Route 66 Trip, July 8
Another excellent day.
We got off to an early start, but soon realised we would need to
fill up; consulting the satnav found that meant taking a big loop north
to Pampa, where we got breakfast and petrol.
Much of this northern tip of Texas looked pretty depressed. There were lots of nodding donkeys but some of them had nodded right off, so the extensive oil installations looked quite sad. We saw wind farms, new tech replacing the old perhaps, but there is a lot of mess of ugly old installations not only in the towns but in the fields.
To get to Amarillo we found our road closed - water over road. Were detoured to another road. But that too was somewhat flooded:
we could get through, luckily.
Amarillo seemed full of pawn shops, loan agencies, credit restoration firms. But outside Amarillo there was an installation consisting of ten Cadillacs buried in a field and extensively painted.
Quite muddy.
Melissa took this somewhere near.
On we went to the Midpoint cafe.
and had coffee at the cafe:
IN reality they did not look too bad. Not sure how they tasted.
Soon after that we crossed into New Mexico. There was a very attractive visitor centre at the border -- all I'm showing of it, though, is the ceiling.
The NM country was much more like cowboy film country than the flat expanses of Texas we had been riding through.
though one still saw dilapidation.
Melissa took this in her mirror.
Finally we got to Tucumcari where we are staying.
There is fine artwork on the walls of our motel.
and this in the garage where two of the bikes will rest tonight.
Here are Pete, Val and Mark resting.
Tomorrow we are off to Santa Fe, where we will meet Nell.