This is the Big Texan Steak Ranch, which has been around since 1960.
Their sign is great.
Their gimmick to attract tourists is to offer a free 72 oz steak dinner to anyone who can eat it (steak AND sides) within an hour. It must work for them, because they are still offering it. Stop by and give it a try, if you dare. See the big bull at the right side of the building? It's mounted on a trailer. I guess he makes personal appearances. And ir looks like there are plywood cutouts for photos along the left side of the porch.
The next morning we left Amarillo and headed east.
You could still see for long distances. This is another picture of an entire train. The front end disappeared behind the farm buildings at the left just before I snapped the picture. I know, it's almost too far away to tell anything about it. Sorry.
Things are somewhat greener east of Amarillo. You can actually cultivated fields occasionally instead of just desert.
Our first stop was at Exit 96 in Conway, TX. This is an old car sitting there. You can tell we've gotten to a more humid part of the country. The car is completely covered in rust. But what we came looking for here was....
...the Bug Ranch. Look familiar? It's a parody of the Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo.
There are 5 VW Beetles buried nose down.
You can still tell they were all yellow in the beginning. But these all-stars are gaining in fame. There's plenty of graffiti on them.
Rudy petitioned to have his picture taken with the bugs. (I think he felt he wasn't getting his fair share of attention.) So here's Rudy with a couple of friends.
And here he is with the crowd.
And finally, here's Rudy from the back. (He's happy now.)
This is an old Phillips 66 Station and store from 1935 in Conway.
It is typical of the type building that was used for service stations during the 1930s. This place is in good shape for its age.
This is Buddy's Cabins, built in 1935. There are four rooms here, with three garages--two singles and a double. Each of the windows originally had an tile covered awning.
You can see the only remaining awning here. You can also see that the entrance to the rooms was from the garages. So, if the weather was bad, the travelers didn't have to get wet.
This is what remains of Buddy's Cafe, Store, and Station, also built in 1935. The station awning and the front of the store are in rough shape.
The old sign is in as bad shape as the building.
It looks a little better from the side. You can still see vestiges of the painted ads on the side of the building that say simply, 'Gas' and 'Eat.' Buddy's is enclosed in a fence, but I don't think it's necessarily to protect the buildings.
The fence forms a pasture for this guy. There's plenty of other stuff inside the fence, too.
As with most other places in the west, old vehicles abound.
There are the common trucks and cars.
And the occasional fleet. I have to wonder what people plan to do with these old vehicles. From what I saw, they just sit out in the fields. To what purpose???
I think this is another old pump house.
We left Conway and headed east on I-40 again.
Our next stop was at the Donley County Route 66 Rest Area. It's on eastbound I-40 in mile 129.
The area was designed after the vintage Art Deco 66 Courts Motel in Groom. It's lovely.
There are numerous covered tables. The shelters are all Art Deco, too.
The asphalt paved walkways are painted as Route 66.
The Art Deco styling carries from the outside...
...to the inside.
Even the restrooms have the beautiful multi-colored tile work typical of the Art Deco period.
The windows are curved glass block.
There's even a Route 66 tile mural on the wall.
There's a multimedia exhibit that outlines the history of Route 66. There are informational plaques, photos, and an interactive computer tour.
The walls are decorated with reproduction vintage signs.
They bring back lots of memories.
And they're great fun.
Some of the signs are from before my time.
But most aren't. (sigh...)
A few of the products are still around, but most are long gone.
This has got to be my favorite.
This is a well-planned rest area.
It's a wireless hot spot, even though it's not near any major metropolitan area.
There are tornado shelters built into either end of the building.
And outside, there's a play structure for the kids. Great stuff. I wish more rest areas had this much thought put into them.
Our next destination was Alanreed, TX.
This is the "66" Super Service Station.
It's maintained in perfect condition.
Two vintage pumps are still in place.
The station was built by Bradley Kiser in 1930 in what was then downtown Alanreed. There's really nothing left, now, that could be considered 'town.' Notice the green pump at the lower left of the picture.
The station sits on a corner, and it had islands on both streets. I'm sure it was ultra modern for its time.
There's a large garage behind the station with a nice sign painted on the side.
I mean really large. This could have fit two vehicles side-by-side, at least three deep. Unfortunately, it's not it nearly as good condition as the station.
