Texas to New Mexico: Route 66, No Walt and Jessie, Best RV Park Ever!

On our way out of Amarillo we stopped pretty much immediately to swing by Cadillac Ranch, the bizarre art installation in the middle of a field made up of a bunch of old Cadillacs buried nose down in the mud. The cars are spray painted with graffiti and apparently it's a thing to bring your own spray paint and add your own touch. Whether this is actually permitted or encouraged I have no idea, but judging from the piles of empty spray cans littering the area I'd say it's a common occurrence. Jack managed to find a can that still had some paint left in it so he left his own touch on the place.  A lot of the Cadillacs were surrounded by mud and the piles of discarded spray paints cans were kind of gross, but if you stood back and just took in the vision of the old cars sticking out of the ground in the middle of nowhere, it was pretty cool.

We hopped back into the RV and continued on through Texas into New Mexico, stopping for a quick lunch at the Mid Point cafe in Adrian, Texas, another classic route 66 stopover which also happens to be the exact midpoint of the old route 66. The signature dish of the cafe was the "ugly pie". After stuffing ourselves with the ugly pie (chocolate cream, apple and coconut cream to be exact) we had to cross the street and take the requisite tourist photo with the midpoint sign, the kids of course dragging their heels but knowing that this is all part of the journey. I think they've resigned themselves to the fact that they have to pose for pictures whenever we stop.

 

 

 

 

 

We were anxious to get to Gallup, New Mexico - site of our next overnight stay so we drove on through Albuquerque, but not before looking up the fact that you can take a self-guided Breaking Bad tour through the city. If John and I were on our own you bet we would have taken this detour and driven by Walt's house (which is apparently a private residence), the car wash, Jessie Pinkman's house and about twenty other points of interest. I kept looking around for the beat-up Winnebago/meth lab to appear. No sign.

 

We finally pulled into Gallup, "the most patriotic town in the USA". Our home for the night was the aptly named USA RV Park. We like to call it the "best RV park ever". This was by far the best park we stayed at. They had a "Cowboy Cookout" where you could order pork, chicken or ribs; the kids loved the heated pool with the American flag painted on the bottom and the life sized chess set. We relaxed, did laundry, enjoyed a beautiful sunset. It was the perfect end to a very long day.

 

Next stop: The Grand Canyon!