Wanderers : Arizona to Florida

We left Maryland and headed to Arizona so we could retrieve our trusty stead. We flew from BWI to PHX. I was happy to get to watch a Ravens game.

Unhappy 🙁 with the
ending score

We arrived at our friends', Kelvin & Mary, house on January 6th and spent five days visiting. Mary took care of us with some wonderful homecooked meals and she also planned a little get together with friends.

The boys enjoying the Hot Tub.

Isn't she beautiful!

A very very special thank you to Kelvin and Jan for taking such good care of our baby! Jan is Kelvin and Mary's neighbor and she selflessly let us keep it in her garage the entire time. ❤️

We had a great time but it was time to move on and we had plans. We started heading to our next destination and lo and behold we hit a snowstorm in the Flafstaff, AZ area. This is not the weather (80 degrees) we have been trying to chase.

Winter Weather conditions
Slow Down

We successfully made it through the storm and we stopped to do a little sightseeing. Can you guess where we stopped? This might help.

"Take it easy, take it easyDon't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazyLighten up while you still canDon't even try to understandJust find a place to make your standTake it easy

Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, ArizonaSuch a fine sight to seeIt's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed FordSlowin' down to take a look at me"

Did you guess correctly? It was cold and wet so we did not linger very long. We moved on to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

We spent one quick night and that concluded our New Mexico adventure. We can check it off as a state we visited. We would like to go back in the future when we have better weather.

Do you know what is in Adrian, Texas? We didn't either until traveling on Route 66 where we stopped for the Midpoint between LA and Chicago. Who knew. Sadly a dying town.

Since we were traveling on Route 66 the next stop was Cadillac Ranch right outside of Amarillo, TX. The ranch was invented and built by a group of hippies called The Ant Farm and their silent partner billionaire, Stanley Marsh 3. Supposedly he wanted public art work that would baffle the locals, so in 1974 a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin was created.

"Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley Marsh 3's fields at the summer solstice, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt, at a 60-degree angle (supposedly the same angle as the sloping sides of the Great Pyramid of Giza). They faced west in a line, from the 1949 Club Sedan to the 1963 Sedan de Ville, their tail fins held high for all to see on the empty Texas panhandle."

"Decades have passed. The Cadillacs have now been in the ground as art far longer than they were on the road as cars. They are stripped to their battered frames, splattered in day-glo paint splooge, barely recognizable as automobiles."

It was an interesting stop and no we did not buy any spray paint.

I checked to see what offbeat tourists attractions we could stop by on our way out of Amarillo and along our route. Sometimes Rob wonders what I am thinking...

Beef Burger Barrel
A business serving burgers out of a giant
barrel-shaped building since 1937.

Big Texan Steak Ranch
Thank goodness we did not stop.
Apparently you can purchase a
72 oz steak

Muffler Man Cowboy
2nd Amendment Cowboy is
guarding 3 Cadillacs with Elvis Presley,
Willie Nelson, and John Wayne mannequins
inside

Six-Shooter Barbecue
Panhandle Texas

Two large six-shooters (which are actually BBQ grills)
flank the entrance to a driveway.

Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ -
Groom Texas
Second largest free-standing
cross in the Western Hemisphere.

Leaning Tower of Britten - Groom
Leaning Water Tower

Route 66-Themed Rest Area - Claredon Texas

The rest area has a building in the 1930s Art Deco style, and the walkways are striped, with Route 66 plaques. The inside has Route 66 stuff.

Tornado Shelter

In case you are wondering, I use Roadside America to get these weird attractions.

We finally crossed the Oklahoma State Line and we were that much closer to our planned destination.

Back in December we planned to meet Lance in Oklahoma City when Giovanni returned back to school. We had fun hanging out with them and even got a tour of Giovanni's dorm and had lunch in the cafeteria.

University of Oklahoma

Giovanni doesn't even look cold

The three of us caught on
camera walking to the library
that was closed

Hanging out at Toby Keith's

We ventured to Skinny Slim's to watch football. We didn't last very long.

The only heat source

No clue he was blocking both the
heat source and the TV

WTF it was freaking cold and we are whimps so it was time to move on. We headed East to Arkansas.

After our night in Little Rock we were going to visit Derek & Dianne in Southhaven, Mississippi. But they were getting snow and we were ready to get to warmer weather. So we started our trek south. We crossed the Mississippi River into Mississippi and stopped for the evening in Magee.

On the morning of 18 January we left Magee, MS crossed the Alabama State Line and made our way to Florida. We did not get to explore Arizona to Florida as we would have liked but maybe we can go back in the future.

USS Alabama

Where / What did we eat?

Delta Airlines

Sixty Six Acres Albuquerque, NM - It was one of the closest restaurants within walking distance to the hotel. They also had several drinks on tap and the food was delicious 😋.