Day 4: Amarillo, TX to Tucumcari, NM

You probably saw the news stories about the heavy rains and flooding in OK City. Well, we were lucky to have headed west just ahead of that storm. -- I wrote about the VW Bug Ranch in my last post. Turns out that was a copy of the Cadillac Ranch just west of Amarillo. So, this entrepreneur decided to bury about 10 Cadillacs nose first in the Texas prairie. The best thing about this is you drive up to the gate, and walk about 1/4 mile to the cars, but there is no admission, nobody hawking t-shirts, nothing but people and the cars. When we were there, there was group of day camp kids -- all with cans of spray paint -- climbing in and out of the cars, painting them up. Looked like a lot of fun. -- We did pretty good sticking to the old road which mostly parallels I-40. We went through the Texas towns of Vega, Adrian, and Glenrio, before hitting the New Mexico border. The best part of today was hitting the geographical halfway point between Chicago and Santa Monica and having a late breakfast at the Midpoint Cafe -- somehow the ham and eggs were better here. -- Glenrio was a real ghost town - the First and Last Motel in Texas was a crumbling shack that probably saw its share of travelers and truck drivers over the past 60-70 years. -- We then headed for our layover point, Tucumcari, NM, where we chilled overnite -- Had a nice southwest style meal (Carne Adovado) at the Pow Wow Inn and Restaurant and admired the nightime, lit-up art deco of the Blue Swallow Motel and the Teepee Curios souvenir shop - both reminders of an America where being different was the key to attract customers vs. the cookie cutter fast food places and motels we have today.-- A good day on the road/kc