First segment: Chicago, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri
Last Segment: St. Louis, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
This Segment: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sadly, this is our last video of our epic family road trip on Route 66 in the summer of 2022. This segment starts in Oklahoma City, and ends in Albuquerque. When I was a kid, we drove from Santa Monica to Albuquerque – so we can now say we’ve done the entire Mother Road!

We drove around Oklahoma City in the morning, ending up in a neighborhood called Bricktown. This reminded us of the San Antonio Riverwalk that we had visited before – there is a small waterway, including a water taxi, that winds through an entertainment district on the south end of the city. I encourage you to look into the history of this area, it’s fascinating to learn about how Bricktown came to be what it is today, and see what it was in times past.

From here, we continued west, pulling off the interstate to drive a segment of Route 66 here or there. We recommend visiting Yukon and the massively long bring in Hinton referred to as the Oklahoma Federal Aid Project No. 164-H. We also loved the museum complex in Elk City, and visiting the Sandhill Curiosity Shop in Erick. If you stop at Sandhill, leave some time for a non-rushed conversion. The owner is quite the character – he has some crass language but he’s a funny guy.

We crossed into Texas on Route 66 and continued to Shamrock where you can see the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café. If you have ever seen Disney/Pixar Cars, you will immediately recognize this as Ramone’s paint shop. I think it also looks like Flo’s gas station as well. Unfortunately it was closed the day that we were there, but it’s owned by the city as a visitor center and has regular working business hours. This was definitely a highlight of the entire trip.

As we continued, there were several small towns across Texas we stopped at – many with dozens of abandoned buildings. We recommend pulling off to see the gigantic Cross in Groom, Texas, and the Bug Ranch (a spoof the Cadillac Ranch) in Conway, Texas at the very least. We finished this day of driving at the famous Big Texan Stake Ranch in Amarillo – a restaurant and hotel complex, that includes a swimming pool in the shape of Texas. We watched somebody attempt to eat the 72 ounce steak challenge, and we stayed in a hotel. I don’t recommend the challenge, but the hotel is nice.

As we were looking for things to do in Amarillo, to the south of the city there is Palo Duro Canyon State Park which looked really cool but we decided to head about 35 minutes north to Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument instead. This small but wonderful place is highly recommended, but make sure and plan around the guided tours to the quarries. Even if you don’t get on a tour, it’s well worth the visit.

One of the best known stops on of Route 66 is the Cadillac Ranch. This was originally built in 1974 but was moved in 1997. There are 10 Cadillacs ranging from year 1948 to 1963 partially buried in the ground and tilted at the same angle as the Egyptian pyramids. There is an entire backstory for why the project started and who funded it that is fascinating as well. Further west, there’s a café (called Midpoint Cafe) that is the geographic midpoint of Route 66 that is still open, but runs limited hours. Because of the changes in alignments over the years, the midpoint is debated but regardless, this is well worth the stop. This place was the inspiration for Flo from the movie Cars.

Not far from here is the border with New Mexico, and a fascinating ghost town named Glenrio. We strongly recommend pulling off and reading the history of this place, however, it’s a good idea to crossover the border via the Interstate and the gianantic Welcome to New Mexico sign. The original 1920s alignment from Glenrio to San Jon is not paved in segments and can be impassible when wet. The welcome center just over the border is also very nice on the interstate. We pulled off to see the old Cedar Hill Grocery Store on Route 66 but otherwise drove the interstate to the famous Tucumcari

I don’t think I was fully prepared to take in the immense amount of history of Tucumcari. My dad who had done most of the planning on this trip had made sure that we stayed in the excellent and lovingly restored Roadrunner Lodge and that we had some time to explore so I went into this last night totally fresh to take in as much as possible. When we drove in, Tucumcari Mountain looks a lot like the backdrop of Radiator Springs from Cars, and we drove by what seemed like dozens of abandon buildings as we drove to the Roadrunner. The immense amount of historic properties in this town, both on Route 66 and the older downtown, gave me lots of research material for the evening. As the sunset, I got to take some incredible pictures of restored hotels and classic buildings around the town. It was truly stunning.

As this was our final evening of the trip, we spent some time in conversation about what we had learned and experienced over the last week. At the same time, I ended up running into someone who moved to Tucumcari and had a shop restoring Vixen motorhomes, met the President of ​​The New Mexico Route 66 Association, and the owner of Fast TV Network. It seemed like there were a lot of visionaries all congregating in this town because they saw each block of the town as an opportunity. I now know that Fast TV is opening their studio in Tucumcari in summer, 2023.

The next morning we visited had some tasty breakfast burritos, visited one of their museums, and headed out of town. Heading West, there are lots of old hotels and gas stations to see, including an abandon and gigantic old Shell truck stop right before you hit the Interstate. The drive from here to Albuquerque included a couple of small stops for us – The Blue Hole in Santa Rosa we saw but kept going because it seemed to be closed for the season, and we made a quick stop at Tijeras Pueblo Archaeological Site which was a nice stretch before we headed to the airport.

Albuquerque on its own has an incredible plethora of cool museums and it would take several days to explore this, and the surrounding national parks and various alignments. We tried to drive part of the modern Route 66 alignment through town but had to be diverted around on the Interstate. The airport was small but quaint, and has a second story observation deck that’s a great place to watch civilian and military aircraft come in and out.

This had been such an incredible journey and I’m so thankful I had a chance to go complete a longstanding family wish list of driving the entirety of Route 66. although not the same as road trips of the past, we felt like we got a glimpse of what it was like to travel across the country through various decades as we went from town to town. While some towns seemed to be completely abandoned, it’s encouraging to see the restoration and success of places like Tucumcari, and the visionaries across the decades who see opportunity now and for future generations.

Must-see places on this segment:
-Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum
-Oklahoma State Capitol
-Bricktown
-Yukons Best Flour Mill
-Oklahoma Federal Aid Project No. 164-H Bridge
-Elk City Route 66 Museum Complex
-Sandhill Curiosity Shop
-Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café
-Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries
-Big Texan Steak Ranch
-Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
-Cadillac Ranch
-Midpoint Cafe
-Glenrio
-Tucumcari Train Station
-Roadrunner Lodge
-Tucumcari at night

Tips on this segment:
-Bricktown has tons of activities both day and night – check social media to check local calendars.
-The State Capitol is surprisingly difficult to navigate and find a place to park.
-Some of the Route 66 alignments across Oklahoma and Texas are really bumpy but worth it.
-Sandhill Curiosity Shop can take several hours if you want to have a long conversation.
-Amarillo doesn’t have much of a Route 66 scene, but the Big Texan Steak Ranch and Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument are both worth the visit.
-Be careful of the Route 66 alignment from Glenrio to San Jon. It can be impassible in the rain.
-Tucumcari is amazing. Stay at the Roadrunner!