Route 66, Cadillac Ranch and Palo Duro Canyon

I started the day by driving out to Adrian Texas which is a about 45 miles from where we are staying. Adrian was the mid point of Route 66. It was mid way between Los Angeles and Chicago. 1139 miles from each city. Kathie was working on a new course that she will be teaching and James was working on his chemistry so I went alone.

I stopped in at the Mid-Point Cafe and talked with the new owners. They are working hard on getting everything set-up for this years tourist season. When their web site is up and running I will post a link to it.

On the way "home" I stopped at the Cadillac Ranch. They have 10 Cadillacs of various vintages planted nose down. People stop by and take pictures. Graffiti is encouraged so there are people including many families out there spray painting the cars. As I was walking up to the cars I could smell the spray paint from quite a distance. There is a large pile of empty spray cans by the cars. Some people are too lazy to put their empty cans in the pile and throw them all around the farmers field. The field is very muddy with the red dirt/clay that we have been seeing for the last couple of days. Someone had left 5 or 6 pairs of white runners, that had been worn into the cars, at the side of the road because they to muddy to clean.

After lunch we drove through Amarillo's historic Route 66 district. A lot of the shops were closed. Some of them are closed for winter but a number of them are closed waiting for better times. Most of the small towns we have been driving through look like they are having a tough time.

We had thought that we would spend the afternoon walking around the historic district but there was not a lot to see. The person at the registration desk had recommended the Palo Duro Canyon which is not far from town. It is the second largest canyon in the US. It is 120 miles long and up to 800 feet deep. We drove out and had a look. This is a panorama of 6 images.

They have a 16 mile road that tours the canyon and they have campsites, trails for hiking, biking and horse back riding. It looks like a nice place to spend a week or so. The road down is steep (10%) and twisty but there were some large trailers in the campsites.

As you can see from the pictures is was sunny (and warm) here today.