2023 Road Trip: Route 66: Texas (5/13-14/2023)

Saturday, May 13, 2023 (continued)

The first stop in Texas was in the city of Shamrock. Route 66 covered 186 miles/299 km across the panhandle of Texas.

Pioneer West Museum in the former Reynolds Hotel (1928)

Ziegler House (1910) was home to the local physician who
cared for community residents through two world wars

Magnolia Service Station (1929)

Because of the city name of Shamrock, local leaders were
able to persuade Ireland to send a piece of the Blarney Stone,
which arrived in an armored truck with a guard escort

Um, in the era of the pandemic, I decided not to kiss
the Blarney Stone, thus I will not benefit from
"never being at a loss for words"

Shamrock's still functioning water tower (c 1915), is
the tallest historic water tower in Texas, at 176'/23 m

On the left is the Conoco Tower Station with the
U-Drop Inn Café (1936) on the right

We stayed at the Shamrock Country Inn (1959)

We know we are in Texas now!

Sunday, May 14, 2023

In McLean, TX, we were supposed to see a neon sign
in the shape of Texas at 115 1st Street; there was only
this Texas outline painted on the front window

Phillips 66 Service Station (1929) another cottage-look
style to blend in with residential neighborhoods
(a Roadside America attraction)

Also in McLean, TX was the Cactus Inn (1956), still a motel

The Cactus Inn sign

Kiser's Route 66 Super Service Station (1930); perhaps
it is a "super" because it has gas pumps on two sides

Located in Alanreed, TX, this station is unusual because
of the decorated single columns holding the canopy

The Leaning [Water] Tower of [Groom,] TX
was purchased in 1980 from the town of Lefors
by gas station owner Ralph Britten, and
used as an attraction for his business
(a Roadside America attraction)

A 200'/61 m Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Ministries (1995) was for a time the largest
cross in the western hemisphere, and on the
ground below are life-size statues of the 14
Stations of the Cross and a Last Supper scene
(a Roadside America attraction)

Next in Panhandle, TX is the Slug Bug Ranch (2002),
created in defiance of the corporate travel plaza across
the interstate; bottles of spray paint are sold  to encourage
graffiti, which is apparently not censored
(a Roadside America attraction)

A closer look at a couple of the buried VW Beetles

The Big Texan Steak Ranch sign, advertises the
"free" 72 ounce steak dinner including a shrimp
cocktail, baked potato, salad, and a roll with
butter (only if you can eat it all in an hour)
(a Roadside America attraction)

The Big Texan Steak Ranch (1960 on Route 66, moved
to I-40 in 1971, rebuilt in 1978 after a fire) in Amarillo, TX

The Big Tex-Rex (c 1991) used to stand at the
Dallas Planet Hollywood, arrived here in 2012

The latest iconic Giant Steer (the original is in the
Texas Route 66 Museum in McLean, TX - closed today)

The Big Texan Motel (1983) with Old West style façade

Still covered in May, the Texas-shaped swimming pool (KSS)

Texas Historic Route 66 sign

Sign for Historic 6th Street, the original
Route 66 through the city of Amarillo

Smokey Joe's Café is located in a 1950s fruit market on 6th Street

The Second Amendment Cowboy, a "muffler man,"
one of the roadside giants built between 1963 and 1972
by International Fiberglass to call attention to businesses,
stands in front of three Cadillacs at an RV park near
Amarillo (a Roadside America attraction) ...

... and also near Cadillac Ranch (1974, by Ant Farm, an
avant-garde architecture, graphic arts, and environmental
design practice based in San Francisco) to show the
evolution of Cadillac tail fins from the 1949 Club Sedan
to the 1963 Sedan de Ville (a Roadside America attraction)

I trudged through ankle deep mud to try to get closer,
but then a sandal got mired and I couldn't lift my
foot, meaning I had to slip out of the sandal and pull
it up out of the mud by hand; decided not to risk falling

Thankfully there were puddles to wash off feet and sandals (KSS)

Magnolia Gas Station (1924) in Vega, TX, displays not
only the tall visible hand crank gas pump, but two
boxy lubester pump dispenser models (1930s?)

Oldham County Courthouse (c 1915, by O G Roquemore
in altered Classical Revival style) 

The Milburn-Price Cultural Museum was closed today,
but we were here to see the world's largest branding
iron (XIT) (a Roadside America attraction)
seen in front of the museum mural (2014, by
Joshua Finley and Valerie Doshier) 

Also the Ankylosaurus sculpture (2022, by Greg Conn),
of a dinosaur that once roamed this area, is mistakenly
called a Giant Metal Horned Toad by Roadside America
(the Texas Horned Lizard is also called a Horny Toad)

A 128th scale of the World Trade Center
twin towers 9/11 Memorial (2021)

An alien in a rusted truck at 308 S Main Street in Vega, TX

Vega Motel (1947)

The Rooster with a cigar and sombrero
at Roosters Mexican Restaurant
(a Roadside America attraction)

The cloud cover hides the tops of the wind turbines

The Bent Door Café and Midway Gas Station
(1948) in Adrian, TX

The Bent Door Café was built from a surplus
World War II control tower

Midpoint of Route 66  is in Adrian, TX ...

... which meant we were 1,139 miles/1,833 km from
Los Angeles, and also from Chicago; the sign
is a Roadside America attraction

We had lunch at he Midpoint Café (1947)

Midpoint Café interior

William Shatner loved the fried bologna sandwich here

Plenty of fried bologna in the sandwich

We also had a BLT that was too big for the bread

The Midpoint Café specializes in Ugly Crust pies; who is
worried about crust with a peanut butter and chocolate pie?!

Gas station in the ghost town of Glenrio, TX

Also in Glenrio are the Brownlee Diner, and ...

... the State Line Motel and Café

Crossing into New Mexico to find the Glenrio Post Office,
we only saw this building, which looks little like the
abandoned post office of the town straddling the state border

This was Route 66 near Glenrio, and then it ended,
and we had to turn around to get on I-40

Next: Route 66 in New Mexico.