2017 Road-trip day 9

Day 9: Wednesday

Awoke after a perfect nights sleep at the Shamrock Country Inn, really can't sing the praises of this Motel enough. It's a perfect stop on Route 66 and top things off, Breakfast was a freshly made waffle in the shape of Texas - you couldn't ask for anything more - It was also the cheapest night we had at only $43!

So before we left Shamrock, a visit to the visitor centre at the U-Drop Inn was called for. We were greeted warmly as we walked in and offered coffee to drink whilst we looked around. After Route 66 was decommissioned in 1984 the U- Drop Inn fell in disrepair until the son of the original owner began to restore it back to its original colours, however it closed some years later before The First National Bank of Shamrock brought the bank and deeded it to the town where it has now been restored to all its original glory and serving as the towns tourist information centre.

The original building cost $23,000 back in the 1930's, the restoration was completed took 3 years and cost $1.7 million in funding. It's a beautiful piece of Art Deco architecture and rightly earned its name as "the swankiest of the swank eating places".

After our history lesson we were back in the car and into Oklahoma. We were able to drive all day on original Route 66, though numerous towns and past old Route 66 buildings. When we got to Clinton we pulled in to the Oklahoma Route 66 museum, we felt we should visit at least one of the museums along the route. The museum followed the road from its beginnings as the dirt road through to the 1960's where I found my perfect mode of transport - a decorated VW Camper - incorporating tableaux of antique vehicles, photos and memorabilia.

Outside in the grounds sits a restored 66 Diner. These buildings were brought for $4000 including all the fittings and dropped into place. There was sitting for about 5 at the counter and if you couldn't afford to buy it outright, you could leave 10% of you takings in an outside Dropbox to be collected until you paid $5000. I would just love one of these today to turn into and espresso bar selling coffee and fresh baked goods, it would be just lovely.

Anyway enough of dreaming, we've a road trip to be getting on with, so back on the road to our next stop, Fort Reno. Unfortunately, the museum is closed on Wednesdays, so we could only view this old fort from the outside. Fort Reno began life as a military camp in 1874 in the Indian wars era, the success of the camp lead to a permenant military camp here cover nearly 10,000 acres . During World War 2 it was used as a German POW camp, there is lots about the history on the website if you want to find out more.

We were whilst there able to visit the oldest building on the site which holds the US Cavalry Association museum with lots of great period exhibits from the plains war through modern conflict in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Continuing on from there, we passed by many roadside curios, the massive grain elevator emblazoned with the words Yukon best flour at Yukon, a big metal globe at Bethany to name but a few, until we got near to Oklahoma City. We decided to take the belt-line option following  1931 - 1953 Route 66 round the city, over the Canadian River, stopping at Lake Overholser towards Arcadia where we stopped for coffee and to pick up some sodas from 'Pops', a newer roadside attraction with a 66 foot illuminated pop bottle outside and  hundreds of sodas to purchased. We obliged by purchasing a black cherry cream soda an another of cherry and coconut.

Damn, the oil light in the Buick came on showing at 5% oil-life left, we will have ring Hertz when we get to our Motel, luckily we didn't have very far left to go until we reached the Skyliner motel at Stroud.

Checking in to this original Motel we noticed a big difference to the others we had stayed on the route. Whilst it was very clear and the original features had been kept - hello gas fire in the bathroom - they really hadn't been made the best of and the room appeared tired rather the retro. We called Hertz who told us we would need to go to our nearest airport in the morning which was Tulsa, and swap cars.

We had heard about the Rock Cafe in town, the owner was the inspiration behind Sally from Disney's Cars. We walked the half a mile or so down there and proceeded to order far to much! The menu wasn't great for vegetarians so we decided to share the fried green tomatoes, fried dill pickles and Rock Cafe spaetzle - a German noodle dish with vegetables and covered in cheese. Far too much for us to finish, the pickles alone could be shared by 4! So admitting defeat to the lovely waitress, we paid our bill and headed back to the motel to settled down for the evening, stopping briefly to take a photo of the Motel's neon sign.

Todays miles: 250
Total miles: 1738

2017 Road-trip Day 8

Day 8 Tuesday 

After a good nights sleep, we awoke well rested in a little room, the Blue Swallow really is a little treasure, it has kept and maintain lots of original features including the rather large refrigerated air cooling system on one wall in the room.

After a coffee we were keen to make tracks into Texas, so we bid farewell to The Blue Swallow and headed a little way down the main road in Tucumcari  to Tee Pee Curios to make a few purchases and we were on our way, eating a breakfast of fruit and a bran muffin on the go.

With only one mistake, due to missing a sign, we were very quickly saying goodbye to New Mexico and Howdy! to Texas! We passed Glenrio at the State Line we headed onto Adrian to the Midpoint Marker to stop for some photos and to get a coffee in the Mid Point cafe.

 Time was getting on due to crossing over to central time and losing an hour, we continued through Vega, passing the Cadillac RV Park with several pristine Cadillacs mounted on ramps out front and on towards Amarillo - "Is this the way to Amarillo?"- we had decided to detour off of Route 66 so we could head to Palo Duro Canyon. It's a slight diversion of about 50 miles, but well worth it. 

Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest Canyon in America after the Grand Canyon, it measures 120miles long and over 20 miles wide and has a maximum depth of 800 feet. We took in the amazing views from the top of the rim, and watched the temperature rise as we drove down in the Canyon floor. 

