Friday, January 1, 2010

Third Day... Albuquerque to OKC


Friday, January 1, 2010










We started out in Albuquerque… The alarm went off at 7:00, in the car by 7:58. It was 22 degrees… There was a Starbucks less than a block away… I sat in the car with the engine on… Steph went in… We did a quick drive around old town… I took photos of the church, and two Civil War cannons, abandoned by confederate forces during their most westward advance. It was a really pretty clear day. There was a balloon on the horizon… we left town at 7:58.

Steph noted that we receive the last of the Starbucks Christmas cups… they timed it right… the Christmas stuff ran out on New Years day…

We reached Santa Rosa at 9:54, got off the freeway and followed old route 66, both in search of the old road, but also in search of gas… Santa Rosa still had the old Rt 66 feel, particularly a really nice restored Conoco station… Many businesses were closed, likely for the winter, but felt like the mother road. It was a stark contrast to Tucumcari, the nest detour of the interstate in search of the Mother Road… Tucumcari was sad, mostly failed business…

Beyond Tucumcari we crossed into Texas at 11:20 mountain time, and lost another hour as we passed into the central time zone… we are now 1,304 miles from San Mateo.

In Adrian Texas we followed the mother road off the Interstate and found a surprise… the midway marker for the original Rt 66… The town still remembered its heritage… the next town, Vega Texas did not, but not in a bad way… it seemed to have outgrown the old road… All along the way to Amarillo the old road closely followed the modern highway…

Just outside Amarillo we visited what may be the highlight of the trip… the Cadillac Ranch a 1970’s art project which buried 10 vintage Cadillacs nose down, fins up in a wheat field… Visitors are encouraged to spray paint or otherwise decorate the cars and add to the site… We spray painted with found paint, then I created the installation in miniature with discarded spray paint cans in place of the cars. Steph was not impressed, but it made me happy.

Just beyond in Amarillo we visited another classic Texas roadside attraction, The Big Texan, a famous steak house which offers a free meal if you can consume 4 ½ lbs of beef plus side dishes… we settled for 12 oz Rib eyes… I had a beer (Texas size) so Steph took over driving for the next leg…

We reached the Oklahoma State line at 4:29, 1,485 miles from home. At least this time we didn’t lose any time…

We followed the mother road off again in Grick for more gas… We lost the sun soon after… We arrived in OKC at 6:29 and found our hotel… theny went exploring… the first stop was the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial… I am not sure what to say about it... it is moving, more so as we saw it at night, each of the chairs representing one lost was lit from within... the large entry's were spectacular, if stark... you greve for the lost, but its not clear whether I should be angry or sad... and if angry who at...

We followed by driving around, finding the Brick Town neighborhood… we walked about, had dinner at the local brew pub, and were back in the room before 8:00… Brick Town was everything the old Pueblo in Albuquerque was not... a lively neighborhood... We were impressed.

Totals for today, 560 miles in 7 hours and 28 minutes
1,646 miles for the trip (so far)

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