Day Seven - Clinton to Amarillo

The National Route 66 Museum is in Elk City, Oklahoma and it is AWESOME!

Unfortunately, it doesn't open until 2 on Sunday and I was there at 10. It's Fourth-of-July-everything-is-closed all over again! At this point I was beginning to tire of all the 66 kitsch, but this museum looked amazing from the outside. And I wanted to see the inside. Bah...

But there was no way I could wait around for four hours in Elk City. Even elk can't find something to do for four hours in Elk City.

At the edge of a field right on the Texas border, there was a nice marker honoring Oklahoma's favorite son – Will Rogers.

 

I got out of the car to take a picture where I can see his happy face.

 

 

And was nearly killed by Pennywise the clown.

I spent a REALLY long time driving on this tiny little dirt road looking for a POW camp. The camp is not currently in use, making it much more difficult to find.

 During World War II, this field was filled with quonset huts which were filled with German POWs. And there is supposedly a plaque that says as much. Somewhere. I wanted to get a picture of it, but I was not enjoying the dirt road, or the signs that said, “Private Property, turn back Barb, or you will get your ass shot clean off!” So you are just going to have to take my word for it.

 

After being on the dirt road, I caved and hit the highway. But if I didn't do that I would never have been in the rest area that had the combo bathroom/tornado shelter. Pretty reassuring...

And since it was Sunday, I did a giant cross drive-by.

 

I got to Amarillo nice and early so I checked into the hotel and then went to a movie. I saw MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES, which was just as stupid as it looks. Maybe stupider. I enjoyed it thoroughly. My favorite part, though, was the sign on the theatre door that said “Open Carry Weapons Forbidden”. You're not in Massachusetts anymore, Dorothy...

I was just going to have cheese and cherries in my room, I wasn't particularly hungry, but I was in Texas. And there were, like, three road houses within a block of my hotel. So I went to one. It's the law.

I am pretty sure that the place I went was a chain, but it was new to me. So I am not counting it against my "no chain restaurants" rule. 

I got mashed potatoes for dinner, but more importantly, I got a Texas Tea flight. These are flavored teas that contain moonshine. I could develop a taste for these. If it weren't for the drunkenness factor. 

Perhaps you can see that I had about 5 sips of each one and had to stop. Luckily, I just had to walk across the parking lot to get to the hotel. Perhaps stagger.

 

The one thing I learned on my one night in Texas -

Moonshine can not be trusted.

If you'd like to see what a section of Historic Route 66 looks like – feel free to watch. It cures insomnia, if nothing else.