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Route66 (IV): Through Texas

PHOTOS RUTA66: UNAI ONA

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RUST, BUFFALOES AND WILD COUNTRY. FROM CLINTON TO ERICK

After the storm, calm always comes. And it is that, even with the scare in the body by him crash of the sky over our heads in the middle of the Tornados Corridor, we reached Clinton's Glancy Motel. One of those accommodations with a quiet atmosphere and friendly attention so frequent on the North American routes. The perfect place to imagine a Coen Brothers movie; one of those in which It all ends badly when the local moron crosses your path.

Of course, in our case the night did not end with an ax in the back. Far from it, motels of this style offer a good stay with breakfast included for only 30 or 50 dollars. In addition, the passion for the classics does not wait to have a small restaurateur right in front of you: the Classic 66 Auto Sales (214 Gary Blvd). With rust even on the store's sign, this garage is one of many somewhat rickety places worth stopping by to peek at nuts.

Much more civilized and neat is the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum at 2229 W Gary Blvd. A wide stage with typical Route 66 locations recreated as if they were life-scale dioramas. Gas station, road cafeteria ... All this topped off with a neon that is worth visiting at night with the soundtrack of American Graffiti on the speakers. Perfect excuse to recall the fatal fate of John Milner, thinking about how friends and R&R are no longer what they were.

With the conviction of suffering a poorly healed adolescence, we set sail for Elk City. There the Route 66 Transportation Museum on the 320 W 3rd St. The whole complex forms an artificial town, conceived in the form of a theme park in which to recreate different places and times of Route 66. Anyway, we already see that in America everything is big. Even dioramas are 1: 1 scale! Highly recommended if you want to feel like in a toy store for kids with gray hair.

By the way, be sure to stand in front of the 1953 Studebaker Commander. One of the best designs in Raymond loewy with which he perfectly fused European and American lines. A car that would be perfect for follow our route to Sayre crossing the great meadows. Just the land where the carts full of settlers snatched the land from the Indians under the impassive gaze of the buffalo.

One of those places where the gentleness of the wind between the crops hides the sound of gunshots and arrows. Yet another chapter in America's expansion into what has always been its escape route: the West. In memory of all that, albeit in the form of a memory as kitsch as it is distorted, we find Sargent Major Bison. The crazy sculpture of a bison dressed in cavalry uniform also known as "Spirit of the West".

With the memory that in these meadows the land was watered with blood, we headed to Erick, where more than a hundred classics welcome us among the grasses near the I-40BL. If you're one of those who has come to Route66 in search of authenticity and rust… You have to stop here. From numerous pick-ups to the shell of a Beetle with a double rear window there is plenty of material to feel like an Indiana Jones of the engine.

Inside Erick we head to his oldest building. In it is the Sandhills Curiosity Shop (201 S Sheb Wooley St). Do not miss it. So clear. And it is not another antique dealer of the many that there are specialized in memorabilias of Ruta66. Apart from its impressive catalog, its owners meet you with guitar and denim overalls in hand. In fact, impromptu Harley performances They are already a classic among Route 66 travelers.

With a repertoire where expressions of the style abound "Down in Mexico", "Texas sky" o "Going to California", this particular "Outlaw country man" appears as if it were Willie Nelson giving everything at the festivals of your town. A live performance that is as authentic as it is recommended, capable of immersing you with three chords in the most authentic of the main street of America. So yes.

SWING BY A SOFT WIND. WE ENTER TEXAS

Magnolia is one of the 12 songs of the JJ Cale's first album. It really is not one of the best known. In the first listen to this marvel of the Tulsa Sound genius, others such as Call me the Breeze or those later covered by Eric stand out "GodClapton After Midnight and River Runs Deep. But nevertheless, Magnolia is one of those songs that you end up looping after flipping the album five or six times.

In its second verse it says that about "Soft summer breeze". And well, is that when you stop at the remains of the Magnolia gas station located at the entrance of the ghost town of Texola ... It is worth sitting down and feeling the gentle summer breeze through the irons and brambles. Also, right there you have the ruins of a prison cell built at the end of the 30s. Taking walks through places like this, JJ Cale took the necessary pause, the right pace. And it is that, as in driving, in life it is as important to know how to give gas as to know how to brake.

Leaving that cell behind for bums and crooks we entered texas. The green of the pastures is giving way to the yellow of the dusty drylands. Everything is getting wider, even more immense. And we are in Texas. Inhabited by more than 25 million people, this state not only has a stretch of Route 66, but also oil wells and a meat industry to provide calories to the inhabitants and automobiles of almost the entire nation.

