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Travels with Caroline and Party Research Part 2
The second day of our adventure started when we packed up our bags in Oklahoma City, ate the hotel’s “concierge breakfast” which pre-pandemic would have a had a host of options to what now looked and tasted like a Jenny Craig egg scramble complete with the microwaveable bowl (but I’m sure had significantly more calories), and spent 5 minutes looking for Alex’s facemask, and finally hopped into the vanlet and hit the open road. Either the people of Western Oklahoma aren’t as creative as those in the East or they choose to put their creativity into things that aren’t roadside attractions. Whatever the reason, there wasn’t anything on our list between Oklahoma City and the Panhandle of Texas, so we drove straight through to the Lone Star State.
I spent a fair amount of time working in Stinett and Boerger, Texas (If you ever have a hankering for a Monte Cristo sandwich there is a Bennigan’s in Boerger. I would stay in Amarillo, but I drove home on I-40 which happens to be the Old Route 66. I was always in a hurry to get home, so I had noticed but never stopped to wonder or investigate the oddities on our list. Our first stop was the Tower Station and U Drop in Cafe in Shamrock, Texas. While the Blue Whale of Catoosa was the stop I was the most excited to see in Oklahoma, the Tower Station was the stop I was the most excited to see on the entire trip. It did not disappoint. From the story that the station was first designed by being scratched in the dirt of a driveway, to the U Drop Inn being named by an 8-year-old boy who won a week’s worth of waitressing pay (around $5) in a contest, the Tower Station has a charming story that the town of Shamrock has proudly preserved.
In addition to having a charming history, the Tower station is an impressive building, especially when you consider it was nothing more than a gas station and small cafe. According to the National Park Service the station is one of the “most imposing and architecturally creative buildings along the road.” From what I’ve seen, I’d have to agree and apparently so did the folks at Disney and Pixar. The station was built at the intersection of Route 66 and US Highway 83 in the late 1930’s. At that time, I imagine it was a pretty good place to stop for gas and maybe grab a bite to eat. As with many businesses along the route the Interstate highway system took away most of the traffic and the station closed and according to the internet fell into disrepair. Fortunately, the town of Shamrock bought the building and received a National Transportation Enhancement grant to refurbish it.
The station was no longer a working gas station, but rather a visitor’s center and gift shop manned by Hazel (the most impressive part of the Tower station, if you ask me). Hazel was a pleasant cheerful woman in her early eighties decked out in a vest made of upholstery fabric with postcard designs woven into it. Hazel worked in the Tower gift shop. We had hardly taken 2 pictures outside of the station when Hazel popped out and insisted on taking our picture. We followed Hazel into the gift shop, which also led into the cafe. Hazel was well versed and happy to share in the history of the tower, and other sites we should stop and see along the route. She was quick to point out that the building was prominently featured in Pixar movie Cars (the back corner of the gift shop was dedicated to Cars merchandise). We wandered into the refurbished cafe. It was clean and simple and didn’t contain the typical hodgepodge of old street signs and advertisements that I’ve come to expect in local cafes. Hazel followed us in, and I asked if I could take a couple of pictures. She quickly responded no, because SHE would take our picture. As I am sure she had done hundreds of times, Hazel told us where to stand (Caroline behind the counter, Alex and I at the register) and where to look. Then she had us move again and took a few more pictures. After we had completed Hazel’s predefined list of photographs, we wandered around the gift shop, and selected a Blue Whale of Catoosa puzzle to purchase… because Hazel is very good at her job. We piled into the vanlet and headed off to our next stop.
I want to make a quick side note here, the Transportation grant that allowed Shamrock to refurbish the Tower Station also helped fund a Tesla charging station that sits in the parking lot next to the cafe. You may no longer be able to get gas at the Tower Station, but you can charge your electric car.
Our next stop was the Leaning Tower of Texas in Groom. This fun stop is one that you can (and I did) easily drive right past and wonder if your vision was just out of whack. I assure you, it was not. Unlike the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Leaning Tower of Texas is no architectural accident. It is a water tower that has been mounted so that it leans about 10 degrees.. Personally, I think what makes this tower interesting is the fact that it is still there. The tower was originally purchased by the City of Groom to be a functioning water tower for the city. The “town folk” in Groom, however, should be pretty upset by the local official who made that bad bargain because the tower never met code. Ralph Britten saw a great opportunity and bought the tower to advertise his nearby restaurant and truck stop. Legend has it, he intentionally tilted the water tower so that passers-by would stop at the truck stop to let people know the tower was about to fall. The restaurant and truck stop burnt down as a result of the fire, but the tower remains. The people of Groom have even placed a Christmas star at the top of the tower that they light during the Holiday season.
We didn’t have to go too far down the road to hit our next stop, “The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. This three dimensional cross is 19 stories high and is made of 2.5 million pounds of steel. What’s particularly crazy to me, is for all of Texans are about size this cross isn’t the biggest in the United States. In fact, it’s more like the 7th largest cross in the U.S. In trying to research it, I found out that building the biggest cross “wars” really do seem to be a thing (I’m looking at you Illinois and Missouri). You can enjoy the view of the cross without stopping as you fly by at 75 miles an hour on the highway, or you can remember that you’re on the historic Route 66 and most of the outlandish roadside attractions are designed to get you to stop and come see what else they have to offer. If you decide to check it out, you do actually have to get off the main road and drive through Groom to get to it, but there are plenty of signs to direct you to the cross. If you are into religious iconography, it is worth your time. The grounds contain numerous bronze statues including the stations of the cross, and the Last Supper. There is an empty tomb and of course a gift shop. I’m going to be honest, this really isn’t my kind of thing. But, considering it had more visitors than the Whale of Catoosa, it certainly works for others.
