Highway 6 2021
 
 

Day 12

July 2

 
     
   
  After my excellent meal and excellent service last night, it's a no brainer for breakfast since they open early.  
   
  I'm one of the first ones in the door and they tend to me in short order.  
   
  Their hot chocolate is as good as it looks and I can almost make a meal out all the whipped cream on top.  
   
  And their omelet and fried taters are some of the best I've had in a while.  
   
  After I tend to the business before me and settle up, I notice this lovely pot of flowers at their front door on the way out.  
   
  Today is just another day on I40 until I get to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Since I40 'ate' most of Route 66 I still find it ironic that it gets all the attention while Highway 50 and Highway 6 are still pretty much intact and provide a real experience of traveling across America. But I guess nobody did a television program about them so they get lost in the shuffle.  
   
  And though I40 'ate' most of Route 66 ...  
   
  if there is a buck to be made some enterprising folks will certainly try to fetch it - if all the signs for Route 66 are any indication.  
   
  It's not looking good for the home team but it's clear ahead so I ride on. It's always a chance you take that you could end up with boots full of water. But they will dry out as I have learned from experience.  
   
  As I pass into New Mexico, I remember that I got the other side when I was out on BlueBelle last year. I find that these signs are almost as impressive as Minnesota's state line signs to me.  
   
  Then it's across New Mexico and into to Texas. At least I40 runs across the narrow panhandle and not the broad 'frying pan'.  
   
  But as things sometimes go, I get stuck right in the middle of a Texas size backup where somebody has decided to turn their vehicle upside down.  
   
  As I near Amarillo, the half way point across the pan handle, I see a familiar cross to my left. This one stands at 190 feet tall and is one of the largest in the world.  
   
  And a little further along is the Britten water tower which reminds me how the world is out of kilter without the One who died on the Cross.  
   
I am really hoping that those ominous clouds stay where they are instead of drifting across I40.  
   
  Before long I cross over into Oklahoma and I know I have but one more state line to cross and I will be at the motel for the evening.  
   
  But once again I am caught up in a traffic jam of massive proportions. And I see up ahead that there is storm brewing and I am like a sitting duck.  
   
  But I get through all of that and finally cross my last state line of the day.  
   
  It's late when I pull in and I have to really rush as the only close restaurant closes in less than thirty minutes.  
   
  But I get it in the wind and make it with some time to spare and for that I am very thankful.  
   
  This particular chain has a restaurant in a nearby town back home, so I am somewhat familiar with their menu. It don't take me long to order up a mighty fine salad to start with ...  
   
  a nice ribeye and mashed taters to get going ...  
   
  and a lovely chocolate concoction to finish up. Did I tell you that I really like chocolate?  
   
  This was one of the longer days in the saddle on this trip but I knew that up front. Tomorrow I should be back in the Holler and it will hopefully be a much shorter day - in miles and in saddle time. With enough grub to feed a small battalion in my belly, it don't take long before I become a casualty of the effort and succumb to the old rack monster.