Several times we got out of the car to explore, but only for short periods - there was a 3 mile hike, but it was recommended you took 2 pints of water per person per mile, I didn't think it fair to make Paul carry 12 pints in the heat! As always in this type of environment we resorted to type and broke out the Cheetos and picked up an ice cream before making our way out of the canyon and back on the road, once again picking Route 66 up then heading through Conway. 

The only place in Texas 66 that you can legally drive 70mph, so that's what we did, passing a giant peace symbol, the leaning tower of Groom, and the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere.

 I'm sensing a theme that everything really is bigger in Texas. We had to join the I-40 for 8 miles and was able to take the chance to stop at the Donley County Route 66 safety Rest Area, an Art Deco building, home to Route 66 exhibits, neon signs, historic info plaques and a handy tornado shelter. 

Back on the Mother Road we carried on, occasionally driving on old Portland concrete until we saw the beautiful Art Deco architecture of the U- Drop Inn and Tower Conco service station at Shamrock. We were checking in to the Shamrock Country Inn in town. We were amazed by this vintage 66 motel, the owner welcomed us and was obviously very proud of his place. 

He had kept it spotlessly clean and well maintained whilst still keeping all the original feature, our bathroom even had a built in electric fire - thankfully not operational. First things first, after we settled in we did some laundry we then went across the road to order a pizza in the tiny pizza place, despite there being a few restaurants in town, the steak specials wasn't very good for us vegetarians. Murphy's law was in play and as soon as we decided to walk the ten minutes up to see the U-Drop Inn that the pizza place would call to say our food was ready, never mind we only had stayed briefly at the U Drop Inn, planning to come back later in the evening when the neons were lit up. We walked the 10 minutes or so back, collected pizza, crossed the Route 66 road to our room, open beers then eat our pizza! 

Later on that night we went back up to see the U-Drop Inn lit up in all its glory. It is now a visitors centre and we planned to come and have a good look in the morning. But for now we were content to take in the architecture enhanced by the lighting, it really must have been something to see back in the hey-day of Route 66. 

Days Mileage: 289
Total Mileage: 1488

2017 Road-trip day 7

Day 7 - Monday


Both of had the best nights sleep of the trip, one of us managed to sleep for 11 hours! We decided as the El Rey Inn was so lovely and check out wasn't till midday, that we would make use of the facilities. We grabbed some complementary delightful breakfast pastries and coffee to have back at the room and changed into swimwear to have some relaxation time in the outdoor hot tub housed in a charming enclosed tile courtyard.

We really appreciated this down time after several busy days, and made the decision to spend a couple of hours around Santa Fe, before continue Eastward bound, rather then back tracking to Albuquerque.

It was nearly midday when we checked out and headed to the Santa Fe Plaza, where we spent a couple of hours wondering the quaint shops discovering hidden gems hidden down little arcades.

Before leaving we decided we would get a coffee and stumbled across the Chocolate on the Plaza a lovely little independent handmade chocolate shop who also served cold brew. Well it would have been rude not to get some of their single state Venezuela chocolate to go with it. So we picked out 3 slices of chocolate dipped orange and 2 truffles with red chili and cinnamon to go with our cold brew, then parted with $30 ouch!

They were amazing if very expensive, time to move on from Santa Fe I think. We found it surprisingly easy getting back onto Route 66, following the Old Santa Fe trail then turning onto the Old Las Vegas Hwy - New Mexico not Nevada. We pass traditional Pueblos as the lush landscape passed by and we headed through Apache Canyon. A quick stop by the historical marker noting the battle between Union and Confederate troops in 1862 just before Glorieta.

Then crossing over the I-25 to follow the frontage roads towards Santa Rosa. You could tell you were high in the mountains, the air felt fresh and the floral green. In fact we both experienced feeling slightly dizzy back in Santa Fe which was probably due to spending too long in the hot tub and the high altitude. The current Pre-'37 road we had been driving now rejoined Post-'37 before joining the I-40 for about 14miles then it was back on the 66 through Cuervo where the road begins to show her age and becomes a little rough, before passing the ruins of an old motel and gas station at Newkirk then onto our bed for the night in Tucumcari.

The Blue Swallow Motel  an historic Route 66 Motel which opened in 1939 and is famed for its spectacular neons and authentic rooms. We were greeted warmly by the couple that run it and shown to our room - number1 - where we could see the neon signage from our window once darkness fell. We settled in and after a coffee we walked down to Del's Restaurant to finally get some Mexican. A great restaurant where we enjoyed a rather large Margarita, chips and salsa, a spinach and mushroom quesadilla and a cheese enchiladas with rice and beans, I knew when they asked if I would prefer red or green chili to choose the less hot red sauce.

Despite being extremely full, we still managed to find room for the Sopapillas - a flatbread dough that gets deep fried and puffs up- and which the restaurant serves with honey as a complementary dessert. Luckily we had a little walk back to help burn if a few calories, walking back we passed some of the great murals that the town has depicted life around the old road and town in its heyday.


By the time we arrived back at the hotel, the sign was lit up and called for a photo opt, we got chatting to another couple staying there from Illinois and shortly joined by a German fella as we all regaled tales about our time on the road and swapping tips. Our chat was cut short though due to the biting insects and we all made our way back to rooms to settle down for the night.

Days Mileage: 203
Total Mileage: 1199