In order to get a good start on rolling the miles we left Albuquerque at 7:00 this morning.  The start was the normal Holiday Inn Express continental breakfast – nothing to brag about but filling.  The morning rush hour wasn’t too bad as we made our way to the first highlight of the day.  We were headed to the “musical highway”.

This is a stretch of Old Route 66 that grooves have been added to.  If driven at the recommended speed the vehicle tires play America the Beautiful.  The grooves aren’t very wide so you have to drive carefully to keep the tires playing their song.  Unfortunately my aim wasn’t perfect so we didn’t get to enjoy every note.  It was fun but not worth going back for an encore.

We crossed from New Mexico into Texas and were disappointed that there was no Texas Welcome Center.  We were wanting a Texas map and count on these Welcome Center’s to supply that.  There was no rest area, nothing.  Maybe Texas has enough people and doesn’t welcome any more.

It’s kind of sad for those of us of a certain age that Route 66 isn’t still a vital piece of the US transportation system.  All it has to offer these days is a myriad of nostalgic signs and shells of former roadside attractions.  We stopped at one of these today.  It is called the “Midway Café” in Adrian, Texas.  Business has been on the down hill slide and the café only has food Thursday through Monday.  Darn – we were looking forward to having lunch here.  We settled for some pictures and a hat pin to add to the collection along with the knowledge that we were halfway between Chicago and Santa Monica Pier.

Not too far down the road from the Midway Café is the Cadillac Ranch.  The old Caddy’s attract many visitors but don’t expect the normal gift shop, snack bar, or rest room facilities.  The only thing for sale there was a guy in a red SUV selling cans of spray paint in case someone wanted to add to the many, many layers of paint already on the old machines.  We parked and walked through the animal gate out into a planted field to view the cars in the bright sunshine.  It was well above 90 degrees in the Texas afternoon.

From the ranch there was nothing left to do except drive the rest of the day’s planned mileage to Weatherford, Oklahoma.  We pulled in about 6:00 (after losing an hour to the time zone change).  Across the parking lot was Lucille’s Roadhouse which offered more than fast food.  I was pretty tired of sandwiches and fries.  This place offered good food ad cold beer.  We filled up and walked back to the hotel satisfied.

More long miles for the next two days with nothing really planned for a diversion.  It really helps that we can trade off driving responsibilities frequently.  It means that I can nap in the back seat 3/4 of the time.  I try real hard not to nap when I’m driving.