Cadillacs, Classic Cars and New Mexico

This morning in Amirillo is a beautiful one, nice and cool after a night of spectacular thunderstorms to the south, mother natures’ fireworks. It’s time to load up the van and hit the open road, the great plains across the panhandle of Texas. After fueling up the bikes and the van we head off to our first stop of the day, Cadillac ranch. Just a few miles west of Amarillo there is a row of old Cadillacs planted in a local farmers field. Not just placed out in the field, but in fact half buried nose down, a kind of Texan hommage to stonehenge. A strange monument to the American automobile, and a true icon of the eccentric nature of the American people. We all sign out names on the cars with indellible markers lovingly supplied by the crazy human Gary, and I leave my pawprint. After we take a few more pictures it time to get back on the bikes and head on down the road.

Our next stop is in Adrian Texas at the midpoint cafe, aptly named as this is the middle of route 66, the same distance to Chicago and Santa Monica. Halfway there!

Here we stop for breakfast and a group photo in front of the midpoint sign. Although there are other places considered to be the midpoint of route 66, but these are considered the midpoints of the other alingments of the route. Over the years there have been several different paths of the route, each with a different midpoint but the longest lasting section’s midpoint was in Adrian.


Gotta Have My Coffee!

After a typical roadside diner breakfast and a few cups of coffee we get back on the road. We continue on and say goodbye to Texas as we pass into the high plains of New Mexico. Here the landscape begins to change from the treeless expanse of the open plains into what’s known as the high plains, and the foothills of the Rocky mountains.


Our next stop is in Santa Rosa for the Route 66 Auto Museum. A nice museum with an incredible collection of classic cars, lovingly restored to thier pristine showroom condition. Walking through the collection one can only dream of driving some of theses beautiful cars, especially some of the classic high performance muscle–cars. Mustangs, Chevelle SS, Corvettes, and other hotrods I could only dream of driving down the old road. After the Museum we stop for a bite to eat, and the off we go toward Santa Fe.
We continue on through the high plains and into the foothills of the rocky mountains, moving from the heat of the plains to the temperate climate of the mountains. Ahhh…it’s nice to get back home to the mountains. Soon we’re rolling into the beautiful city of Santa Fe, one of the oldest cities in the United States. It’s very easy to see the very strong influences of the Spaniards who once ruled this area by the distinctive architechture of the city. As we roll into the plaza in historic downtown it’s easy to imagine the conquistadores milling around the plaza two hundred years ago.
After checking into the beautiful Plaza Real hotel, it’s off to one of the many fine resturaunts in the area to sample the distinctive New Mexican cuisine. Heavily influenced by both native american and mexican history the area is world renowned for it’s eccentric and distinctive cuisine. If you like hot and spicy food this is the place for you. Then it’s time for a few drinks at the local bars and off to bed for a well deserved rest.