Partially occupied by up to 6 successive flags, the history of Texas is a territory formed by waves of migration. But also that of a place where the most conservative vision of the country takes root due to the fascination with the free possession of weapons. Something that one checks by browsing a dial where each announcer spits out more verbal violence than the last. And it is that politicians like Ted Cruz flourish here. The candidate who accused Trump of being a moderate while advertising cooking bacon with a machine gun.

Obviously all this does not have to affect our trip through a place where we also find such open and futuristic enclaves as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, but we do have to take it into account. Why? Well because here, if you happily snoop around a garage with rusty classics, the same you can look for a problem taking into account the neurosis of some of its inhabitants. So remember: practice as a tourist, even as an explorer. But do it carefully.

Changing stations on the tightest dial we moved through Texas towards Shamrock. Here we find the tallest water tower in the entire state, built in 1911 and located at 210 N Main St. However, the main attraction of the place is the Tower Conoco Station (111 Rte 66). Inaugurated in 1930, its Art Deco style is a breath of fresh air on a path where architecture style "Grandfather's barn" reigns at ease. By the way, she was portrayed in the movie Cars.

Leaving Shamrock We find on the right a group of abandoned vehicles, among which are several industrialists. However, most of them are not open to visitors since, as one advances between the brambles, posters of "Do Not Enter". And well, you know that here is pretty serious. There will already be other occasions in which to sign forgotten classics on the side of Ruta66.

We advanced 35 kilometers and we reached McLean. If not because there is still the occasional absent-minded inhabitant and a museum ... We would tell you that this town is another of the many ghost towns located on Route 66. By the way, the museum could not be more curious. And it is that, although in this of the collecting there is of everything ... Devil's Rope Museum located at 100 Kingsley St takes the cake.

Neither more nor less than a complete tour of the history of barbed wire! Ideal if you are thinking of recreate Steve McQueen crashed his Triumph while trying to flee a Nazi camp in The Great Escape. Curious museums aside, in McLean we can also find the Castus Inn Motel (101 Pine St) and the endearing 66 Phillips 1928 service station (212 First St). In Cottage Fashion style it looks like a doll's house, being currently conserved by the Ruta66 Association of Texas.

BURIED CARS AND IMPOSSIBLE STEAKS

Moving forward with friendly chords from the Ruta66 header, the famous sixties series in which two good kids came to the rescue of themselves on a Corvette, we furrowed 13 more kilometers until we reached Alanreed. In this small town, one of the oldest service stations on Route 66 goes almost unnoticed: the 66 Super Service Station (TX-271 Loop). But be careful, because next to it we find the oldest car cemetery in all our way. To browse has been said!

After cleaning our clothes a bit after so much bush and so much dust, we linked 60 kilometers without stepping on the ground until panhandle. Of course, by the side of the road we are assaulted by elements that remind us of where we are. Huge reservoirs of water in the plain, ranches in the middle of nowhere, imposing crosses more than 70 meters high ... Come on, those ingredients that well mixed give you the result Waco Ranch with its Branch Davidians. Weapons, crosses, fire. Matters that end badly.

Already in Pandhandle we see an installation that looks like something out of Mad Max, although topped off by a gang of colorful graffiti followers of Afrika Bamabaataa. We are talking about VW Slug Bug Ranch (I-40 Frontage Rd). A delightful set of abandoned buildings garnished by five partially buried Beetles in the form and manner that we will see shortly with some Cadillacs.

46 kilometers further on is Amarillo, where lunchtime surprises us in one of the best establishments on the entire Route66: The Big Steak Ranch & Brewery (7701 Interstate 40 Acces Rd). The place is huge, with huge cars parked right next to the huge statue of a huge cow. There are people with huge hats and huge clothes. The pieces of meat are huge, eating them under the huge skeleton of a bovine with huge horns. Here everything is measured in capital figures. Huge.

Everything is arranged as expected for a place with marked flavor "Made in Texas". Everything except an object as small as it is important: the photograph of Molly schuyler. This 39-year-old woman holds the local gastric record, having gobbled up a two-kilo steak, a baked potato, a bread with butter, a shrimp cocktail and a salad in just 4 minutes and 18 minutes. Now why is this photograph unexpected?

Well, because far from looking like a severe Texan trucker, this professional eater lives off the prizes she wins in food contests. "Speed ​​eating"- she looks like a vegan from Malasaña. One of those that the antispecies salmondia lets off you while you try to regain your verticality by eating a rubbery kebab at five in the morning. With her piercings and dyed hair you can't imagine her doing these Texan things, but you can see that it is. In short, postmodernity is a complex, mixed-race place where appearances are always deceiving.

