Day 12: McLean, TX to Santa Fe, NM (439 miles)
Tuesday, 25 October 2005
Last updated 3 Nov 2005

1. Largest cross	2. The base	3. More cattle auctions!	4. The cowboys	5. And their cows
6. Palo Duro Canyon	7. Ten Little Indians?	8. No: Ten Big Cadillacs	9. At Cadillac Ranch	10. Thinking about trading in?
11. Route 66 midpoint	12. Midpoint Cafe (Adrian, TX)	13. Blue Swallow Motel	14. Has private garages!	15. Tango in Santa Fe

Texas, as everyone knows, has the largest of everything, and just outside the little hamlet of Groom is the [1,2] largest cross in the Northern hemisphere (if you know where the largest one in the world is let me know).

I don't know what's so addictive about cattle auctions (it's not the smell ...) but I just had to see another one: the [3-5] Amarillo Livestock Auction (Manhattan Street, E 3rd Av just west of S. Grand St). Two cattle auctions in two days and I didn't even buy anything. Just as well, since they were bidding numbers like 85 ... 90 ... and I had no idea how many zeros followed.

Made a detour to the [6] Palo Duro Canyon State Park in xxx. Pretty enough, and unusual in otherwise-flat Texas, but small compared to the ones I would later see in Colorado and Utah. But neither Colorado nor Utah nor any other place in the world has [7-10] Cadillac Ranch. You can miss it if you aren't looking for it. Off the highway, west of Amarillo, in the middle of a field, are ... 10 pink Cadillacs (no, they aren't late-model) "planted" into the ground. You can even go up to them and add your own graffiti. Who would do this and why? Hint: Think "eccentric millionaire."

In Adrian, Texas is the [11] exact midpoint of Route 66, with 1139 miles each way to Chicago or Los Angeles (and probably close to the midpoint of my route too, but with over 3000 miles to either end on my more scenic route!). I wanted to eat at [12] Midpoint Cafe but they were closed (and a sign outside acknowledged that they kept irregular hours: something along the lines of, "We're usually open but close when we feel like it, especially in the afternoon."). Drove by the famous [13,14] Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico (a mid-end historical motel with private garages!) and kept going till I reached Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I reached on the right night at the right time since on Tuesday nights is a very nice Milonga (Tango dance) at El Mesón Restaurante & Tapas Bar (213 Washington Av, 505-983-6756) organized by Tango dancer and teacher [15] Shahin. Check it out if you're there on Tuesday nights; even if you don't dance, they have good food and wine and it's fun to watch the dancers.

Home • Day 13