AIRFARE TO MOSCOW

i made it out of arkansas without any further mullet sightings. i think the guys had all gone to work by the time i left. the parking lot, which could have doubled for a chevy dealership dealing only in used white trucks, was empty.

i got a text and two phone calls about the weather today. not a single website or weather service seemed to know what was up for oklahoma. weather.com had a 1000% chance of death from above, NOAA thought there would be softball sized hail, the weather channel predicted anywhere from 30-50 tornados, and the OK weather service simply said "a 30% of showers". so, i was a bit confused and concerned over what to do. after a few phone calls, and no one really being able to tell me what to do, i just floored it. i decided to skip 66 around OKC and head for amarillo, where it was reportedly sunny and 80. im glad i did. as soon as i cleared city limits, i passed a wall of clouds and then... nothing but blazing sun. i cranked up the ipod, rocked out and sped along I-40, watching the grass and trees become a bit scruffier and the land flatter.

i pulled off the hwy in a few places. there's a frontage road along most of it. it's right there, but getting off the highway made me feel a bit more off the beaten path. it was fun zipping around corners and over little hills, and cruising along side the endless farmland.

i've always wanted to go running nillywilly through the long wispy fluffy grass. i got out at one point to climb through some of it to take a pic. let me tell you, it's not fluffy, folks. i was instantly afraid i'd be eaten by snake, and i spent an hour pulling prickers out of my socks before i finally tossed them out. i got back in my car, pulled out, and a roadrunner ran in front of my car. a roadrunner! they seriously exist. it was just so stereotypical texas i laughed my ass off. it reminded me of ten years ago, driving through a fairly developed area of las vegas when a tumble weed half the size of my vehicle went, well, tumbling, in front of my car.

i haven't taken many photos. the weather has not been on my side, and really, the view from I-40 is not so hot, unless you like mcdonald's signs and gas stations. even the burger king's have left me, along with the chance to get a veggie burger and not have to eat the cardboard box that once held my precious last miniwheats. i'd kill for a starbucks at this point. and i hate starbucks. the flat farmland has it's charms, though.

i took a few detours after i was sure i wasn't going to get swept away, but so far, the "old cool dead towns' are just old dead towns, and downright depressing. i feel like taking pictures is almost an insult. there are still a few people there, but i don't know how. there are a handfull of crappy motels, and endless gutted cement block buildings housing rusted out cars.

but, i'm in amarillo right now (executive hotel for those keeping track), and tomorrow should hit some good parts of the old route 66. I'm in an even skeezier hotel with the chairs against the door and my padlock holding together the inside door bolt. I went to two other hotels (yes, both managed by indians- which has me intensely curious at this point) that were sold out, before finding this gem. i don't think the water in the sink works.

Manitoba Archives N2536 Foote no 1529 Clarendon Hotel 1915.

Now known as the empty A&B Sound building across from the MTS Centre, waiting for reuse, and 3 floors 'shorter'