Route 66: Day Seven
DAY SEVEN!!! The trip has officially been one week! And it was so so SO good to have a complete non-driving day in Albuquerque. I felt way better and more excited about all the upcoming stops on this long driving day. We were going to be in three states in one day: New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma!
Day seven {projected*} itinerary:
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center {Albuquerque, NM}
Tinkertown Museum {Albuquerque, NM}
Route 66 Auto Museum {Santa Rosa, NM}
Santa Rosa Blue Hole {Santa Rosa, NM}
Tee Pee Curios {Tucumcari, NM}
Midpoint Cafe {Adrian, TX}
Dot's Mini Museum {Vega, TX}
Cadillac Ranch {Amarillo, TX}
Huge Pair of Legs {Amarillo, TX}
Palo Duro Canyon State Park {Canyon, TX}
VW Slug Bug Ranch {Panhandle, TX}
Groom Cross {Groom, TX}
Jigs Smokehouse Diner {Clinton, OK}
arrive in Oklahoma City, OK
*Did not stop at the VW Slug Bug Ranch on this trip, but on the way back with Matt I did, so I included that as a bonus at the end, but is not included in the mileage or map. I did not go to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, or Jigs Smokehouse Diner.
Approximate mileage: 559
Approximate driving time: 8.5 hours
Approximate expenses: $139.26
Gas: $29.89 @ $2.479/gallon, 12.058g | $29.22 @ $2.299/gallon, 12.709g
Food: $16.86
Experience: $6 Pueblo Cultural Center
Stay: $57.29 Tower Hotel OKC**
**booked through Hotwire on one of those mystery deals — they gave me enough information that I was able to deduce the hotel though so it wasn’t really a surprise, just a good deal
Read below for map, video, details, and photo journal...
Nancy and John are the greatest. They really made us feel at home. I was so psyched when they agreed to wear the ponchos I got them and let me take their photo. Initially it was going to be a cool photo at sunset with Sandia Peak, but if you remember from the previous post, it ended up being a rainstorm. Not super suitable for portrait shots. Instead, before we headed out, we had fun pretending that John was driving his super cool motorcycle with Nancy and their ponchos. Serious thank you to these two.
We were determined to stop at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center on our way out of Albuquerque. Not a far drive from where we were staying at Nancy and John's, we got our passes, Krystal mailed some postcards, and we walked through. Lots of great and important history chronicled here. They also just finished a new exhibit, so I definitely recommend setting aside at least an hour or so to explore it, read the stories, and understand all the history.
Out of all the random museums we stopped at along the way, this one hands down takes the cake as my favorite, and the most random. It's better understood in my snap video above, but pictures can isolate those most random of the moments here.
Tinkertown is filled with things that don't have much in common except that they don't have much in common. There are a lot of set up "tinker" sets that are animated in a way where you press a button and they come alive. I enjoyed all the surprises there.
I was also really excited that my memory of the "50 Nifty United States" song was still so intact in my mind that I was able to get a prize for reciting it in my best singing voice!
Krystal and I had so much to do this day that we opted not to pay the entry for the auto museum. But they do have some fun things to look at in their gift shop. And as a paying customer, you get to use the bathroom. #bonus
If I had my scuba diving license, this place would be even cooler than the frigid blue water it was.
I just liked that we came here with only a few people around, friendly squirrels, and the time to enjoy it for a little bit. We didn't go in the water (it's a constant 62 degrees Fahrenheit) but we witnessed some people that decided to brave the chill.
Their website gives a good detailed photo of what you can't see from above — the 82 foot depth as well as the cave passages that are sealed off for exploration, but from which the blue hole gets it's water supply.
If it was a hot day, this would be an ideal place to be and swim in. The area itself is nice and reserved. We loved putting our feet in and sitting out on top of the overlooking rock just enjoying the space.
Tee Pee Curios in Tucumcari is a good souvenir stopping point. And a cute photo-op. I love their sign.
We were pretty hungry at this point, so we also stopped for food at Del's Restaurant — they had a buffet special that was enough food to last us from lunch to dinner.
It was an epic moment to reach the midpoint of the Route 66 drive. Midpoint Cafe was already closed so we didn't get to eat there, but we did take pictures and walk across the midpoint line and I got to take in how far I'd come and how far we still needed to go.
This was a little bit of an outlier stop. When we reached it, it was almost evening, and no one was around. I felt a little unsure if we could even go inside the little "museum". So we didn't stay very long, just checked out all the random artifacts and continued on.
Cadillac Ranch is so random. I don't know why someone decided to strip a bunch of Cadillac's and put them into the ground for people to come by and spray paint on, but it was one of the more interesting places to stop. Krystal and I didn't bring our own spray paint, but we enjoyed looking at everyone else's messages and climbing on some of the cars.
The sun was starting to set too and it cast a beautiful light onto the entire scene.
This photo is actually from my trip with Matt so you can better see what it looks like during the daytime.
Our last site of the day was the Huge Pair of Legs. When I saw this as a driving option, I was really intrigued as to why there even would be a huge pair of legs in some field... but a lot of the things I've seen on the road trip made me understand there wasn't a need to overthink or question certain oddities. It's just there.
As we drove up to the legs, the sun had set and we were able to make out the shape of them in the distance and get a photo, before I turned to the real impressive sunset that was occurring over the horizon. It was a brilliant array of colors and became more saturated as the light began to leave.
Bonus: VW Slug Bug Ranch
By the time Krystal and I had gotten to the legs, the light was already gone and we still had a good amount of driving left to get to our destination of Oklahoma City, so we weren't able to stop by the VW Slug Bug Ranch.
I made sure that Matt and I made the time to stop and see it, and Matt made sure to pick up some spray paint beforehand. The VW Slug Bug Ranch seems less known than the Cadillac Ranch — maybe because it's a little further off the highway — so there wasn't anybody there when we went. It was just some stripped VW's standing in the ground along with an unused shack. We parked and took our time.
It's definitely worth stopping to see both the Slug Bugs and the Cadillacs!