The Wanderings of busman7

Including these 3 states in one posting all 3 are basically plains states & pretty similar in scenery.

While Kansas can only claim 13 miles of the route on an early alignment, it should not be bypassed as it clearly shows the hard times facing this section of the country, with more business’s being closed than open.

The 4 Women Cafe is period but was closed when I passed by & The Tow-Tater (haven’t seen the movie so don’t know the attraction), while a nice nostalgia piece is merely a 50’s model 170 International with a set of gin poles, nothing extra special.

The Marsh Arch bridge is unique & apparently the last of it’s kind which makes it kind of neat to drive over. Also the route directions painted on the road surface are a sure way to keep vandals/tourons from stealing them.

Moving on to Oklahoma, basically it sucks, only old road I found was a couple short pieces where curves had been straightened out which is hardly surprising considering there is only about 3 signs for the road in the whole state & one is in the middle of Oklahoma City. Did try to find a section of the old road west of the city but the lack of signs caused me to take a 50 mile tour out of the way, never knowingly traveling the road, so just got back on I-40 & hauled ass for Texas.

Things must be tough in Oklahoma as every road in the state seems to be under construction, taking advantage of Obama’s infrastructure (non)incentive!

Always had a thing for Texas but just crossing the border one can feel the change in the air + see the Historic Route 66 signs again. Spent the nighi in Shamrock, visited the Route 66/Barb wire Museum in McLean. Took the Interstate through Amarillo, stopped for a piece of heavenly chocolate cream pie at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, the 1139 mile mark & halfway mark on Route 66, finally drove through what’s left of Glenrio on the NM border.

So far 4 of the 5 states traveled have done a superb job of promoting Historic Route 66, too bad Oklahoma couldn’t do the same.

Giving TomTom Tommy a timeout in my briefcase, will give him one last chance to see if he can find the Citi Bank branch in Albuquerque, if not—–Tommy es Muerto!!!!!

Having made the halfway mark + a tad, it’s time to take a bit of a break from the mother road to check out Roswell NM!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 at 03:31 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.