We wake up in Amarillo. It’s Friday. I think.

The Texas panhandle is hotter, flatter and we start to see that people are very attached to their vehicles. So much so, that they keep them forever. As pets. In their yards.

Traveling Route 66 is like being part of a novel. As a tourist, you’re very much an outsider looking in. It’s a great place to visit, but I’m not convinced I want to pack my bags. I can’t not address the poverty. I’m not talking about the cute places that have managed to make it into the tour guides and road maps on this newly revived road trip route. I’m mostly talking about the places between those tiny dots on the map. I didn’t photograph any of these homes out of respect for their occupants, but the living conditions of some of these very rural, very remote places is… I don’t know. Words don’t do it justice. They lack even the most basic of “necessities.”

Between those places are the punchy towns who have managed to make the books and get characters in Disney movies – well, those places are fun. It’s diners and drive-ins and places who are prospering because America remembers the Mother Road. There, the people are happy, thriving and loving their tangible bit of living history. Those towns alone make the trip so worthwhile.

Still, you can’t talk about one without the other.

Not exactly a remnant, but vibrant proof that life along Rt 66 is thriving is Cadillac Ranch. Remember that Disney-Pixar photo of Ramone from Day 2? Look in the background. See how the rocks are shaped like tilted Cadillacs? Mr. Lasseter did his homework!

Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo, Texas:

We eat lunch at the Mid-Point Cafe, Adrian, Texas – named because it’s exactly half-way from the beginning and end of the Route 66 trip. We met Fran, who is vibrant and beautiful and fun – and… the inspiration for Flo in the Cars movie. We see her scrapbook of Cars memorabilia and learn that we just missed John Lasseter by a couple weeks. The girls who are “Mia” and “Pia” (the twins – McQueen’s biggest fans) in the movie also work at the Mid-Point Cafe. I could have stayed and chatted all day with the great people there.

In Bard, Texas we find that Route 66 isn’t even paved anymore. It’s gravel, and patches of squash and wildflowers have crept their way onto the sides of the road. And it’s seriously questionable if two cars could fit side-by-side without squashing the squash. It’s an adventure for sure.

Soon, we see the Texas – New Mexico border. First stop – Tucumcari, New Mexico. It’s a big dot on the Route 66 trip, and you can tell that this was once the It Place. The Blue Swallow is here, as is the start of all the kitschy Indian / Tee Pee novelty stores. But my boys? They’ve got cowboy fever. Bad.

By evening, we’re in Albuquerque in the Old Town and meeting an old friend for dinner. He was a groomsman in our wedding, and it’s a fun reunion since he moved away. We chat until we all about fall asleep in our seats.

Old Town Albuquerque is beautiful. We are asleep within minutes.

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This is another long car day.

Pulled out of the hotel around 9 am, but B-Dad left his credit card at a restaurant back near Kansas City, so first stop was our bank to halt the card. The littlest man threw up all over himself and the car seat about 3 blocks from the bank, so while B-Dad took care of the card, I took care of the mess. Turns out our Middle Man is also car sick. Oh, and we forgot the toiletry bag with all the toothbrushes and deodorant back in Iowa. Wish you were here!

We crossed the Kansas-Oklahoma state border and immediately the landscape changes. Drier, less green, more rural, cattle and vast fields. We caught up with Route 66 in Edmond, OK and hit the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK. It was a little kitschy, but we learned a lot about the Dust Bowl and the Route 66 of the Grapes of Wrath era.

In Shamrock, Texas we found the Conoco Station / U Drop Inn. The boys immediately recognized the inspiration for Ramone’s House of Body Art from Disney-Pixar’s Cars movie. See for yourself!

See the photography section for: many old gas stations, motor courts and Britton, OK’s leaning water tower. Yup, it leans.

And you can’t be a tourist in Amarillo, TX without a stop at this audacious place – The Big Texan. Suffice to say that 3:5 of us were sick that night. We’re having fun, already!

Twilight over Texas is beautiful…

We sleep in Amarillo, Texas. But not before hitting the Wal-Mart to remedy the toiletry bag situation. By the time we sleep we are shiny and smell good. Imperative for a road trip, don’t you think?

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We did about 6 1/2 hours of driving – stayed in Witchita, KS. We pulled in to the hotel at about 1 am, and back out around 9 am. Coffee anyone?

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Trip is tentatively scheduled around the Labor Day holiday – beginning to mid September.

So far in the planning we have:

• purchased half a dozen books on the history and current layout of Route 66.

• Become AAA members, which came with turn-by-turn directions and maps of each state we’ll be traveling through.
• Been saving our pennies! Like good little tourists, we hope to shop and spend locally on our trip.
• Learning how to use our cameras. B Dad more than me, but I will be learning, too.
• Read other online blogs and account of Rt 66 trips from tourists and locals.

If you’ve taken a trip like this, how did you plan? Anything we should do now?

-B Mom

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We are a husband-wife writing team.  The purpose of this blog is to capture the planning process, the trip, the photography and the writing for our trip on historic Route 66.  We have three young sons who fell in love with “Ornament Valley”, “Radiator Springs” and the beautiful vistas and cars from Disney-Pixar’s Cars movie.

This trip has been inspired by three little boys, a Disney movie, old favs on the radio, one dad’s love of photography and one mom’s love of writing.

We hope to collect the process here.  Afterall, this trip is just as much about the journey as the destination.

B-Mom

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