We were unsure if we wanted to cross over into New Mexico. We had originally thought that we would go as far as Tucumcari, but decided that there just wouldn’t be enough daylight for it. Hazel however, suggested that we at least go as far as Russell’s Travel Center because they had a great car museum. Everyone needs a “Hazel” on a trip like this.
In the interest of time, we decided to go straight from Groom to New Mexico and circle back to the Midpoint Café and Cadillac Ranch. As we made our way down I-40 trying to find figure out what podcast to listen to next – we had finally made it through all 12 episodes of Undisclosed and were anxiously waiting for the next one to drop, we heard the very distinct noise all road trippers dread… the thump thump of a flat tire.
Alex is pretty handy when it comes to most things car related and we are members of AAA, but standing outside the vanlet in the windy desert that runs between Amarillo and New Mexico I was concerned that this might be a sad and long end to our day. Especially, as we piled all of our luggage onto the side of the road, and Alex was suddenly unsure if he had put all of the necessary tools back in the car the last time he changed the tire. Thankfully, his brief time as a Boy Scout paid off and we were in fact prepared to change a tire. He put our sad little donut on the vanlet and we continued our trek to Russell’s Travel Center which also happened to be a tire shop.
We handed the vanlet over to the tire center and walked into the Travel Center. In most ways it was your typical truck stop complete with shower center and large thankfully clean restrooms. Rather than your typical Iron Skillet Restaurant, Russell’s had a fun diner complete with red vinyl bar stools and booths. The museum was tucked in between the diner and the showers. It was filled to the brim with cars ranging from a 1927 Model T Ford to a 1981 Chevrolet El Camino and everything in between including my favorite a pink Thunderbird convertible (maybe I need a new paint job). In addition to the cars, every wall was packed with trinkets and collectibles including Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, and M&Ms. I wouldn’t say get a full tank of gas, grab your family and drive as fast as you can to Russell’s Travel Center, but if you’re in the area it’s definitely worth the stop. And it was certainly the most pleasant experience I have had waiting to get a tire changed… and they only sort of overcharged us for the tire (I guess they have to pay for the cars somehow.)
With four decent tires, and some extra air in the spare, we crossed back into the Republic and headed to the Midpoint Café. The Midpoint Café is in Adrian, Texas and is the oldest continuously operating café on Route 66 between Amarillo, Texas and Tucumcari, New Mexico (Who comes up with these stats?). It’s gone through several owners and name changes, but finally in 1995 someone got smart with the marketing and named it Midpoint Café. It’s apparently a fun diner with a 1950’s atmosphere and great pie. We wouldn’t know however, because it’s closed on Mondays. We did stop and take some fun pictures, so it wasn’t a total bust.
We still had one more stop on our panhandle trip, but it was getting late so we decided to put it off until Tuesday morning. We headed into Amarillo to stay at the Downtown Courtyard Marriott. Both Alex and I had made several work trips to Amarillo, and both had stayed there separately, but this was our first stay together. We thought this was pretty cool, and we thought Caroline would be excited to stay where we had traveled and worked. She, however, was not impressed. I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised as she no longer gets excited about the I-station building every time we pass it either.
Tuesday morning, we were up and ready to hit the Cadillac Ranch, but first we needed spray paint… And before that Alex was hell bent that we were going to eat in a diner on this trip. He found Young Blood’s Cafe. Young Blood’s was a fun little local joint that I firmly believe was previously a seafood restaurant based on the fish upholstery and the benches that look like they came straight out of a Red Lobster. The service was great, the food was exactly what we expected, and since it was “vacation” I ate pancakes.
We had actually been to Cadillac Ranch almost exactly to the day the year before. We stopped there briefly on our way home from Palo Duro Canyon. From that trip, we had learned to remember to bring your own spray paint. We rounded up a Home Depot, picked up 3 brightly colored cans of spray paint and made our way out to Cadillac Ranch.
Cadillac Ranch was created as a work of art in 1974 by a group called the Ant Farm. It consisted of 10 Cadillacs that were buried nose down in a field that belonged to Stanley Marsh III. Whether or not the original artists and owner of Cadillac Ranch intended it to be a place for graffiti and artistic self expression through spray paint, they eventually encouraged it. Not a spot of original paint can be seen on the cars and they have stalactites and stalagmites similar to what I saw at Carlsbad Cavern dripping from them. We trudged across the field and made our way over to the cars. It was incredibly windy so we had to find a spot that would keep us from getting sprayed by other peoples spray paint, and avoid being sprayed by our own. We found a few places and added our art and hoped it would remain for at least 5 minutes.
Having completed our trips checklist, we headed home. We checked out Bob Ruff’s latest investigation on his Truth and Justice podcast, remembered not to stop in Quahan, and were thankful for the awesome rest stops in Texas.