Day 10

Wow!  Yesterday they broke records for the highest temperature and this morning I woke to 52 degrees and wore a sweatshirt most of the day.  The sun finally came out before I reached Amarillo TX.  

I am going to try something different with my blog today and would appreciate your feedback.  I will tell you the story and then post the pictures that go with that story.

I must say that today I really had to look for remnants of the Historical Route 66. Some of the pictures I took today, I can’t really tell you anything about the place other than the picture itself.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.

Erick OK is the home of Roger Miller (King of the Road fame) and Sheb Wooley (Purple People Eater).  Seriously, I stood in the middle of downtown and there was not a soul around.  I took pictures of both Museums from the center of the intersection.  I found this building with all theses signs, on the front it says “Welcome to Erick Oklahoma Redeck Capital of the World Yee Haw”!

As I drove to the last town of Texola, Oklahoma, I drove past a cotton field! Did you know that cotton supplied the Native Americans with clothing fibers before the Spanish ever entered Texas? By the 1930s cotton was produced in 223 of the 254 counties in Texas.  In Texola I found an old Territorial Jail.  Not sure what the list of names are.  And at the state line there was a Will Roger Marker.

Shamrock TX home of the famous U-Drop Inn & Conoco Tower.  Now the Chamber of Commerce, where Diana and Theresa will make you feel like one of the family.  The facility is also pet friendly so Frannie Lou was welcome too. We even had our photo taken in front of the old Post Office boxes.  There is a tribute to Bill Mack “The Midnight Cowboy” and the Western Inn is right across the street.  I also found the museum and the Blarney Stone (imported and erected in 1959).  The water tower is high in the sky and an old watering trough can

 be found in a park close by.

In McLean TX I visited the Devils Rope Museum.  Devils rope is barbed wire.  I had no idea that there was so many different types and uses for barbed wire. I am glad I visted because it was really interesting and I would have missed the giant cobra and giant cow along with cow patty.  Anita, who works there was really friendly and pleasant to talk to. There was also a Phillips 66 gas station and the old Cactus Inn Motel.

Now the adventure starts!  I decided to take the old 66 dirt road today through Alanreed.  Literally Main Street was dirt. I decided I had enough of dirt today and headed out of town to the paved 66 Route when I came across this old 66 Super Service Station, which was really cool.  I came to a crossroad and this was the most interesting Post Office I have seen to date!

I read the road signs for Lake McClellan and decided to check it out.  It was 3 miles off 66 and I really don’t know if this is really how the lake is suppose to look but this is what I saw.

Second adventure of the day, finding what is left of Jericho.  So down another dirt road to find a cemetery and a few relics of what looks like a hotel, a train car and a few houses.  Interesting what the cemetery marker has to say.

In Groom TX you can find a leaning water tower and an old truck stop sign with the replica of the leaning water tower atop. There is also a giant cross, billed as the largest cross in the western hemisphere but I think the one in Cookeville TN is the same size.

Now believe this the next section of Route 66 you can legally drive 70 mph all the way to the exit for Conway TX.  It’s sad but most of what I have seen in TX seems to be once thriving little towns and now barely a soul around.

Amarillo by evening not morning!  First stop, the Big Texan, where you can have a 72 ounce steak free if you can eat it in one hour!  No way for me, I’ve already had my red meat this week!  It was though a very neat place to see.  There was a big open type bar out back, the restaurant, slot machines, a motel and you guessed it, a gift shop.  The rest of the pictures I took driving through Amarillo on the historic 66, 6th Ave were alot of the building had been refurbished for other purposes.  I did find one business that had a date on the building back to 1910.

Another day in the trip of a lifetime. Good night all its time for some shut eye.