Day #3: Tucumcari, NM to Van Buren, AR

[Thank you for bearing with us during this delay.  Looks like we have a better internet connection in Memphis.]

Day #3 began with a feeling of growing calm and contentment for TJ and me.  A sense of well-being washed over us as if a huge weight of oppression and negativity was being lifted from our shoulders.  We then realized that this was due to the growing distance between us and the San Francisco Giants.

We had an ambitious goal of getting on the road by 6:30 this morning to help make up for the time we lost yesterday.  After an excellent hot breakfast provided by the Best Western Discovery Inn, we managed to miss our target time by only 10 minutes.  Like all of our trip so far the weather was cloudy, but we encountered only a couple of brief spritzes of rain the whole day.  This made for ideal driving conditions:  no sun in the eyes or blazing heat pounding down on the car.  Instead we had cool temperatures and never had a need to turn on the AC.  Eastbound I-40 was virtually deserted, and there were a couple stretches where I could see no other vehicles moving in our direction either ahead of us or behind us.  The various mesas and other geological formations that we enjoyed on day #2 continued through the last few miles of New Mexico and briefly into the first few miles of the Texas panhandle.  But soon the landscape gave way to flat, flat, and more flat.  There were sections where we could not find any sign of a hill as far as we could see in any direction.  Besides all the flat, one of the most striking things about the Texas landscape is all the grain silos you see right alongside the Interstate. 

Though now slated to be our longest driving day, there were three points of interest that we wanted to make sure we saw.  The first was a roadside oddity immortalized in song by Bruce Springsteen on his album The River : Cadillac Ranch.

"...I'm gonna pack my pa and I'm gonna pack my aunt/I'm gonna take 'em down to the Cadillac Ranch"

Ten old spray painted Cadillac carcasses stuck nose-first into a flat Texas dirt field like a Lone Star State Stonehenge.  The surrounding ground is littered with empty spray paint cans, some of them used only the day before judging from the date sprayed on one of the cars.  We were lucky to find it.  We thought it was much closer to Amarillo proper and very nearly drove right by it, but fortunately TJ's eagle eyes spotted it as it is within plain sight of I-40.

L-Jay at the Cadillac Ranch

And who would have thought we would find scenery that would match TJ's Hawaiian print shirt?

Next was Amarillo, the place we were supposed to stay the previous night.  Of course we had to seek out The Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the free 72 oz. steak, and the place we were going to eat dinner.  We're sure it would have been better than the K-Bob Steakhouse.

The cow from which the 72 oz. steak comes from

After Amarillo we chewed up the miles across the Texas panhandle on our way to Oklahoma.  They say everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently this includes their rest stops.

No, it's not the Taj Mahaj.  It's a rest stop in Texas.

This palatial rest area had bathrooms with granite changing tables and urinal dividers; interactive, computerized Route 66 presentations, a nice children's playground, numerous picnic tables complete with barbecue grills in the shape of the state of Texas, and even a tornado shelter.

Shouldn't all rest stops have a tornado shelter?

Before long we found ourselves in Oklahoma.  And what a different first impression you get as compared to New Mexico and Texas.  You really get the impression from those two states, from their impressive visitor's centers and convenient rest stops, that they really want to impress visitors.  We didn't even see a Welcome to Oklahoma sign once we entered the state.  And the only rest stop we saw with full facilities was just before the border with Arkansas.  Kind of makes you feel like their attitude is "we're not glad to see you and we wish you would go away."

But we did have a couple of stops we wanted to make in the Sooner State.  The first was the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial in downtown Oklahoma City.  On April 19, 1995 a homemade bomb in the back of truck destroyed the Murrah Building, partially destroyed other surrounding buildings (including an old cathedral across the street) and killed 168 people.  The memorial is a very impressive sight made up of several different components:  the centerpiece are two large black rectangular structures facing each other at opposite ends of a long reflecting pool.  One structure has 9:01 carved in it, one minute before the blast occurred.  The second has 9:03, the moment after the explosion.  To the south is a lawn area with chair sculptures representing each of the people who died.  On the east end of the lawn is a remnant of the original Murrah building wall.  To the north is a "Survivor's Tree" to commemorate those who helped with the rescue and clean-up operations.  The whole memorial is moving, peaceful, and thought-provoking.  It was a powerful thing to see, and especially so since neither of us thought we would ever see it in person.

The East Wall

Looking through the West Wall towards the East Wall

A remaining portion of the original Murrah building wall.

Looking across the reflecting pond at the chairs representing each lost life.

Looking from the West Wall to the East Wall.

We continued our trek and realized that the further we got into Oklahoma the less it looked like Texas and the more like the east coast it became.  The flat, barren scenery of the Panhandle gave way to trees and softly undulating hills.  It seems that Oklahoma is where the west and east meet.  As we took in the increasing lushness of the landscape, we headed to our third and final side trip for the day: Okemah -- the home town of Woody Guthrie.

In the middle of a charming, if run-down old downtown area stands a statue to Okemah's most famous son, folk singer Woody Guthrie, probably most famous as the author of "This Land is Your Land," father to Arlo, of "Alice's Restaurant" and "City of New Orleans" fame, and the prime influence of the young Bob Dylan.

Good ol' Friends of Libraries!

As a side note, some places we wanted to visit but sadly didn't have time for include:  Billy the Kid's grave in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, the Roger Miller Museum in Erick, Texas, and Troy Aikman's childhood home in Henryetta, Oklahoma.

Despite all the stops, we were still poised to get to Van Buren, Arkansas at about 6:30.  The lush trees and hills of eastern Oklahoma were joined by an increasing number of lakes, rivers, and bayous.  Finally, with the help of Mags, our loyal GPS, we made it to the Best Western Van Buren Inn.  Another fine Best Western experience marred by problems with their internet connection that made it impossible for me to publish this post on Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, our poor restaurant karma continued.  In search of authentic southern fried chicken and/or catfish we found D's Family Restaurant.  Their highlight is a buffet featuring the aforementioned catfish and fried chicken plus chicken tenders, some kind of barbecued meat, scalloped, mashed, or fried potatoes, hush puppies, popcorn shrimp, green beans, black-eyed peas, gumbo, a salad bar, and peach cobbler for dessert.  Unfortunately, they were about to close the buffet so the food was not the freshest, though freshness probably wouldn't have helped most of the items too much.  Happily the meal was cheap, so we didn't feel we paid too much for our mediocre meal.  We are promising ourselves that our Memphis meal will more than make up for the last two nights of subpar food.

This was a most memorable day, and at about 560 miles it will be our longest.  Tomorrow is our shortest drive day, which will hopefully give us plenty of time to experience what Memphis has to offer.  Keep those comments coming in!