Texas Trip - Route 66 and beyond.

We are leaving Albuquerque. That should be a title of a song:

The truck is filled and I'm leaving Albuquerque,
The sun is rising time is O dark thirty,
and highway 40 isn't going far north
enough for me.....

It's a song in progress. give me time.


Time - we don't have much of it today, we have to reach Vegas.
We do have enough time to stop in one of the towns used as a reference for Radiator Springs.
Holbrook Arizona - a town known for being the town that's known for being a town.

There is a bit of nostalgia in the neon and pink and strange souvenir stores. What the town is more known for is the hotel.

It's still working, you can still rent one out. Here are some pics for the curious.

We have a few laughs and do one more drive by on our way to Winslow.

Sing it with me: "I'm standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see. It's a girl my lord in a flat bed ford slowing down to take a look at me."

Moving on.

Jackrabbit. Its nothing more than a store. There may have been a truckstop there once. For now, it's many signs pointing out the Jackrabbit. You find yourself saying it a lot. Jack Rabbit. Jack. Rabbit. Jackrabbit.

Back on the road - curiosity satisfied.

Side Note: Have you seen a greyhound bus recently? More importantly... have you notices that the logo for greyhound is pretty damn nice? As far as logos go, this one is pretty much artwork.

We stop at the meteor crater - because its awesome.

This rock:

Made this hole:

(Those two people are my travelling companions)

We haven't eaten for a while, so they suggested that we go find something. I suggest we stay where we were. In the back of the fridge, I have stashed bar-b-cue from Texas. We fire up the microwave (because we have one!) and eat ribs on the side of the crater overlooking the plains. Not a bad way to eat lunch.

We move on to Vegas, and stay at the Cosmopolitan. The view from my room is perfect way to end the day. It's about as blurry as my eyesite.

Tomorrow - heading home.

Texas Trip - day three

West Texas - No country for old men.

Damn this road is boring. I'm leaving a crappy hotel and taking the 10 down in a south easterly direction. It's mile and miles of nothing. Occasionally you have a rock - and that's considered "scenery".

But we are making good time and laughing about how land is probably pretty cheap out here. Perhaps it would be easy to own land near the giant natural hill that is shaped like... oh, Idunno... something.

Hours and hours of nothing, cars being towed are an occasional break. This thing has seen better years.

The debate between San Antonio for the evening and Austin is quickly settled when I mention that Austin has Four Seasons. After last nights hotel, my co-pilots are thrilled to have a comfy plush bed.
For the record, I love Austin. Mucho. The people, the food, the music, the vibe. So I take them to two bbq places - both closed for corporate events.

We end up at a steakhouse, and after a couple manhattans, we walk back through the town and pass out.

Good morning. It's the fourth day of this trip, the car is parked right in front, the garage was too low.

It's off to the wedding at a private ranch. We are there for the rest of the day, the following day, and we are leaving at dark thirty the next morning.

Day 6. 4:00 am. And we are on the road back to Albuquerque. Also through west texas.

Its boring. And there is not much here either other than empty main streets and rusted cars for sale.

Ballinger. Sweetwater. Snyder. Lubbock. Clovis. Fort Sumner. Santa Rosa.

And now we are on Hwy 40. Seriously. There's nothing along the way but birds and sky. Maybe that's a good thing.

Tomorrow we are looking for the heart of Route 66.