I had to sort through a bunch of photos I had taken from this day and I have only posted a small number of them. I am actually late posting this but the hotel in flagstaffs Internet was very slow and with this number of photos to upload I decided to wait until I was home to blog the last few days. This was the longest traveling day for our trip but one of the coolest. We left Elk City in the morning but stopped to check out the route 66 museum before leaving town. unfortunately it was closed but I took some pictures from the outside. This route 66 shield is actually the biggest on on the route.
They had a little miniature town and here is a bridge that is a replica of one on route 66 except it is scaled down.
This was a neat old store along the way.
An old mural also along the way. Many towns have murals like this painted on the walls of their buildings. I would consider this art. The stuff on the walls of buildings nowadays is just graffiti.
I can't remember the name of the town this store was in but it is the Bonebrake Hardware Store. The story goes that sometime in the 60's, the owners left this store and it hasn't been touched since. It was interesting to look inside the windows.
It looks like it was a running, functioning store and the owners left for the night but never returned. There is all kinds of things still in the store.
Here is another view from another window. The shelves on the side are full of hardware and things. You couldn't go inside but just looking inside the windows gave you an eerie feeling like you were warped back in time. It was pretty cool though.
The weather was weird throughout the day. It would be sunny, then it would be pouring down rain like you see here, and then the sun would come out again. It did that all day long.
We left Oklahoma and entered Texas.
This leaning water tower is one of the first things you see in Texas as you cross the border heading west. I guess it ended up being built like this and the owners figured it was good for people to notice it and hopefully stop. It also saved them from taking the time and money to fix it.
This cross is a newer thing on route 66 but it is the biggest in the country.
This is bug ranch. It's a spoof on Cadillac ranch. If you don't know what Cadillac ranch is just keep reading this blog and you will see it. These bugs were all buried like the Cadillac's. I had to stop to get a picture because I am into bugs.
This is the big texan. They offer a free 72 ounce steak to whoever can eat it and the other sides you get with it in under an hour. We didn't try. We like to eat but we have our limits.
We were getting close to Cadillac ranch so we stopped and bought some spray paint to paint our names on the Cadillac's. We were trying to decide what colors would show up best. We opted for blue and orange. We figured we should have a bright color and a dark color just to be safe.
Amarillo's skyline is in the distance.
This is the gift shop and RV park for Cadillac ranch. It's right off the exit of the freeway.
I had no idea the Cadillac's were so far out in the field. This is the gate to enter the field and it was raining HARD! Here my Dad is scoping out the best way to get to them. My Dad and brother made it to the grassy patch on the left of the picture before they had enough. I was gathering the spray paint and my camera. I got to the gate and saw the massive amount of mud on their shoes and started to have second thoughts. I had only brought one pair of shoes and didn't really want to have wet shoes for the rest of the day.
My Dad and Brother decided to bag it and went back. You can see their shoe prints in the mud. Ha Ha. Luckily there was a couple that had walked back and I talked with them. They had taken their shoes off and walked barefoot and their feet were pretty clean when they got back. I thought a little longer and decided I may never get another chance to do this so I ditched my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and went out to the Cadillac's. The muddy was really slick and I am surprised I didn't fall down because I lost my balance a few years ago to a real bad inner ear infection I had but I made it.
The water on the left side of the cars was about a foot deep. It wasn't as deep on the right hand side.
They say that these cars are angled to match the angles of the pyramids in Egypt. Not sure why but I guess the artist wanted it that way.
The first Cadillac that I put my name on. I wonder how long it will take before it is all covered up.
This is proof that I did take my shoes and socks off and waded out to see them. Ha Ha.
More art/graffiti.
I had to get Olson's SpeedShop on a Cadillac!
And of course I had to put my children's names on them.
As I was getting ready to leave I met these 2 girls. They had rain ponchos on but I don't think they did much good. I talked to them for awhile and found out they were from Australia. They had came here to do the same thing we were doing, drive route 66. They had started 8 days earlier in Chicago. I asked them if they had any paint and they said they didn't think about getting any and were bummed they hadn't. I was glad to give them my 2 cans and wished them luck on their journey. We ran into them later on down the road at the midpoint of route 66 and wished them luck again. I was really surprised by how many people we met along the road doing the same thing we were. We met people from France, Australia, Canada, Ohio, and many others along the road.
Here is the last shot I got of the Cadillac's. I decided to do a panoramic shot and get them all in the picture.
This is the gift shop. They had a bunch of cool Cadillac's outside and this on was actually inside the shop. I had to get some shirts for my family here.
The bent door is a famous station along the way.
This is the official midpoint of Route 66. We ate at this cafe and I had an awesome burger there.
Standing in the middle of the road halfway between Chicago and Los Angeles.
This truck had thousands and thousands of signatures on it. I saw signatures from all over the world. It was unbelievable.
Of course we had to add ours. The picture isn't very straight but look to the right. It's there.
Here is the cafe. It is the original building restored. The owner was a happy but sort of weird feller.
The official sign. The Australian girls I met at Cadillac ranch spent about an hour taking pictures of themselves at this sign. It was quite funny to watch.
Cruising into new Mexico.
See how nice the weather is now! This VW Bus was slowly cruising along also.
The Blue Swallow Motel is another famous motel along the way. They are always booked so if you want to stay there, make sure you make reservations.
Wild clouds.
Cool plane.
This building was in Albuquerque. The freeway was completely shut down so we had to take back street through town and then get back on. This is along old route 66.
The picture is out of order but this is in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Me and a buddy broke down in this town a few years ago in a truck he bought off ebay. You win some and you lose some I guess.
A tourist trap with some cliff dwellers. I think this was in Santa Fe.
This is as we were heading into Flagstaff, Arizona. It started getting really smoky and we later found out that Flagstaff was on fire. I guess they had a controlled burn go out of control.
This is a crappy picture but this was an old hotel in Flagstaff that was on old route 66. We didn't stay in this one but we stayed at one on old route 66. There were train tracks right next to the hotel and the trains ran all night. I was so tired that I slept right through them.
That was a pretty long day of driving but there was some amazing things that we saw along the way. The next day, we head home to Utah!
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