Day 7: Weatherford OK to Amarillo TX– 232 miles
Sad to say, but today will be our last day of actual driving on the “Mother Road”. We had planned to continue on to Tucumcari NM, but a serious snow storm is now headed that way.
Our first stop is the fabulous Route 66 Museum in Clinton OK. Room-size dioramas capture each of the formative decades in the road’s history.
As we travel though Oklahoma, we often run parallel to a narrow abandoned highway that I must assume is a vestige of the 1920’s Route 66. It is overgrown with trees and shrubs, but it is still easy to imagine the Joad family heading west on it.
Lunch is that the tiny Tumbleweed Grill in Texola OK.
The terrain now is becoming much more barren.
Many abandoned sites look just like the town of Radiator Springs in the movie Cars.
No trip to Amarillo would be complete without a visit to The Big Texan. The complex includes a cowboy-themed motel (we had swinging saloon doors between the bedroom and the bathroom), steer horn adorned limousines, and the best steak restaurant in the world!
The specialty of the house is a 72 oz steak which, if you can eat it in one hour, is free. We watched a Stetson-wearing cowboy give it his best shot – after about 40 minutes, he doffed the Stetson and looked a little worse for wear!
Our last tourist site for the day is the famed Cadillac Ranch – what more can I say.
