Thursday, December 22, 2011

September 4, 2011; Hinton, Oklahoma to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Since Interstate 40 runs parallel to the old Route 66, we popped off the interstate and check out some of the "Mother Road".


 One of the most famous buildings along 66 is the Tower Conoco Station in Shamrock, Texas.


Built in the 1930s, it was built of glazed brick with art deco accents and included the U-Drop Inn Cafe. The building functioned until the mid 90's.


Outside Amarillo, Texas is a great example of  roadside pop art, the Cadillac Ranch.




You are encouraged to paint the old caddies. Unfortunately the field is littered with empty cans.



My Sunday school teacher wife tagged one of the old cars "D & E 25 years".


Tucumcari, New Mexico has over 1200 motel rooms. A local said in bad weather they close the highway near the town, whether it needs it or not, and the rooms fill up. Although we came through in the daytime, the night is lit up with over six miles of neon lights along old Route 66.


An old church in the desert.


We stopped for the night just west of Albuquerque at Enchanted Trails R.V. Park.
Enchanted Trails has several classic trailers as rental cottages. Inside the main building is a nice collection of mid century antiques including an old theater Wurlitzer organ.  It was a nice park with clean bathrooms and showers. 


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

September 3, 2011 St. Louis, Missouri to Hinton, Oklahoma

It was the first day of our epic journey across the country. We got off to a good start and headed straight down highway 44.

Elaine and I decided to take a quick detour through Joplin. The devastation was incredible.
After a long day of driving we stopped at Red Rock Canyon State Park in Hinton, OK. The campground was nice, with large grassy sites set in the bottom of a red sandstone canyon. The road into the canyon is narrow and winding, a tight squeeze for larger campers but doable.
While we were looking for a campsite, we saw some classic campers. When they noticed the T@B, they invited us to join them. We had a good night talking about old campers and telling camping stories around the fire. After the trailer was plugged in, we noticed the battery wasn't charging. I was unable to diagnose the problem so we avoided using the 12 volt lights to save power for the fridge. It would be a problem that plagued us the remainder of the trip.
After an all night rain, time to head out.


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cedar Hill Lutheran Church Campout, Lesterville, Missouri

We had a nice spot by the Black River


Kurt and Deb's new camper

Elaine awarding prizes for the scavenger hunt



Plenty of great food!





Looks can be deceiving, The Black River is very busy. Plenty of rafts and drunks.