Oklahoma, Texas and into New Mexico - Rt 66

The days seem to go by in a blur...not sure if it's fatigue or old age. LOL! I'm going to do a quick recap as best as I can recall from photos. We left Tulsa on Tuesday morning, bound for Oklahoma City for the night. We didn't find much to see between the two cities but we were also having some issues with our GPS mapping software and did some additional flip-flopping around.

We finally arrived in Oklahoma City and passed the Memorial site, looking for a parking spot.



We spotted the local Firefighter Union building and pulled into their parking lot. We stopped inside and let them know we were parked there and as expected, they were fine with that.





The memorial outside is beautiful, a quiet setting to reflect on the terror of that day. We went into the museum ($10 admission each) and spent quite some time, visiting, reflecting and shedding a few tears. It's a tremendously emotional experience but we highly recommend it to anyone in the area.







Heading out Thursday morning, we once again fought with the mapping software, trying to stay on track as we left Oklahoma City for parts westerly. Eventually we found our way and headed to Shamrock TX for the night. What a day that was!

The road, once we found it, ended up so incredibly bumpy - concrete with asphalt dumped in patches. We couldn't go the speed limit, it was so rough. Of course the 30+ mph sustained winds didn't help.



We did get a few scenic shots including some fun metal cactus and an "almost" muffler man.







Around Clinton, I think, we went over the Pony Bridge and I managed to snap a decent pic.



Although the weather looking threatening, we stopped for a nice visit at the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK. The Route 66 part was small but the village recreations were great...but again, the weather forced us to get back on the bikes and hopefully beat the upcoming storms.









We finally pulled into the Western Motel in Shamrock, still dry!







We were across the street from U Drop Inn, inspiration for one of the buildings in the movie Cars.



It did rain overnight but was just cloudy when we got up. No breakfast so we stopped at McDonalds's just up the road. Most of the day stayed cloudy as we moved towards Amarillo. We stopped for lunch at the Big Texan, home of the 72 oz steak. We had a nice meal and watched a young couple try to beat the clock on the meal. No go but a good attempt!



The afternoon was good, nice roads and little interstate. We grabbed photos as we could and soldiered on to Adrian TX, home of the Mid-Point of Route 66. We had hoped to stop in the cafe for pie and coffee but it was 4:30 and they had just closed.

That worked out okay, we ended up stopping at Russell's Truck & Travel Center in Glenreo, NM. What a find! Don't pass it up...best FREE car museum we've been in, in fact it was better than many we've paid for! Good gift shop, great peach & cherry cobbler in the Route 66 diner, too.







Then it was on to our final destination for the night, the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM. Terrific owners (and also riders), comfy bed, great atmosphere in a fun little town.







Tomorrow we head to Albuquerque where we will spend two nights in a Best Western. I'm ready for a day off the bikes, maybe even do a little reading or write my next children's short story.

[Please visit all the state albums in SmugMug for a LOT more photos!]