Clinton, OK to Amarillo, TX

My start was a bit cool with a temp of 41 at jiffy stand up time. Temps improved over the day, with an afternoon high of 61. Almost perfect riding weather.

Clinton, OK is home to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.

Elk City, OK is home for the National Route 66 museum. If you ever wondered how Route 66 ended up going through Oklahoma, it's worth a read.

I spent a lot of time, zig zagging over and under I40. Route 66 has a great history, it's worth a read if you're so inclined. There are sections of 66 that are simply gone. In some cases; it was directly replaced by I40, deconstructed in some, simply neglected and overgrown, and in rare re-alignments it ended up on private property. Needless to say, all this makes it difficult to stay on 66. Thankfully, there are some Historic 66 and Old 66 signs up and those help keep things organized.

Some of the towns have buildings with great history, but they've either been completely neglected or they have been so updated to be unrecognizable (in some cases gaudy). I didn't bother to photograph the majority of those; with that being said, I won't bore you with all my photos but will try to highlight a few noteworthy items.

After winding in, around, over, and under I40 going west; I ended up in Shamrock, Texas. As you can imagine, the inhabitants of Shamrock are fond of clovers.

Passing through this part of Texas and into New Mexico (my next post), this is the land where most of the characters and buildings from the movie Cars were discovered. You will recognize some of them in the photos the next couple of days.

Shamrock is also home to the famous U Drop Inn and Conoco Tower.

This guy, I wasn't sure about, so I did some research. Great marketing!
This is the Leaning Tower of Britten.

Then on to the big city of Amarillo, TX. Amarillo has had more than its fair share of 66 re-alignments. Good luck chasing all of that down. Being in Amarillo, I had to do the tourist thing and visit the Big Texan Home of the free 72 oz steak (if you can eat it) and the $20 110 oz beer.

The service was good and so was the food. Lots to do as this is a big place. They also have a fenced in area with a fire hydrant, so your pet doesn't have to stay in the car while you wolf down 72 oz of Texas beef.

Next up, we'll finish out the day.