Our morning started out in Shamrock, Texas; a sleepy little town with a population of 1828. We spent the night at the Blarney Inn; the only thing Irish about the place was the green paint and the shamrocks on the shutters. It was, however, a nice motel - clean and great water pressure. With no definite plans for the day we got a later start than usual knowing we would make good time on the long, straight stretches of Route 66 that cover West Texas.
Leaving Shamrock behind, we made our way towards Amarillo going through Allenreed, Groom, Conway (where we stopped to spraypaint our names on a VW at the Bug Ranch), and a few other places that were no more than just reference points on a map with names like Lark and Jericho. Even Amarillo seemed dusty and tired except for the Big Texan Steakranch - bustling and very commercial advertising their "Free" 72oz steak to anyone who came comsume it within an hour.
Outside of Amarillo our surreal experience continued with a stop at the Cadillac Ranch - the big brother to the Bug Ranch. It was a hot, dusty walk to the 10 Cadillacs buried nose down. Visitors are encourage to "graffiti" the cars. Mike and I had planned for this and had a can of spray paint just for this purpose. Besides the Big Texan Steakranch, this was the busiest place we have encountered on our trip so far.
Back in the car with the air blasting - it was 104 degrees outside - we headed away from the crowds and back on the length of Route 66 that would take us to our final destination for the night. This stretch of road was hot, dusty, and deserted; several times we stopped right in the middle of the road to take pictures.
The almost-ghost towns of Bushland and Wildorado led us to Vega and the beautifully restored 1920 Magnolia Gas Station. There was not much else in this little down that was dried out by the hot desert wind that must constantly blow here and the passing of unkind time. We did not linger long since Adrian and the Mid Point Cafe were beckoning us...a call ahead informed us that we had just a little over an hour to get there if we wanted to try their world-famous "Ugly Crust Pie".
Lunch at the Mid Point proved to be up-lifing...great burgers and delicious pie. We both had their "Speciality Pie". Despite the ugly crust (which was the best pie crust I have ever tasted - sorry Mom!), this treat was scrumptous. After a chat with the owner and clicking what seemed like a hundred pictures, we were once again on the road with a destination of Tucumcari and The Blue Swallow Motel for the night. But, we knew there would be one final stop before we could wash off the dust of the day - Glenrio.
Glenrio is the sad ghost of a place (was there every really a town there?) that is the last town in Texas before crossing over into the Land of Enchantment. The pictures say it all about Glenrio. There was no sign of life except for the barking of some dogs; the few building we saw were abandoned and falling down. A side trip down the "Dirt 66" resulted in us turning around due to the decrepit conditon of the road. We were quiet as we headed (on pavement) to Tucumcari.
Our mood brightend significantly as we entered Tucumcari...neon, neon everywhere! Luck was with us, not only did the Blue Swallow have a room for us, but we got to meet the new owners. The Blue Swallow is a lovely, vintage motel with a great neon sign out front. Settled in for the evening, our only concern right now is where we will eat dinner tonight and how far we will drive tomorrow.
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