The Journey Continues

Wednesday – NM, thru TX and to OK
8am – we locate a Starbucks - yum! – and hit the road. We cruise along old 66 thru Albuquerque to see all the kitchy old buildings – video and snapshots complete this leg of the trip. Next stop – Kline’s Korner.
The mountain views leaving Albuquerque are awesome – some are rock covered – others covered with forest and vegetation. Some are so tall their peaks are hiding amongst the clouds.
Random side note - Everyone in Albuquerque thinks we are freaks for being in t-shirts and shorts.
Cline’s Corner – 7200 ft – kitchy stuff for cheap. Candi models a sombrero. Gretchen buys crap (but it is fun crap).
10:54 – We plat Ripley’s Believe it or Not trivia as we roll on towards TX.
12:11 – Tucumcari (its real!) – 4000ish ft. Very cool Rt 66 sign… many pictures to be had.
12:50 – Hello TX! Hello new time zone… it is really 1:50 now.
2:37 – Texas is really flat. The boys are napping. Amarillo is 30 min away.
2:45 – Passing lot-o-cows… one is pooing – Bill and I commiserate on the view. A cowboy is out rounding up his herd.
3:10 – “Look at that!” says Candi and we all look to the right as we almost miss the Cadillac Ranch. We bee-line to the next exit, make a crazy u-turn and head up the access road to the Caddy Ranch entrance. The cars are out in the middle of a windy-arse field. They are covered in the graffiti of time and visitors. After capturing the site on film and video we head to find some lunch.
While eating lunch there is a roller coaster of emotion for Candi & Bill as they debate the decision of a new job for Candi. The news is wonderful as Candi is able to accept the job – Yea! *Glamour Horoscope ~ too freaky~*
4:45 – We leave Barnes & Noble – armed with Mad Libs and magazines – and are off to find the Bug Ranch. Then off to OK City – 250 miles away.
5:24 – Exit 110 – The Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. We grab a few pics – it was big but we bypassed the gift shop.
Random side note - The Bug Ranch was a bust… we think we missed it while passing a truck.
And then there was nothing (after passing a funny leaning tower).
5:29 – We break out the Mad Libs – Monster Madness Edition – absolutely hysterical. We have to make copies for our scrapbooks.
6:05 ish – we are approaching the OK border.
6:14 – finally pass the sign for OK. Candi says “Oklahoma is OK!”
6:18 – Alex turns down a rest stop ~ unbelievable.
6:35 – We hop off at the OK Rest Stop and Visitor Center (despite Alex’s lack of need which still mystifies me) but the center is lame because they closed at 5pm. We pick up a motel guide for options later that evening. Some playtime on the sing set, spinny thing, and monkey bars help us stretch and unwind. Candi and I give the boys one last spin before hitting the road. 136 miles to OK City… crap, that is like 2 hours!
6:56 – We hop off Rt 40 to visit Elk City. There is a Rt 66 Museum but sadly it closed at 5pm. The time change and losing an hour per day is challenging.
8:00pm – OK, change of plans! We are drooling over the museum and decide to spend the night, relax, have a real breakfast, and hit the museum in the morning. Hopefully Jeff and Jennifer can drive west and meet us in OK for a bite to eat before they head home. Unfortunately this means no high pointing in AK, but we are pretty excited about the museum.
After checking to a Days Inn we are planning to hit El Charro for dinner. Alex attacked the toilet, requiring the need for a snake/plunger. Hopefully dinner will go better.
10:10pm – Dinner was so yummy! Candi had her 10th cheese based meal (it might be more than that actually) and Bill’s dish had more zip than anticipated. Hello yummy cheesecake desert! The waitress (who started off with a negative value tip but got better) is amazed that we would be in the town of Elk City during an adventure like our road trip. I felt like telling her “You know, Rt 40 cuts thru OK and by Elk City” but the effort would have been futile.

Random side note I don’t want to forget – Hippie’s begging for gas at the uber expensive gas station – we were after fuel ourselves so we moved on to a cheaper location. We left the hippies with their dreads, tie-dyed t’s, and beat up bus but we saw them at the next exit.