RAPEA - Day 19 - Shamrock TX to Clovis NM via Route 66, I40 and I27

The threat of rain was in the air all day today. But, lucky for us, it didn't deliver until long after we had checked in for the night. And boy did it deliver! For over an hour it dumped bucket loads from the sky and then added a little thunder and lightning just for good measure. But by morning it was all dried up as if nothing had occurred.

We departed Route 66 today for a little different terrain. Our first of two visual communication displays (otherwise known as graffiti) was the VW Slug Bug Ranch in Panhandle TX, roughly 30 minutes from Shamrock. It's a miniature of Cadillac Ranch (in car size as well) but it's at the sight of a now defunct hotel and gas station just off I40. I believe the fact that it was surrounded by what probably was once a bustling commercial corner led to the poignancy of its appearance.

Next was Cadillac Ranch. I don't know what I was expecting but I was a bit underwhelmed upon arrival. It's a large empty field and you walk through a turnstile of metal poles to enter the field and then walk deep into the field to the site of the half buried cadillacs covered in so many layers of paint that the base of each car is mounded with the thick coats of years past that have sloughed off in the brutal Texas heat. Unlike the VW Slug Bug Ranch this one had a small gift shop (which is where the 2nd Amendment Cowboy resides) located just down the road at an RV park that was more interesting than the ranch itself.

One of the first things I noticed about NM was there were far fewer 18 wheelers. I don't know why that was. But I did notice the train that sometimes paralleled us on the Interstate was stacked two high with connex containers that are usually hauled by the semis.

Clovis NM doesn't seem to be much to write home about so I won't. The only thing I noted was it was doing a booming business building EF5 Tornado Shelters.