CADILLACS AND MOTORHOMES. LIVING ON THE ROAD

With a button unzipped and protein reserves through the roof, we left The Big Steak Ranch convinced that we had been in one of the best places on Route 66. By the way, beyond this restaurant, the town of Amarillo has two museums of classics where you can stretch your legs and lower your food. The first is the Bill's Bayckyard Classic, located at 5309 S Washington St.

It is the largest collection in the area, being especially recommended thanks to a large number of vehicles ranging from the 20s to the recent 2012. Huge Cadillacs, various musclecars ... The truth is that you can take it as a brief but intense chronology of the automobile in the United States. Pure Route66. The second is the Jack Sisemore Travel and RV Museum at 4341 Canyon Dr.

Here we find a representative panoply of the ir "With the house on his back". In short, as the past always bounces back in the future, it is seen that everything from the carts to the conquest of the West still lives in the American subconscious in the form of a taste for caravans o "Motorhome". Something that you perceive rolling along Route 66, in which it is normal to come across huge mobile homes for the holidays.

The Jack Sisemore Traveland is a celebration of this variant of motorsports, even hosting the first trailer or 'airstream”. Neither more nor less than a 1935 Torpedo model. The original of all caravans. A unique piece followed by the prototype of the first Itasca from 1975 - a real apartment on a long wheelbase chassis - or a charming 1948 Flxible bus full of chrome.

From here you leave imagining yourself in one of these houses on wheels, something that rivals the fascination exerted by the huge Cadillacs located in the nearby C (16351 I-40 Frontage Rd). The impressive Eldorado in perfect condition stand out from the league, but what really takes center stage are the ten bodies of models manufactured between 1949 and 1964 planted on the ground.

A row that, like a contemporary art installation, invites the visitor to leave their mark on them with a spray of color. There are so many cans emptied on Cadillacs that one does not know how much is in them of sheet metal and how much of paint. Getting back on the road we continue on the I40 leaving always parallel to the old road. 68 kilometers that will lead us to the precise center of Route66: Adrian.

ADRIAN. THE MERIDIAN OF ROUTE66

Adrian has a geographical appeal, a culinary one, and a relative one. The geographical is that at this point the very center of Route66 is located, which is indicated by a sign indicating the 1139 miles traveled, whether you come from Santa Monica or from Chicago. The culinary is the Midpoint cafe; an establishment founded in 1928 with excellent desserts and sweets.

And well, the relative is to take a photo next to the entrance sign to the town as if you were Rocky called his wife Adrian from the ring. One of those scenes that would get on the nerves of any actor trained with strict English speech therapists, but that we love because of the court that it gives when doing imitations. And it is that, Is a trip a trip without its moments of absurdity? Well, no.

From the central point, which is Adrian, we continue 36 kilometers in the direction of California until we take a detour at exit 0 of the I40 towards Glenrio. This abandoned town has several corners of the most desirable for any lover of the old, which serve as witnesses of what the towns of Route66 were before the construction of the great highways. Speaking of past times here it is easy to see remains of the original road, although you will need an SUV to drive kilometers through them.

If your companion tells you off by berating you for all the time you've wasted in an abandoned town like Glenrio… You have the perfect excuse to shut his mouth. And it is that advancing in our journey we rushed into New Mexico, place where there is a time change with which you earn one hour. If you want to change the hands of your watch you can do it with a stop on the Russell's Truck & Travel Center (1583 Frontage Road 4132).

Even if you are not riding on some kind of Devil on WheelsThe truth is that it is worth stopping in this area of ​​service for truckers. Here the Mack, Peterbill or Kenworth are the kings, the parking lot being an improvised example of industrial transport. Very beast. Yes indeed, the place also has a museum where you can admire some classics from the fifties surrounded by numerous objects and scale models.

Leaving this service area we take the I40, which merges with the old Route 66 30 kilometers later. We continued another 30 and arrived at tucumcari. A town that, although during the day it looks like another one of the many road towns that we are crossing, at night it transforms into a kind of miniature Las Vegas. All thanks to the magic of venues full of bright neons capable of taking us directly to the 50s.

The Flower & Fifts Citation, Tee Pee Curious, the Americana motel, the Historic Apache or the Blue Swallow Motel from 1939 are just some of the examples of one of the best preserved towns on Route 66. A decadent and charming set of lights where you can spend the night remembering our passage through Texas. The perfect time to see Paris-Texas again. The Win Wenders tape where an amnesiac man Roam the deserts of this state wondering who he is. Appropriate metaphor for the traveler.

What do you think?

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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