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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Christmas On Route 66!


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As if the Thanksgiving on Route 66 trip wasn't enough, now comes "Christmas on Route 66". I've been wanting to get my dad out on the road with me for a couple of years & now he's finally agreed. Destination: A Christmas steak dinner at the Big Texan in Amarillo. He's picking me up Christmas Eve morning & we're interstating Wednesday & Thursday and bunking up at the Big Texan Motel Christmas night after a steak dinner at the BT. Friday we'll turn around and mosy on 66 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Should be a cool father/son bonding thing. I've always been intrigued by the story he told me of his family's trip out to California in '49. On the way back home...on Route 66...my grandpa had to be admitted in the hospital in Tucumcari, NM with stomach ulcers. Being the stubborn German he was, he checked himself out of the hospital 3 days later and my dad drove he & my grandma home via 66. So, I'll be taking him on some of those sections of 66 that had been bypassed, but were in use in '49, mainly in Oklahoma. No, I don't expect he'd remember much about those sections, but it'll be cool to tell him that this abandoned stretch is the same road he would've driven 60 years prior when he was a teen.

 

Anywho, I'll be bringing along the laptop to provide updates as internet connections allow. Have a swell Christmas!

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As if the Thanksgiving on Route 66 trip wasn't enough, now comes "Christmas on Route 66". I've been wanting to get my dad out on the road with me for a couple of years & now he's finally agreed. Destination: A Christmas steak dinner at the Big Texan in Amarillo. He's picking me up Christmas Eve morning & we're interstating Wednesday & Thursday and bunking up at the Big Texan Motel Christmas night after a steak dinner at the BT. Friday we'll turn around and mosy on 66 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Should be a cool father/son bonding thing. I've always been intrigued by the story he told me of his family's trip out to California in '49. On the way back home...on Route 66...my grandpa had to be admitted in the hospital in Tucumcari, NM with stomach ulcers. Being the stubborn German he was, he checked himself out of the hospital 3 days later and my dad drove he & my grandma home via 66. So, I'll be taking him on some of those sections of 66 that had been bypassed, but were in use in '49, mainly in Oklahoma. No, I don't expect he'd remember much about those sections, but it'll be cool to tell him that this abandoned stretch is the same road he would've driven 60 years prior when he was a teen.

 

Anywho, I'll be bringing along the laptop to provide updates as internet connections allow. Have a swell Christmas!

 

Pat,

 

What a GREAT TRIP! Get some photos of Dad on the old road! And keep us posted!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Greetings from Claremore, Oklahoma! We logged in 630-some miles, mostly on the Evil-I. By the time we checked in here at the Will Rogers Inn here, just about everything was closed, so we had a swell meal from the gas station! We've got a little less than 400 miles to go on Thursday, so it should be a fairly short day. Hope you all have a GREAT Christmas!

 

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Greetings from Amarillo! We pulled into the Big Texan about an hour ago and have set up shop in the "Cattleman's Hotel" wing of the BT's motel.

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The steakhouse was packed when we got here, but it's slowly thinning out, so I think we're heading over shortly. VERY windy in the Texas panhandle today. Knocked a good 2mpg off the car's gas mileage from the tank yesterday. Not much open today, which is OK with me. Means that a lot of businesses out here think Christmas should be a day of closed business, which I'm cool with. But, I'm also glad the BT chose not to. ;) I'll post more following dinner. I'll see about getting my mug on the 72oz Steak Cam.

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Pat,

 

That's a long drive, but I assume the steak was worth it! I looked at the live cam...and it really is live, at about 8:15 Pacific time, so unless you were under the table, I missed you and your dad.

 

Have a safe drive and hope you and dad had a great Christmas!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Greetings from Stroud, Oklahoma! Sitting here at the Skyliner Motel waiting for a huge t-storm to blow through. Between here & Arcadia there was a 24 degree difference in temps as this storm was blowing through....a difference of just 40 miles.

 

Had a good Friday drive. We started the day heading out to Adrian, TX for breakfast at the MidPoint Cafe, but alas, the MidPoint wasn't open. So, retracing the 50 miles we had just wasted, we had breakfast at the Big Texan. We stopped by the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City and took a nice tour of the museum and saw a neat 15 minute feature hosted by one Thomas Repp. Later on we stopped at Pops for some bottled goodness and then while still in Arcadia, a stop at Jim Ross' place for a visit. Jim mentioned we needed to try a good BBQ joint 3 miles down the road called The Boundary. Glad he did! Fantastic ribs...

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and friendly owners.

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We made it to Stroud where it was still in the low 70's at 9pm last night. Storms have mainly moved on, but still some occasional thunder. We'll take it slow today so we don't catch back up with them!

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