4am Monday morning, tired and excited i head out, it's cold and i'm off to mum and dads. 10:25am were on the runway aboard a Boeing 777, excited that there is on demand entertainment and we frantically start planning what we will watch over the next 10 hours.
So i watch Dark Shadows.... Strange film good but strange don't know that i would rush to see it again but it passed two hours, next up was Magic Mike again strange but in a different way...again wouldn't rush to see it again. Then i opted to watch the queens diamond jubilee concert. The meals were nice, the seats were comfortable and generally it was a good flight.
Pleased to be on the ground in Houston we were all interrogated by customs, why are you here..... where are you going.....How much money do you have with you.....what do you do for a living me: i'm a visitor experience manager for a tourist attraction her: a what? What do you do? Me: i look after visitors, you know car parks etc Her: for who? Me: The National Trust. Her: Who? Me: We are a conservation charity looking after historic buildings...... Her: oh (i didn't realise i was i was being tested about the trust wished i payed attention to those facts and figures now)!
Safely through we collect the car after an upgrade we end up with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Awesome vehicle satellite radio, leather seats, inbuilt sat nav... luxury. Its a good thing really as we will be in it for a LONG time.
We get on the road and were off to Dallas. 260 miles later 4 tired people arrive on the Dallas ring road, the Dallas skyline at night was beautiful.. sadly no pictures where you can actually see what it was were taken.... The La Quinta Inn and Suites was our home for the night and it was lovely, big comfy beds, nice bathroom rubbish view but that didn't matter. Our heads hit the pillows and we were gone...
Up at 7am (yes 7am i don't even get up that early at home!) and off to breakfast. Mum and dad opt for the traditional biscuit and gravy meanwhile i stick to the more traditional scrambled egg on toast and a Texas shaped waffle!
Next up was our 450 mile trip to Amarillo (hoping that someone new the way :) First of all we headed to the outskirts of Oklahoma City and then joined interstate 40 west to head off towards the one and only Historic Route 66. Visiting various landmarks along way such as Elk City, Erik and Shamrock, seeing sites like the tire garage from Cars the movie, a beautiful art deco building and the old route museum made of lots of fascinating replica buildings. One stop was to our favourite Dairy Queen for a dipped cone and we visited Janie in her garden centre over the road while she was taking delivery of a lot of pumpkins, she was so happy to meet us and wanted to hug as all and know about where we were from and how long we were here for as well as complimenting our accent...
As night was falling we arrived in Amarillo (signing along to is this the way to Amarillo in the car!) we pulled in to the Big Texan Steakhouse for dinner (not sure it was the best choice for the vegan amongst us). We saw 2 people attempt and fail to eat the 72oz steak challenge, however we opted for the slightly smaller portions i had the most amazing rack of ribs. I was so full that i just couldn't even bear to think about pudding. We shot some guns in the laser shoot while sitting on replica saddles and got put in jail.
The next challenge was to find our hotel listed as the Amarillo medical centre, luckily it turned out to be a Holiday Inn and was very nice with the highest beds i've ever seen! The one downside was the strange smell outside which i can only describe as a mix between a sewage farm and a taco bell and inside the corridors we can only presume to stop said smell it smelt like bubblegum! This morning we were up at 6am! (yes it gets earlier) and were off down to breakfast which again was lovely even if the waitress was a little too attentive. So todays trip is to Santa fe only 250 miles but with lots of interesting points along the way including the mid point of Route 66 halfway between Chicago and LA.
Laters
The car on the historic mother road
Us at Janie's
Us at the historic route 66 museum
Mum on the phone
The Art Deco building that was the tire fitters in Cars
The Big Texan
Yummy dinner
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