Day Eight - Clinton, OK to Amarillo, TX

A stop at the Route 66 museum in Clinton, OK which was a real treat.

This little museum has not only an oustanding selection of memorabilia it also contains some fascinating history of how Route 66 came to be, the original migrants who travelled it to escape the Dustbowl and the Depression and also the culture around Route 66 in its heyday - music, cars, diners and gas stations etc.

The exhibit finishes with a great little film about Route 66 which you watch in an area set out like a drive-in movie house.

The old ladies who staff the museum were bemused and impressed in equal measure that I had rocked up in the little town of Clinton, Oklahoma all the way from Dubai. Of course I had to explain where Dubai was, but I won the furthest away visitor in their guest book for the week.

On leaving Clinton the music began with Tom Wait's Closing Time (1972)... "Ol' 55" - made famous two years after Wait's released it when it was covered by The Eagles - followed by "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You", "Virginia Avenue" and then "Old Shoes and Picture Postcards"... And that was just enough Tom Wait's to kickstart the day. Saving the rest of this sublime album for a night time ride through Los Angeles later in the trip.

Then into jazz for the rest of the morning - starting with the classic Jimmy Smith record "Back at the Chicken Shack". Great organ from Smith and cool saxaphone. This album is usually reserved for Sunday mornings (or Saturday mornings in the Middle East) but somehow suited the relaxed mood driving across the flat plains of south west Oklahoma heading towards the Texas Panhandle...

Jazz is a uniquely American artform which although most famous in its incarnation in music also crosses over into prose and poetry. It is one of the great American exports which has literally covered the globe and spawned all kinds of derivatives over the years.

Following Jimmy Smith I moved to a different jazz era and style with Donald Byrd's "Street Lady" album. 70's, funky and very cool. That could only be followed by one of the originals of American Jazz and perhaps one of the most influential musicians alive still today - Herbie Hancock. This was one of his original and early records - the renowned Canteloupe Island featuring the two classics - Watermelon Man and the eponymous title track...

The road to Amarillo follows I-40 but running almost exactly parallel to it is the Old Route 66 which I spent most of my time on this morning driving through little towns like Groom, Claude and Conway before arriving in Amarillo and stopping at the famous Big Texan Steak House. This place is on billboards starting halfway up Oklahoma state - advertising it's famous 72oz steak. You can have this steak for free - as long as you eat it all in an hour including side dishes. Otherwise it's $72 + tax!

I opted for a slightly more sedate Panhandle Cut Prime Rib which was served with its own juice, some coleslaw and a great big beafsteak tomato with red onions. It was also accompanied by two green chilli peppers which I unwisely launched into until I almost instantly felt my face start to melt and tears form in my eyes. I would have cried out but I had lost my voice. Luckily none of the ginormous Texan hard nuts around me noticed this failure and I survived lunch without incident. (Check out the place on www.bigtexan.com)

This afternoon I am heading for Santa Fe in New Mexico and some real Tex Mex food for dinner....

But on the way I am stopping at The Cadillac Ranch which is just outside of Amarillo where apparently they have a huge graveyard for Detroit's finest with masses of Cadillacs buried in the ground....

Only in America!