Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Oklahoma City East KOA Woke up this morning feeling only slightly rested - considering the campsite is between the local airport and a train line, any sleep seems like a miracle! We headed out of Amarillo a tad to visit the Cadillac Ranch. It was interesting talking to a local who knew the owner who wanted it to be "public art - art for the people". It is so wonderfully different. The best bit is it looks like Alex is going to be proposed to in a couple of days...
From here it was time to drive to Oklahoma City on the world famous Route 66 - it was the only reason Oklahoma City made it on to our itinerary! I didn't realise that they put Interstate 40 on the top of Route 66, literally laying it over the old road in some places. In some places they have sections of it alongside the interstate which is good that they have kept parts of it for historical value. While we were driving I spotted a white cross in the distance... and we didn't seem to get closer to it for a while. All become clear when we reached the town of Groom, Texas and realised that is is a giant 19-story cross.
We did drive on the original Route 66 a couple of times when we visited a couple of towns, including the slightly scary McLean, Texas which is home to the Devil's Rope barbed wire museum!
After crossing the boarder into Oklahoma, we visited the Route 66 Museum in Elk City. It was interesting to see a bit of the history behind the legendary road. The museum was showing a documentary on the death of small town USA and Rout 66 because of the interstate - something we have seen first hand.
Driving on to Oklahoma City was unique - considering the roads looked like they had been damaged by an earthquake with major cracks, I am relieved that we got here in one piece.
The campsite reminds me of Bali - the bugs, the heat, the humidity - yet somehow we seem to be near a local airport and a somewhat busy road. I think someone at KOA has a warped sense of humour...
Next up was the obligatory visit the Roswell UFO Museum and Research Centre - I was amazed how much information they have there! It was amazing to read all the first hand accounts of the 1947 crash - more people have come forward than I thought. It was all laid out so well, having been meticulously researched and backed up with government documentation - I could have spent an entire day there.
We started driving to the lab where the Manhatten Project developed the atomic bomb but unfortunately there was a huge forest fire which not only closed the road to the lab, but also closed all the campsites south of Sante Fe - where will we sleep tonight?
We visited Old Town in Albuquerque which was great to see, even though it felt like the shops were New Mexico's equivalent to Red Dot!
By far the biggest attraction on the trip was us - everyone loved our accents and had a million questions about Australia. One girl said she knows a guy in Perth and asked if we knew him... sigh... Everyone told us places we should visit and we will do our best to see as much as we can!
At the end of the tour, the tour guide said that the funniest question that she had ever been asked by a school girl was "how did they get the horses up their ladders" to which the tour guide had said "they didn't have horses" - I turned to Care and said "of course they didn't have horses: they couldn't get them up the ladders!"
After a visit to the gift shop, we headed back down 'suicide drive mountain' and off to Farmington - the town of no tent camping! We must have driven past Jiffy Lube (tee hee hee) 4 times trying to find somewhere to camp. We ended up checking into a motel which is a lot better than last nights hell-hole. There is an amusing sign just outside our room...
We had dinner tonight at Dairy Queen - yum yum! We are slowly eating at every fast food chain we can find - I am going to put on a lot of wait on this holiday...
Continuing Eastward, our first stop was the town of Kayenta where we had Burger King for lunch. The best thing about this Burger King is that they have a Navajo Museum in the restaurant! They had details about the WW2 Navajo code talkers, a breakdown of what plants are used to create dyes in their clothing, and the whole place had a native American theme - it was great to see.
It is so hot today that we thought we might have a break from driving and sit in an air conditioned cinema and watch a movie. Clearly the people of Kayenta don't watch a lot of movies...
Next up was the Four Corners Monument - Clare was so excited to have her photo taken while she stood in 4 different states - the only place in the USA where four states meet in one spot.
In preparation for tomorrow we decided to stay in Cortez, Colorado. We unfortunately picked the dodgiest motel possible - the sink had no running water, one of the light switches in the bathroom zapped Clare, one of the lamps had a blown globe, stained sheets - and this was the best of the 3 rooms they showed us! Note to all - AVOID THIS PLACE!!
We had all you can eat Pizza Hut tonight for dinner and while the food was nothing flash, I finally found a lemonade like what we have at home. Up until now I have been drinking Sprite, which in the USA is a lemon & lime blend. I have asked for lemonade at various places and have been served lemon squash like Solo. Tonight I found Sierra Mist - it's still a lemon-lime blend but it is "naturally sweetened" so I guess it is that everything else is over sweetened! Guess what we are buying next time we find a Walmart!
