Wednesday, October 2nd, was full of driving and a lot slower on stops.
We started our day at Cadillac Ranch. I am sure this place is older the Slug Bug Ranch. It is much smaller. It is located in a field. The frontage road has been painted just like the Cadillacs.
There is a cattle gate to get on to the property. These are genius devices. Made so a person could walk thru them but a cow will not.
The farmer has left a wide swath of land plowed and hardened with some gravel to walk out to the Cadillacs. They are buried in the dirt. The fourth picture is Sandi.
I was amazed when I looked closely at the head rests and wheels at the amount of paint layers on these cars.
There is a row of trash barrels all painted like the cars. I stood and looked at them as it appeared there was something purposefully painted on them. Each barrel had a letter. Together they spelled Sandra, my name! Can you tell by my hair it was a very windy day?
This was a great place to get another Where's Claudo picture.
Amarillo taught us about the importance of Frontage Roads. These are on either side of the Interstate or main highway. In the city, they are one way on one side of the Interstate and one way the other direction on the opposite side of the Interstate. This means you loop around to get to you destination. This helped me understand why sites are labeled as being on the frontage road.
The on and off places for the Interstate are not at the underpasses for navigating the frontage road. Instead, you drive about 2/10ths of a mile down the frontage road and the on ramp is to your left off the frontage road. Same type of system for off ramps.
We decided to treat ourselves to a visit to Palo Duro Canyon. It is south of Amarillo. Palo Duro means hard wood and is named that because of the mesquite trees. We went to the Visitor's Center which is down a steep hill.
We watched a long movie about the history of Palo Duro Canyon. Turns out Coronado search here for a city with lots of gold. The Cherokee people had a camp here foe a long time. The way the canyon lays makes it difficult to know it is there until you ate right at the edge of the cliff.
Charles Goodnight served in the army and worked to get the native Americans out of the Canyon and stop them from stealing horses from the cavalry. After watching native Americans treated wrongly, he would become their friend after he built the first ranch in Palo Duro Canyon. He ran out the buffalo so his cattle could graze. Later he kept a couple of buffalo calves and they would become a small herd which roamed his land freely. He even helped the native Americans to continue having buffalo hunts. Charles Goodnight was very highly thought of by all. He had the town of Goodnight; Texas named after him.
We were going to hike a small trail but we never found the beginning point. We drove to the bottom of the canyon and around the bottom.
It was beautiful. If you are a camper, there were lots of camping spots. Lots of hiking trails. Horseback riding is also available.
Sometimes the roads you drive bring their own interesting experiences. The blade to a windmill.
Next we were off to Mid-Point Cafe. This spot marks the center point for the entire Route 66. It is 1139 miles to Chicago and 1139 miles to Santa Monica. Our goal was to have lunch. The Cafe was closed. The owner really keeps whatever hours she chooses. The old gas station next door provided us with a refreshing ice cream break.
Then we entered another state! New Mexico!!
What to do now? Tourist stops are few. We decided to head to The Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. This fascinated my geology minded hubby.
On to our hotel. Not without a pause in traffic to let the three windmill blades we passed on I-40 get to a place in Santa Rosa where they could park for the night. Amazing.
A nice dinner and we were ready for a quiet evening in our room. We are now in the Mountain Time Zone.
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