This post just might be long on pictures and a bit short on words but I will try to catch you up. Our time with our friends Van and Andi was one of those times that you know you will remember for a long time to come. What a great time we had exploring the area. In our travels we tasted local foods, saw the sights and shared a lot of laughter.
Andi and Carol
Carol and Andi appeared to be in a fabric induced quilting frenzy as Paducah is the epicenter of all things quilting. There was lots of quilt talk accompanied by shopping and planning future projects. At times Harper and I would wander off with a sketchbook, but mostly the four of us traveled as a pack. We had a delicious lunch at a place called Kirchhoffs Deli - amazingly busy place - but excellent service and the sandwiches were excellent.
Kirchhooffs art deco sign
And it is there that I remembered that we were back in sweet tea territory - yum. Carol and I did some reminiscing about our time when we came through this area via boat during our Great Loop trip. Fond memories indeed. We even drove down to Grand Rivers where we had stayed with the boat and had supper at Patti's 1880 Settlement, a restaurant complex know for its pork chops and flowerpot bread.
Flowerpot bread at Patti’s.
We all enjoyed another fantastic meal and had a good time walking around the area. We visited the Barkley Lock and Dam for more memories and where I likely talked too much about our great loop trip.
Barkley Lock and Dam - Carol and I went through this in 1999 cruising the Great Loop.
Our time together went by way too fast and Carol and I once again were packing the car for the trip west. We were on the road early driving the backroads of Kentucky heading west.
Kentucky
Crossing the Ohio River, back into Illinois
Crossing the Mississippi River
It was a fantastic morning of country roads and in about an hours time we crossed over the Ohio River back into Illinois for maybe 40 or 50 seconds before we crossed over the Mississippi River into Missouri. Both rivers were full of commercial boats pushing long loads of barges and all were glistening in the early morning sunlight. What a wonderful start of a long day on the road.
It is a big bridge
We planned to make it to Tulsa some seven or so hours away. About an hour into Missouri we stopped in the town of Sikeston for breakfast, as a place called Huddle House and were amused by the young lady who waited on us - first off I asked for rye toast and she had never heard of rye and wanted to know what it was. I wondered my normal two eggs home fries and toast and bacon for a patiently waiting puppy in the car. She completely messed it up and asked if it was just the one sandwich I wanted... I was flabbergasted. Ultimately we got what we wanted, and were happily on our way.
The road we took through Missouri, Route 60 was an absolute dream, very little traffic, great scenery and a smooth ride. Once we passed Springfield MO traffic picked up and once we joined I44 we knew we were back on a popular truck route. We pulled into Tulsa around 5:30 in the evening, found a place to stay that welcomed our Harper and unpacked the car. We found burritos for supper and were well overfilled before we fell asleep.
He’s a really big guy - The Golden Driller
Friday morning opened to an early day of exploration in Tulsa and all things Route 66. A quick stop at a neighborhood market and then the 'Golden Driller' a huge oil man standing at an Expo Center - a symbol of Tulsa and the oil fields. He also appears in the opening titles of the TV show Tulsa King - a recent binge for us. Then off alone Old 66 to the Route 66 Historic Village a collection of Rt 66 things. And we seen a lot of time there chatting with the docents before heading toward Amarillo.
Absorbing more useless facts to bore people with.
We soon crossed into Texas and the landscape began to change once again. In the past 24 hours we went from the lush rolling farmlands of Kentucky through the long gentle hills of Missouri and into the flattening scrub of Oklahoma. Texas brought another change, flat lands indeed and landscape filled with wind farms as far as the eye can see.
Miles and miles of wing farms
These wind farms are just as ugly across Texas as they were in Illinois and as ugly as they are offshore back home in New England. Mother Nature must cry a lot. Amarillo was a cool town and we found a great little Mexican restaurant and had a fantastic supper out on their patio where Harper could join us. Everything was delicious and another day brought us a bit closer to New Mexico.
That’s a lot of food…
Yesterday morning about an hour after we left Amarillo we stopped at Russel's Route 66 Cafe somewhere along Route 40 which parallels the old 66. A great truck stop Diner. We also stopped at a Cherokee 'trading post' which as you can imagine is full of Native American things to buy, and I suspect a few may've been made in China.... Maybe. Harper and I visited a buffalo, chatted with some other tourists who took our picture in a cutout board that made us look like cactus.
Sometimes you just need to be goofy.
All along the route for the past few days we have been listening to a very exciting thriller which makes the hours go by. All in all it has been an easy drive. We detoured a bit yesterday to make the drive up the Turquoise Trail, a New Mexico Scenic Highway.
Rain as we entered New Mexico, but cleared rapidly.
This added about two hours to our drive but it was awesome. We stopped along the way and found old mining towns that the hippies bought and turned into art communities, and a lot of small businesses selling a diverse collection of things.
We stopped in every little town.
We found a turquoise shop and museum. By mid afternoon we rolled into Santa Fe - first stop was Santa Fe Quilts (no surprise here) and then to one of the finest art supply stores I have ever been in (no surprise here either). We will be here in Santa Fe for a couple of days before moving north to Taos. Below is a gallery of images of things along the way, so many cool old Rt 66 things, and the ever changing scenery.
Click on each image to enlarge,
