Route 66, Day Four

Another great day on the road! We made it all the way through the Texas panhandle, stopping to look at the Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo (and adding our little bit to the artistry), and at other Route 66-ish curiosities. The air got more humid and the landscape quickly more green as we traveled into west Oklahoma. Tonight we are in Stroud, relaxing after an evening of Shiner Bock and spaetzle at the Rock Cafe.

BTW, I've realized that this blog was set to only allow registered users to comment--I've changed it so that you can leave a message without going through the trouble of signing up. . .

Route 66, Day Two and Three

We are at the Blue Swallow Motel, in Tucumcari, NM. Yesterday we dawdled through AZ, seeing a lot of cool road signs and taking a wonderful detour through the Painted Desert. At the end of that long, dusty day, we were delighted to spend an evening with our old friends N and R in Albuquerque (the friendship is old, not N and R). They have a beautiful adobe home near the University and we had a great time seeing their house and getting caught up. Today we got caught in Santa Fe traffic, lost Route 66 a few times, and decided to call it a day early. Tomorrow we have to really kick it through Texas and most of Oklahoma, to get to St. Louis on Wednesday night. Here are some more photos:

Route 66, Day One

We packed the car full of things we'd aside deliberately for the drive (as well as a number of items we'd failed to hand over to the moving van). We stored the poor cat in our empty apartment, and set off for St. Louis via Route 66, the Mother Road. We left Pasadena around 9:30 after one last visit to Pete's (naturally), and arrived in Williams, AZ at about 7:30. We drove through some beautiful country, from barren white hills around Victorville, to white hills covered with creosote bushes, to the flats of sage and ocotillo we drove past after crossing the Colorado. It was a hot drive, but there was a quick summer shower here just as we arrived, and the air here is cool and and smells like the pines. I like knowing that the Grand Canyon is out there, just a few miles away in the dark.

Here are some pictures we took along the way: