We lost another hour due to crossing a time zone. At this rate, we're gonna be waking up at noon! But who cares? We're on VACATION! :-)Our day's summary:
- Breakfast at the hotel, Inn of the Governors in Santa Fe
- Blogging from the road
- Lunch in Tucumcari, NM
- Flatlands into TX
- Cadillac Ranch
- Dinner at the Big Texan in Amarillo
BREAKFAST - I just could not eat much this morning. While we are NOT at a Hampton, I guess mediocre hotel food is getting to me. I eat the same exact breakfast everyday at home and don't get sick of it. But on the road, I guess I just have to be thankful I don't have to go grocery shopping or cook. Be thankful, be thankful...
BLOGGING FROM THE ROAD - For the first time, I'm blogging in the minivan! No internet connection of oourse, just laptopping. But I feel very high tech right now. Today we have no "real" stops, just getting to Amarillo and Cadillac Ranch (okay, so that's a stop but that's practically in Amarillo). So I've been doing some reading to the kids in the car, letting them play with toys, uploaded Tobey's camera photos (and thus, pulled out the laptop). The view out here is getting pretty flat and my ears are popping left and right. We must be hitting the plains where exits are dozens of miles apart. Of course this is when Eli wants a potty break. Thank goodness for "the jar" and boys.
The boys are currently doing fine in the car -- taking pictures (of each other) with the kiddie camera and playing with the slinky and crinkle tubes. I think we can get through today without mentioning the DVD AND we might get into Amarillo early enough to do a family movie night tonight. Uh oh, Tom just turned on the country music. It might be a long ride to Amarillo yet.
LUNCH IN TUCUMCARI - We did a fast food lunch (KFC, thought of you, Alice...and Krista!) and realized that we have yet to "repeat" a restaurant on this trip. Then again, when it comes to road food and fast food, how different can it really be? We are trying to do local fare when practical. We are saving McDonald's for when we encounter the biggest McD's in the world, somewhere in OK or MO. Tucumcari, while a real town, didn't have a Starbuck's for Tom to load up on caffeine. That's how you know you're in the middle of nowhere.
FLATLANDS - I read in our EZ66 book about counting windmills when we get into TX. So when I first started seeing them after Santa Fe, I suggested counting them. Tobey protested of course but when Tom and I started to count them, he got into it too. Current count into Amarillo = 32, if you include the fake one at the Big Texan (we excluded the windmill farm full of the big white modern windmills). It sure did make the "boring" ride into TX more enjoyable and another thing we would have missed if we had pulled out the DVD.
CADILLAC RANCH - The most exciting part about today was Cadillac Ranch, a bunch of old caddies dug into the ground nose first, a canvas for "public art" (read: graffiti). Although it was never on Route 66, it's kind of a Route 66 classic and its semblance even made it into the rocky scenery in "Cars". We dropped by the local Home Depot, bought some spray paint, and made our contribution. I think our family picture there might best represent our trip. It was mighty windy and when Eli tampered with our spray paint can, he sent a plastic glove flying down the flat cow field never to be seen again (he cried like he lost a balloon). We met some nice locals (even one who was proud to be barefoot) and had fun being part of a classic 66 tradition.
BIG TEXAN - The Big Texan is the restaurant where if you can eat a 72 oz. steak (plus sides) in 1 hour, you get it for free. It's an insane amount of meat but we were happy that one guy from Abilene TX tried to do it while we were there so we could be rubberneckers. We finished our dinner while he was at about the 38 min. mark (as in, 38 min. LEFT) and it seemed like he was already slowing down. After some arcade games and a whirl through the fudge and gift shops, we left the restaurant to find he had given up. I'm kind of glad he did -- it's kind of crazy to be able to finishing that thing. It was HUGE.
Texas is fun, lots of character. Sometimes when I hear a native talk, I keep thinking they're faking it like they are playing a movie role or something until I realize: they really do talk like that. We won't see any other cities in TX on this trip but we have 2 Chang cousin weddings coming up in the next year and it will be fun to come back and see more of the Lone Star state.
Tomorrow, Oklahoma!
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