Day 4 – 5/16/2021 – Route 66 and Albuquerque
Up early and ready to leave, we head north on our way to
Clinton. It is cloudy and threatening to
rain. Passing a number of windmills that
we can see are moving briskly and as you can see in the clouds.
Some of the places we are passing are very flat and as you can see from
this field, they are growing wheat.
It begins to become monotonous as we pass field after field
of wheat and hay with the occasional windmill farm. The roads are mostly straight for miles and
only have a crossing road every 15 miles or so.
We continue to make headway.
We eventually make it to Clinton and reach the Oklahoma
Route 66 Museum. Guess what? The museum is closed and on a Sunday no
less.
Looking through one of the windows, I can see some of the
memorabilia from the times when Route 66 was the road west and not I-40. The old gas
pumps, vinyl seats from diners, and the old soda coolers are in the lobby of
the museum.
Outside there is a replica of an old street side diner. It is too bad that it is not open; a burger, fries, and shake would have tasted good right about now.
We can also begin to hear thunder in the distance.
Back on the I-40 interstate road again and we begin to see signs for the
National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma.
Since we did not get to go in the museum in Clinton, why not try the one
in Elk City. It is beginning to drizzle a
little and Carmen decides to stay in the car because the museum does not look
like its open. And, she is right, it is
closed.
While Carmen stays in the car, I run around to take a couple of pictures of the buildings
they have before continuing on the road.
Here we can see what would be a hotel, saloon, and trading post that would have existed on Route 66 in the past.
Walking around outside of the Route 66 Museum, I
happen to see several statues next door at the Elk City Old Town Museum. This one was very animated in its appearance. There are other buildings attached to each
museum and I figured those belonging to the Route 66 Museum would contain more
memorabilia.
Again we leave a closed Route 66 museum and head west on Interstate 40 and move into the Texas panhandle and a
couple miles past Amarillo we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch. Not a ranch really, but someone buried a
number of Cadillacs in the ground. They
used to look like a Cadillac and were in better shape.
Many people over time have spray painted the car skeletons
and this is what they look like now. As
you can tell, it rained earlier and there is a large puddle of water at the
base of the cars. If anything, the water
has stopped people from getting in the way of our pictures.
Driving through the panhandle of Texas the land is flat,
very flat as you can see here. We can
see quite a distance.
After entering New Mexico, we see a vehicle that must have
been a storm tracker. There were antenna
and other items across the roof and TorCon on the back. That brought some interest until we see signs
for a free classic car museum at Russell’s Travel Center and decided that since
two Route 66 museums were closed, why not try this. It is opened and at the entrance, we see a large collection of
Coca-Cola items.
There are quite a few old cars here in this museum. Memorabilia includes Marilyn Monroe, Elvis,
James Dean, Roy Rogers, and more. The
second and third cars are a 1955 and a 1959 corvette. There is also a Mercury, Thunderbird, and a Chevy
Belair in the line of cars.
In addition to some old pieces like a Big Boy statue, a few
Betty Boop statues, old time gas pumps, and there were more than a few
Wurlitzers and other jukeboxes. I have
to admit there were quite a few items in the museum that would make any old
time collector salivate.
And, not to be out done, there is an old Russell’s Drive In
hamburger menu sitting near the exit.
You could have a bacon cheeseburger with fries, a small cola, and finish
it all off with a hot fudge sundae all for a $1.14. Talk about a cheap date!
We near Albuquerque, NM where we plan on staying the night
and the terrain has definitely changed.
We are getting into more bluffs and rocky materials.
Now in Albuquerque, we can see Sandia Peak. We have been up on the mountain a couple of
times, first by the gondola tramway and the second by car via NM-536 to Sandia
Crest. Tomorrow we will head to
Bandelier National Monument, Aztec Ruins National Monument, and finally
overnight in Durango, Colorado.
