Whilst not knowing the USA like the back of my hand i know it very well having lived in Miami for a couple of years, made around 50 business trips and a number of vacations there. However I didn’t know the mythical America of 30’s to 50’s – the roadside motels, the American Diners, the bowling alleys, the ma and pa stores in one road towns, Apple pie, Milkshakes, homemade burgers and soda fountains.
For many years aI ad hankered to do a road trip through small town America and see the dirty, dusty broken America and get to interact with Americans not emboldened by fat salaries. Americans struggling to make ends meet, for whom the American Dream is fictitious fantasy, the America present in the novels of Steinbeck and the songs of Townes Van Zandt.
So it was I sold the idea to our daughter to join us on a road trip for her 21st birthday with her boyfriend Liam. This was two years ago and we all nor what happened in the last two years – bastard Covid.
Anyway the planning was completed two years ago and only met minor tweaks for the 2022 version.
It was going to be Route 66 lite – we decided to do half of it starting in Oklahoma.
The Transatlantic flight was to Dallas – the first incident of note was the pilot almost skidding off the bloody runway on landing – suspect it might have been one of their trainees.
Anyway a very quick customs check and we were in our people carrier for the next 18 days. Bypassing Dallas we drove straight to Oklahoma. Its most famous citizens are Will Rogers, Toby Keith and Garth Brooks but I will take Chet Baker and JJ Cale in their place. An overnight kip and then up early to do a boat trip through the downtown canals in the Brick Town area.Quite a pleasant morning in the gentrified area with numerous bars and eateries. It was strangely and eerily quiet, something that we would find throughout the trip.
In the afternoon we located the section of route 66 that exists in Oklahoma City and started the drive – first stop Amarillo and the inevitable Tony Christie dreck accompanying us as a soundtrack. My daughter Layla and myself both compiled soundtracks for the trip and it was great to see she had a broader musical taste than I had expected and actually introduced me to a lot of decent stuff I wasn’t aware of.
The first night in Amarillo we visited a local institution The Big Texan famous for 64 ounce steaks that if you eat you get for free – what they don’t tell you is you have to eat the baked potatoes, slaw and beans that comes with it. A tall order but some greedy bastards or cheapskates or both do actually manage it.
I opted for a 10oz fillet which was just fine.
Much more interesting was the visit the next morning to Cadillac Ranch. An art installation just outside Amarillo where 10 Cadillacs are buried nose deep into the clay soil. You are encouraged to bring your own spray paint as the cars are sprayed with Graffiti every day, We had fun climbing the cars nad leaving our own personal mark.
On the way back to the car Layla became an emboldened paint sprayer and sprayed on the main highway
‘My body my choice’ a fitting comment to confront a redneck state. For lunch we drove to downtown
Amarillo. Again almost deserted – the main street is duty antiques shops, art galleries and the main attraction The Golden Light Cafe – a roadhouse burger bar that has been an institution in Amarillo for several decades. Honestly one of the best burgers I have ever had and the waitress who served us was brilliant and friendly as hell.
Next day a 20 miles or so drive out to Palo Doro Canyon state park – jaw dropping little known state park with a Canyon second only in size to the Grand one over in Arizona. Layla’s boyfriend had recently taken up wild camping back hone and had brought his hammock with him. Lying in thsat and staring pu at the blue sky was a memorable experience to be repeated a few more times on this trip.
PART TWO TO FOLLOW
Route 66 – The Mother road = PART ONE.
by 14 Comments
Sounds like a great time. A road trip across the US is one of my dreams, however my admittedly brief experience of the US makes me think that it won’t be what I want it to be. I think I’m about 40 years too late.
There is an element of that – much of the old stuff is closed and in a state of ruin. Makes for great photos but would have loved the experience in the heyday.
My wife keeps telling me that she’ll hold the fort home here while I do a similar trip solo – the Route 66 pilgrimage has long been an aspiration of mine, my enthusiasm fairly recently re-kindled when the Hairy Bikers did it for a telly series. I’d want to do it on two wheels if possible!
I’ve seen hints of the things you mention – specifically the ma and pa shops in the middle of nowhere, the gas station delis and roadside motels. We did a couple of road trips in the early 2000s, wandering south, east and north from San Francisco, to the coastal edges of LA, out across the mojave, north up the Owens River valley and so on – before ending both sojourns in Yosemite, jaws dropping.
Your account of your own trip has again stirred my adventurous spirit; think I’ll wait until after the 2024 elections though….
Funny, my wife also keeps telling me to go away on a very very long road trip while she stays at home. She’s less specific about the route though. Anywhere will do.
A63 at rush-hour?
Yeah, and by “road-trip” she means crossing it. Slowly.
I have an intermittent fantasy of doing it on a Harley. Harleys here are a bit silly, but Route 66 is a different matter…
There are people who organise such things…
I’ve always thought that biking in the US looks particularly hairy. The number of debris and (quite large) roadkill is alarming. I’ve had to swerve a few times as something comes into view between the rear wheels of an 18 wheeler and I wouldn’t like to do that on a bike.
Especially a bike like a big-bastard Harley, which is really designed to go only in straight lines.
Biking is pretty hairy here TBH. It’s an essentially hairy activity – the combination of weather conditions, likely traffic conditions and time availability mean that mine stays in the garage for about 363 days a year. Which is how Mrs. T likes it.
An old work colleague of mine used to (motor)bike into town when we were on City and West End jobs. He used to reckon on getting knocked off his bike* at least twice a year. Always in really slow-moving traffic, so damage to the bike only.
* Car doors being flung open in front of him, usually.
Palo Duro is sublime. We stayed there a couple of times in accommodation on the northern rim. It’s possibly America’s best kept secret in terms of sightseeing. Because it’s pretty far from anything else it doesn’t get inundated with tourists. I lived in Texas for 12 years and most Texans don’t even know it’s there.
Quite. We couldn’t believe how spectacular it is and it complete took my breath away.
Aaarrgghh! We drove from Lubbock to Amarillo a few years back. I don’t know how we missed that… probably because I’ve never heard it mentioned in a song and no famous musicians were born there!
It looks like the excuse we need for another texas roadtrip though.
I think I’m going to enjoy the rest of your story.