June Trip-part 8

Day 14 - New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas

After the morning ritual of showers, packing and a quick breakfast, we were once again on the road headed east. I believe we stopped at a Stuckey's on the way where this picture of the big 66 sign was taken. In no time at all we found ourselves just outside of Amarillo, Texas, where our next stop was to be.

It is visible from I-40, but we exited to get a closer look at the Cadillac Ranch. Quite a sight to see, 10 old Cadillacs buried front down with their tails in the air at a predetermined angle. Primarily an art statement, the creator invites those who stop by to paint a message or two on any or all of the cars.

As you can see in the picture, our names were painted, but I doubt very much they were visible for long as many people stop by to do the same thing. Just another attraction of out trip, which I hope to see again when we do the complete Route 66 discovery tour the next time.

Once on the road again, we turned northeast at Amarillo and headed towards Oklahoma, and then Kansas, and our next stop. We saw a lot of oil wells along the way, but not a lot of anything else. Of course by this time, all of the scenery was pretty much the same as we had been seeing all of our trip, so even the picture takers (Melody), was quiet. A rare occasion for sure!

Our next stop was Dodge City, and despite no sign of Matt, Doc, Festus, Miss Kitty or Chester, Melody did find a steer she tried to milk! It seems the old west portion of this town was destroyed by 2 fires in 1885, so a replica was constructed and maintained, complete with a twice daily gunfight enacted  by local characters.

And this replica was not just a facade, you could walk through each store and look at the various old artifacts and photos from the day. Quite interesting to be sure. This included being able to get a drink at the Long Branch saloon or a meal at the restaurant.

Once done here we continued on to Wichita, where we found a suitable hotel to spend the night. We had been watching a storm coming our way while we were in Dodge City, so by the time we stopped and got a room, then went to a nearby Denny's for a meal, the storm had caught up to us. We were drenched when we left the restaurant, but that was really the only time we had a problem with rain the entire trip!

Day 15 - Kansas, Missouri

Our target for this day was Branson, Missouri and in no time at all we found ourselves right in the middle of it. It was decided we would forego the tour of Ripley's Believe It Or Not there and instead just view the sights and have a meal.

Once we left Branson, our primary target was West Plains, Missouri, where we hoped to find accommodations for the night. The initial outlook for our last night on the road was kind of bleak, due to events taking place in this college town and we ended up settling for a less than stelar example of a hotel. At least it was fairly clean and cheap! We managed to get 2 adjoining rooms for less than the price we were used to paying for one! Melody told me the next morning that she spent the night holding on to her switchblade knife. LOL!