Travel Tourettes from our Road Trips
Every now and then i get a sudden urge to revisit the hours and hours ( probably days worth) of video I took when we did our Route 66 Road Trip in 2015. Some of it was shot on a go pro attached to the rental car, some of it was shot on a camera phone and some was taken hanging dangerously out of a moving vehicle with a shaky hand held cam.
After a busy few days in Vegas its time to head back to Route 66 and into California to the wigwam motel. We took a taxi back to McCarran airport to pickup our new hire car. We dropped off the car and picked it up three days later as it cut down the cost by a few quid as we weren’t paying for parking in Vegas and the taxes were less on the last leg of the journey.
I was standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, and such a fine sight to see, It’s a girl, my lord in a flat bed ford slowin’ down to take a look at me ” sang the Eagles in 1972, so it would be rude not to find the corner they were singing about as we started todays travels in Winslow.
As it happens they were not singing about a particular corner but that hasn’t stopped the local tourist office dedicating the corner of Old Highway 66 and N Kinsley Ave to the line in the song Taking it Easy. Its a very popular photo stop on route 66
Today was a more leisurely drive of around 200 miles. We could of taken the freeway to Winslow and our next hotel but we wanted to try and and do a bit more of route 66 and see some must see attractions along the way such as the wigwam motel in Holbrook, the Meteor Crater and the town of Williams, Arizona.
We headed out of the Grand Canyon Village relatively early still slightly disappointed at the village ( but not the canyon i must add). We made a huge mistake at stopping at a McDonalds just outside to sample their breakfast thinking it would be quick and cheap and that they would have decent wi-fi – we were wrong on all three unfortunately but it was sustenance and saw us through to our first stop in Williams, Arizona.
We left the Big Texan early and headed just out of Amarillo to the Cadillac Ranch. For those who don’t know what the ranch is, its essentially a bunch of Old cadillac’s buried nose down in the desert in 1974 as an art installation which people spray paint.
We left our bit of graffiti after finding a couple of half used spray paint cans on the floor and carried on our way along single lane old road past abandoned filling stations and buildings and parts of the larger main I40 highway where 66 wasn’t accessible
It would appear that i can now answer Tony Christies question, YES, i do know the way to Amarillo. Now thats out of the way i can get on with todays blog post about the journey along Americas Mother Road from Oklahoma City to Amarillo in Texas I think we missed a lot of old 66 on the way out of Oklahoma but i was more concerned with finding fuel and a Best Buy or similar in order to buy more storage for my GoPro. Once that had all been sorted we made our way to Yukon to pick up Route 66 again.
The day began with breakfast in the local pancake hut which was occupied by a couple of camouflage wearing hicks who were obviously on there way out hunting ( huge camo 4×4 in car park) and a bunch of old timers who left in various Vintage American cars and pickups and an Indian motorbike. After Breakfast it was off to Red Oak II, home of artist Lowell Davies.
The sky was still gloomy when we left The Wagon Wheel but the worlds biggest rocking chair in Fanning Missouri was waiting and we weren’t going to let a few grey clouds spoil that !
The rocking Chair is 42 feet and 4 inches tall and dominates the skyline as you approach the Fanning trading post. Its slightly odd but a bit of a modern Route 66 classic (being built in 2008) so after a few cheesy photos we headed in to the trading post.
Getting out of St Louis was slightly easier than getting in. We still managed to make several wrong turns before finding route 66 towards Cuba and heading for our first stop of the day, the famous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard shop.
Unfortunately the shop was closed leaving a very disappointed Oz. This is something we have found a few times over the last couple of days. famous route 66 shops and businesses closing early or opening too late. Its a real shame to not see these institutions and be able to support them.