Show me the way to Amarillo.

Another sensible breakfast awaited us at the Hampton Inn in Clinton. Deftly avoiding the 'dodgy hot stuff' we opted for the fruit juice/yoghurt/cereal choice and felt better for it.

Leaving our hotel at about 10:00 a.m. after our previous nights laundry experience with... A top loader! Oh yes... Well I was excited. Anyway, we left our hotel and popped into the Route 66 Museum just half a mile down the road and had a seriously informative tour around the history and legend that was the world famous road.

We came out slightly nostalgic and a little sad that a country that is always cracking on about history, wars and achievements would let such a fantastic piece of historical achievement fall by the wayside and into disrepair. The literal 'ghost towns' that we passed through as we reconnected with the '66' now and again along the road was quite upsetting. It was like another toy that a spoilt child had had enough of. For all their balling about 'Man Vs Nature' it seemed a waste of time, materials and worst of all; people's hearts, souls and livlihoods.

A few miles down the road there was, surprise surprise, another Route 66 museum. This time in Elk City but it wasn't quite as 'neat' as the first and seemed more focused on the merchandising aspect, that and farming history. While it was a pleasant diversion it wasn't quite what we were looking for, although we did manage to score some old school RC Cola and some Taffy.

Pushing on down the road we found some fantastic landmarks like the Devil's Rope Museum, which had nothing to do with devils or rope and plenty to do with barbed wire. While highly informative on the amazing technological advancements of the metal fencing material, it was clear that these people revel in kleptomania. We then pulled into the iconic art deco Conoco gas station and before we knew what was happening it was 14:30 and we realised that we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Crossing from Oklahoma into Texas we started to notice an abrubt change in the scenery, suddenly there were massive rents as the earth opened up and scrub bush ruled the plains. Sadly there was no tumble weed cruising across the road for me to aim at.

We found absolutely no service stations, not that we fancied anymore crappy fast food anyway. So we pulled into an atypical american town with a population of about.... oh I would say.... 5 and raided the local grocery store wearing bandanas over our faces and waving realistic replica guns around we made off with some sub rolls, Philidelphia cheese spread and some ham slices. Oh, ok maybe my imagination is playing tricks on me. Speaking of which it was deliriously hot today, but after our previous mistake yesterday we kept the top up this afternoon.This was definately 'Big Sky' country as the clouds shrank away like an ever repeating Escher drawing we jumped between Gray County and Conway County and Gray County again. As we ate up the miles the horizon was visible for 360 degrees and there was nothing but endless plains, grain silos and cattle ranches. Amarillo came into view before too long and we cruised slowly into town unsure what to expect. It was a town of one way streets and traffic lights... lots of traffic lights. We found a tourist infomation type place and they pointed out the local hotels and one particular point of interest, The Big Texan Steakhouse where if you can eat a 72oz steak in under an hour, you get it free! We didn't go there because lets face it, we would probably try it like idiots. We're going there for breakfast tomorrow as apparently they do a kick-ass omelette. I would feel bad if I didn't warn people however NOT to heed Tony Christie's immortal words and do not EVER ask the way to Amarillo because for some silly reason you might actually end up in this one horse town.

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Now playing: Max & Paddy - (Is This the Way To) Amarillo
via FoxyTunes


CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM ROUTE 66 - PART 2 HERE


CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM ROUTE 66 - PART 3 HERE

Golden Bat-terred Chicken

Kentucky - home of a certain recipe of fried-chicken. Strange then that we found it to be decidedly lacking in the poultry department, yet still full of things to do in the one day that we spent in the State of "unbridled spirit".

We left Nashville and Tenessee behind and headed on into our latest state, and within an hour spotted our first place of interest on the highway. The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. We felt slightly guilty pulling up outside in a Ford Mustang, and were very impressed with the "Corvette Only" parking bays outside the front door. The owners of these cars had more priority than disabled drivers! Inside we were greeted by a plethora of beautiful vehicles, all given the utmost care and attention in their lifetimes. It was well worth stopping off and viewing a slice of history about America's only real sports car.

Back on the road, and the Interstate took us along some surprisingly beautiful roads cut through rock and forest. A running theme throughout the trip so far has been my ability to come across road-works whenever I take a shift behind the wheel - and today was no exception. However, unlike the UK, this presents no real delay in travelling time, as everyone still pootles along at 65MPH.

Another hour into the drive and we noticed on the map that we were running pretty close to Fort Knox. Pulling up alongside the Army Base that encloses it, it became clear that there was no intention by the US Government to make this a tourist attraction. You can only pull up outside the base for 5 minutes at a time, and there are no guided tours. So it was a case of pull up, take a few clicks on the camera, and then push on. So we did.

Into the afternoon, and the change in timezone back from Central Time to Eastern brought us to Louisville on the Indiana border. Adam was determined to head into the city and buy himself a baseball bat from the Slugger Museum. We parked up in a rather empty car park and walked up to pick up his stick. Now, it was at this point that we realised that we were pretty hungry. "No worries" we thought, "we're in Kentucky, we'll just find some chicken somewhere". This was not to be, as the city had a dearth of eateries of any kind, let alone one that would provide us with breaded-winged-creatures. Nevertheless, we made it to the Museum to buy Adam's personalised bat, that he's going to attempt to fit into his luggage on the journey home. We walked back to the car, and could take the hunger no longer. We made for the only eatery we could find - a White Castle. I say this now in the vain effort to prevent anyone ever going to one. AVOID LIKE THE BUBONIC PLAGUE - it was god awful. My burger tasted like a shepherds pie had been shoved into a small white bap. Horrid, horrid, horrid! And we were so looking forward to some chicken too! Still, at least the bat was cool....



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Now playing: Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain
via FoxyTunes

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM KENTUCKY & TENNESEE HERE

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM FORT KNOX AND THE SLUGGER HERE