On The Road - Day 9 - Amarillo to Tucumcari

Monday 14^th May

Arrrghh!!  Not a good night.  Our room was very noisy – road traffic (I-40) all night long.  All of America must be travelling I-40 overnight.  For a brief period there was reasonable quiet, I guess even truckers have to sleep sometime.  Is there a regulation time to get off the road I wonder?

The internet was so slow I couldn’t do the blog catch up I was hoping for.  This blogging is proving hard work.  I will persist but sometimes its just not possible to keep up.

This morning rain has really set in so we decide to have a relaxing brunch at the Big Texan and enjoy the ultimate fresh pineapple, suffer the weak coffee and slow arrival of our French toast.  Its pelting rain and the clouds are so low.

First stop is the Cadillac Ranch but only the dedicated would walk through the mud and slush to get a better look – that’s not us!  There is someone out there with an umbrella and bare feet – we wait to get a photo of him slipping over – nope didn’t happen.

Woohoo we arrive at Adrian – we are MIDWAY!   1139 miles to Los Angeles and 1130 miles to Chicago We celebrate with a piece each of an Ugly Crust Pie that this diner is renowned.  I have apple pie and Nev has coconut cream pie uhmmmm.  Trade photo taking with a couple of ladies from Chicago and Minnesota heading west also.  The Czech boys arrive.

Then it’s a stop at Stuckey for some pecan rolls – we surely don’t need this sweet stuff, but we still have over two weeks so we will make it last…(? Maybe)

Glenrio on the border of Texas and New Mexico – we decide we just have to sidetrack into this town – for starters we have to get off at Exit 0 – how often do you see an Exit 0? Well we go flying past the Exit – what!!! Again!!  So eventually we find an off ramp and do the turn back.  Is it going to be worth it.  Yes!  Another ghost town.  Some neat photos, great old 66 pavement and the discovery after much persistence of the old vintage New Mexico/Texas stateline marker.  We are having fun! 

Note the First and Last in Texas Motel.

We are in New Mexico now.

There had been two days rain in the area, although the day was  now perfect – do we chance the 18 miles of ‘Dirt 66’  - looks ok to start so off we go and it was wonderful, no traffic, just us on the road,  the red dirt, blue skies and wild flowers starting to burst everywhere.  Stopping frequently for photos of old railroad remains, landscapes and even a deer.

 

We are back on pavement again all the way through to Tucumcari.  We pass the first mesas and miles and miles of wind turbines

The afternoon has turned out just gorgeous and we arrive in Tucumcari in late afternoon with blue skies and temperature perfect. 





This town is fabulous, the motel is more than we expected and as we line up to check in we listen to the friendly chat of the owners Kevin and Nancy.



 

Room 11 is our room and its just lovely. 

Inside our Garage Murals

Driving around town we stop at the Trading Post and chat to Gary, Leon and Misty the dog. Gary proudly shows us his collection of Australian number plates – one of the visitors from Oz  here had posted to him.  Misty (the dog) was missing her brother who had died recently so I happily played Frisbee with her for ages.  She was a good catch.

Dinner was at Del’s restaurant – cheeseburger soup – I have gotta find that recipe!!  Then once it was dark enough we drove around to take photos of some of the neon signage, followed by a glass of champers outside our room  exchanging stories with two Canadian ladies and Nancy and Kevin.  Blog time and Kevin had assured us we would sleep well.  But no….