This is the Cafe across the street and down the block a bit. It's obviously been abandoned for a long time. It doesn't look beyond repair, though. This must have been a thriving town in the day.
This is Route 66 between Alanreed and McLean, TX. It looks like a dirt track, and that's what it is now, for the most part, but it was once paved just like the rest of the Route.
We found this little section by accident. Dean thought he'd seen an old bridge that would have been on the Route, and we were down a dirt road investigating that when we crossed a road-wide strip of pavement in what looked like the middle of nowhere. (That's it in the picture.) When we stopped for a closer look, we realized this was the other end of a segment of 66 that has been blocked and is slowly returning to nature. The bridge we were looking for turned out to be on the old railroad bed that ran beside 66 in this area.
This is the other end of the blocked segment. I don't know if the trees were there in the 1930s and '40s, but if they were, they would have been some of the last that east to west travelers would see until they reached the Flagstaff area.
You can still see some of the pavement amongst the grass here. It won't be long before this has been completely overtaken by grass, though. That happens quickly when a road can't be driven anymore. It seems a shame to lose sections like this.
This is the unspoiled landscape that Route 66 travelers would have seen from this part of the road. Gorgeous, isn't it?
We stayed on the Route to McLean, TX.
There were more swallow nests under the I-40 overpass. You can see some of them here in flight. They were fun to watch, swooping and diving. I wondered how they avoided running into each other.
McLean was a great little town where we stayed longer than we planned--again. It was obviously a booming place at one time. Now, there are lots of places left as a testimony of that more prosperous era.
The Cactus Inn Motel has recently been remodeled. It was once the West Wind Motel--a fitting name, if you ask me. It's an example of the classic small "Mom and Pop" style hotel found so often on Route 66.
This was once a very large service station. It has a second canopy to the left of the picture just as large as the one you can see. It must have served both roads. Route 66 followed a split path through McLean. The eastbound and westbound portions are a block apart.
I love the inverted roof. I wonder how they kept the water out of the valley when it rained.
The style carried through to the canopy. Great stuff.
There are LOTS of old stations in McLean. Here are a few:
How much traffic do you think it took to support all these service stations? Amazing. And most of them are just sitting there derelict. It's nice to see that a few have been repurposed. I was really surprised, though, that we didn't see a single operating service station here. I sure they were there--we just didn't see them.
This was the one place in McLean we didn't want to miss.
This is the first Phillips 66 Service Station that was built in Texas. It dates from 1928.
It's been restored with the help of the Texas Old Route 66 Association. This is a cottage style station.
It is set up complete with tank truck, service ramps, and...
...covered picnic table.
The sign has changed a bit through the years, don't you think?
There are lots of other interesting places in McLean, too. Visiting here is like 'stepping back in time.'
I think this is still a functioning garage.
I'm just guessing, but this place looks like it was one of those all in ones--service station, restaurant, and store.
And this doesn't look like it was built to be a private residence. A boarding house or hotel, maybe?
This is one of the corners that begins 'down town.'
I read somewhere that McLean was incorporated in 1903. Some of these buildings might pre-date Route 66, but not by much.
There's a talented mural artist in McLean, from the looks of it.
The Barber Shop.
It seems to be a recurring theme. This building has three windows with painted murals.
The Barber Shop is in the front. Not so much business going on in this one, though. There's a Barbershop Quartet singing instead.
In the middle window you can see the school marm and her pupils busy with lessons. The Ten Commandments are on the wall, and one of the boys has a hold on the girl's pigtail. It's great.
And in the back room, the town's men are playing cards. Poker, perhaps?
And last, but not least, is this truck in the garage. I had to look at this one twice to figure out it was a painting.
This lovely old building is the Avalon Theater. The Art Deco facade has been restored once, but the sun is so harsh out here that the paint has faded. It looks like it could use another coat of paint.
You can see the brick street in this picture. These are the buildings across from the Avalon. This is a very wide brick street. More evidence that McLean was a bustling center of commerce at one time.
This was the last place we saw as we were leaving town. The style says it has some age to it, but it looked strange. We finally figured out that someone had covered the outside with plywood, then painted it. The paint was fading badly, and the grain was showing through. Plywood, it would seem, is not the best sheathing material. Hmmm...
Well, that's it for this post. It will probably take me a couple of more posts to finish our trip. I'll try to get those up in the next day or two. See you there!
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