We *heart* the people of Adrian, Texas

Tuesday morning in Amarillo! That means it’s time for the Amarillo Livestock Auction. We enjoyed a delicious steak and eggs breakfast at the café at the stockyard, then went into the arena for the auction, which purported to start at 10 a.m. sharp. By 10:30, there were a couple dozen tourists milling about and that was about it. As much as we would have loved to stay for the auction, we just couldn’t spend that much time. Sherrie sought out a local and asked questions about what type of cattle they auction and then we hopped in the van and hit the road.

Our first stop was the Cadillac Ranch. Yes, it’s cheesy and completely inexplicable, but it’s impossible to pass by without stopping and taking pictures. After that we made a brief stop in Vega before heading on to our holy grail of the day: The Midpoint Café.



Halfway! We all are having trouble keeping track of the days. Rick’s seems like weeks ago, even though it was only days. We’ve been on the road long enough that it feels like we should be in California in an hour or so, but we still have four days to go.

We pulled into the café and ordered some pie and cake for a mid-day snack, then perused the gift shop. It was when we stepped outside to get back in the van that our troubles started. It seems that the person who had been driving had slipped the van keys into her purse when we got out…or so she thought…and then locked the doors using the button on the driver’s side door.

We all know where this is going. Pressing our heads against the van window, we saw the keys, lying on the floor next to where the purse had been. One of the café employees – God bless her – tried to jimmy it open with a coat hanger, but couldn’t get the hanger inserted around the window. I confess, I was having a internal panic attack – we were in Adrian, Texas. Adrian, Texas! When Sherrie broke down one time, AAA couldn’t figure out where Lansing, Michigan, was. If they can’t find the capital of Michigan, how are they going to find Adrian, Texas?

Never fear. Our café friend called the local body shop, conveniently located about half a block away. While Sherrie and I walked to the nearby post office to mail postcards, he came and unlocked our doors. We also had him cut the tie binding the keys – rental places always give you two keys to the vehicle, inexplicably bound together so you can’t pull them apart. Sorry, Budget, but you’ll have to replace the cord on these keys. Now we have one set for driving and one set tucked safely in another purse.







After the brief setback, we trucked on. As you can see, we’ve been trying to take pictures in front of each state’s Route 66 road signs. For the life of us, we couldn’t find a single one in Texas. When we got to Glenrio, we just took a picture in front of the generic sign located there and called it good. Note to Texas: Can you do something about that?



New Mexico was a new state for all four of us, so we stopped at the border to take our picture in front of the welcome sign. Even though we couldn’t spend the night in Tucumcari (I know! I know! We are horrible people and next time down the Route, we will make it a point to spend the night here. Please hold the verbal abuse!), we were treated to a tour of the Blue Swallow and allowed to see one of their spectacular rooms. Also, it turns out that there’s a fountain in front of the hotel that they just discovered mere weeks ago, and are now working to restore. It seems the fountain hasn’t worked in decades, because only the locals who were around in the 40s remember it in its functional state. Should be fun when it’s completed.



We made excellent time today, pulling into Santa Rosa for a late lunch around 3:30 p.m. We stopped at Joe’s for some good food and then headed north on the Santa Fe loop. The landscape is so breathtaking, and the lightning storm in the distance only added to the effect.

We pulled into Santa Fe shortly after 6 p.m. In all the states and cities I’ve been to, I have never seen anything like Santa Fe. It’s unusual and beautiful. We checked into the Silver Saddle and then headed to the plaza for dinner at La Fonda. Filled to the brim with Southwestern food, Sherrie, Jen and I went for a little power walk down the street from our hotel after dinner. Since then, we’ve been taking advantage of the opportunity to just relax in our room for a night.