Day Eighteen

The hotel we stayed at last night, The Blue Swallow, had garages for some of the rooms. A couple of them were painted with "Cars" characters that kids would love. I actually have to watch the movie now as it is based on so much of what we've seen on 66.

Our first stop today was the Midpoint restaurant, exactly 1,139 miles between Los Angeles and Chicago. A good breakfast and a chance to send another postcard to the boy in basic.

After breakfast, we eagerly headed for the highlight of our day, Cadillac Ranch, outside of Amarillo, Texas. It's exactly what you expect it to be, and a little more. We walked through the creaking, painted gate and across 100 yards of windswept sand to arrive at the row of very colorful old wrecks. We left our mark on a couple of the cars and added our paint can to the many that were there (actually, we handed it to the guy who took our picture, but I'm confident it's still out there).

Shortly after that, we drove by the Leaning Water Tower in Groom, Texas. It really is leaning, and it really looks weird. I'm happy to report that it no longer holds water!

We pulled off the road a couple of hours later to see a courthouse that was featured in the movie, The Grapes of Wrath. We weren't overwhelmed by the courthouse, but were happy with the coconut/chocolate and coffee milkshakes we got down the road at an attractive coffee shop.

Back on the road, we passed into Oklahoma and we finally saw some longhorns. Sure, I used to see them all the time when I lived in Texas, but they're still a great sight, and I'd been hoping to catch them in Texas this time.

Between the ranch and our next stop, we didn't see much else. Route 66 through Oklahoma is a good, fast road, but there isn't much to keep you there. Then, we reached Pop's, known for having 500 different sodas for sale (and featuring a rather large soda bottle out front). Pete was ready to find Moxie (he even had on his Moxie hat, which I failed to record!). He was not disappointed, as they did have regular Moxie. (They also featured Blue Cream Moxie, but didn't have any for sale. I'm going to bet they don't even make it anymore.) We're including all these pictured to show you the impressive array of soft drinks they did have for sale (and this isn't even all of them!).

A mile down the road we saw another Route 66 icon, the Round Barn, but we don't know what's inside as it was closed (though I'll wager a second bet that it was more Rt. 66 memorabilia).

We've stopped in Tulsa, where we were going to tent, but felt more comfortable going the budget hotel route. We do hope to find something exciting to report on tomorrow...perhaps some caverns? Goodnight!