, Texas is the midpoint of Route 66, at 1,139 miles from either Chicago or Los Angeles.
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We took Exit 0 on I-40 to Glenrio, the last town in Texas, as well as the first
in New Mexico. The town is actually located at the border, in both states.
I couldn't find the exact
location with the marker post as shown in Journey Down Route 66, but we did pass
the old water tower (left), as well as the First Last
Motel in Texas. There is also a HISTORIC 66
sign, which is actually on the New Mexico side.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005
