What a great day!! After Sharon was done day trading at 8am….. we headed west to find as much of Old Rt 66 as we could find. The entire route is hit and miss so that adds to the adventure. Sometimes you are on the old route and sometimes you have to be on I-40…..and sometimes you’re not sure where you are!
The first town we went in search for was Wildorado. Nothing much left here but wild memories of what once was. The town was famous for turn of the century robberies, gun slinging and everything that would scare most people. Papers back East would report on the goings on in the town. We didn’t see anything left other than a few houses.
As we made our way to the second stop of the day, Vega, TX we drove thru some wide open spaces…OMG this place is so big, we really like it. Cattle ranches and large farms and wind turbines fill the landscape. We had a great time. When we got to Vega we found the Milburn-Price Cultural Museum. Gene Conn is the caretaker and what a wealth of information. The things we learned one on one with him were amazing. The local history “stored” in this place and his mind is incredible. The biggest takeaway was the discussion we had about the Dust Bowl Days. We came way with a wealth of information and education and are so grateful for our time there. A bit of trivia is the video below.
From Vega we traveled further west through the farmland to Adrian Texas. On a recommendation from Gene we had lunch at the Midpoint Cafe. Brenda the owner and Kathy her “right hand” are such gracious ladies. We had such a great time with them. Brenda was short one person today so I jumped in and helped clean tables. I love that stuff!! We ordered two cheese burgers and took a piece of blueberry cobbler to go (all of her pies are homemade). The burgers were the ones that you have to squeeze them into you mouth because they are so big. I had some green chilies with mine and wow, what great flavor. We won’t soon forget Brenda, Kathy and the Midpoint.
After lunch in Vega we headed for the New Mexico Border and the town of Glenrio to see what is termed a ghost town in most Rt 66 books. A few ramshackle buildings survive but not much else. In the mid 70’s when I-40 came thru and bypassed it….. it pretty much sent the town into decline.
On our way back to Amarillo we passed a HUGE cattle feedlot used to get cows fattened and ready for market. There were thousands of them on site and if you listen to the video below Sharon is a hoot. She thought she was video-ing the feedlot but accidentally did not turn on the video until she brought her phone back into the car and set it on her lap (notice the video of her jeans……No video but great audio!!!!!!!
After some errands (washing truck, Home Depot and grocery store run) it was a simple dinner back at the RV with a great sunset. Long and fun day for sure.
The Ghost Town of Glenrio TX. Abandoned in the mid 70’s after I-40 came in and bypassed the town.
Several abandoned sections of Old Route 66
Please listen to this video. It is really just audio, but incredibly funny!! We were passing a feed yard of Steers (1000’s of them) and Sharon thought she was videoing but somehow didn’t start the video until after we had passed the yard and the camera was in her lap and she was opening up the windows in the car to get rid of the smell…… the ensuing audio is priceless !!