A Fat Man, a Little Boy, and Really Hard Wood

We were back on the road bright and early to reach our next destination of Flagstaff, Arizona.  Our first stop was only 30 minutes later at Adrian, Texas.  As the midpoint of Route 66, it was 1,139 miles to Chicago and 1,139 miles to Los Angeles.

Although we do enjoy a good deep dish pizza, we decided to press on westward.

Sadly for those establishments on Route 66, traffic is so slow that I could pose in
the middle of the highway for 10 minutes without a single vehicle passing through.

Although the town was small, there was a quaint eatery called the Mid Point Café that looked like it was straight out of the 1950’s.

The former owner of this cafe served as the inspiration for one of the characters in the Pixar movie Cars.

Sadly, the future of the cafe doesn't look good, as it had been sold in 2016 and was on the market once again.

Back on the road, we made a pit stop for gas at the town of Tucumcari, New Mexico.  We were surprised to hear that the Obama Presidential Library was located in this town.  I knew that it was right off of Route 66, but I thought it was in Chicago not New Mexico.

The "Obama Presidential Library" was simply an outhouse.  I suspect that its owner watches Fox News.

As we passed through Albuquerque, I decided on a whim we would visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  I convinced The Kids that there were great educational opportunities for them to learn the important history of the discovery of atomic power and its beneficial uses over the last century.  In reality, I just wanted to see the cool Cold War-era nuclear arsenal.

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The Wife enjoys her favorite element.

We enjoyed the reproductions of the Fat Man and Little Boy so much...

...that we bought a set of their respective earrings at the gift shop.

This 1941 Packard Clipper limousine was used to transport as many as
15 scientists at a time to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan Project. 

The MGR-1 "Honest John" was the first
nuclear surface-to-surface missile.

Reduction in the size of nuclear weapons
lead to the development of the Mk 5 bomb. 

The Mk 7 bomb was the first nuclear weapon that could
be carried by smaller U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets.

The MB-1 "Genie" was an air-to-air rocket that was
developed to nuke mass formations of enemy bombers.

The Mk 101 "Lulu" was essentially a nuclear depth charge used to destroy enemy submarines.

The M454 was the smallest nuclear artillery
round deployed by the U.S. It is displayed
with its special shipping container.

The flux capacitor of this nuclear-powered DeLorean allowed for time travel.

Part of the museum is located outdoors under the searing New Mexico sun.

The CIM Bomarc was the a SAM that could carry a nuclear warhead.

The MGM-1 Matador was the U.S.'s first surface-to-surface cruise missile.

The SM-62 Snark was the America's only intercontinental cruise missile.

They were replaced by ICBM's such as this LGM-118A Peacekeeper.

The M65 “Atomic Annie” artillery gun, which served from 1953-1963, could fire a 280 mm nuclear shell 20-30 miles.

A B-29 was used to drop the first two atomic bombs on Japan.

The B-47 was the mainstay of the strategic air command in the 1950's

This massive B-52 bomber was used to drop a nuclear bomb for testing in 1962. 
These aircraft remain in service more than 50 years after they were designed.

The museum is not just a celebration of nuclear weapons.  The dangerous and negative effects of atomic power are also on display.

In 1966, four nuclear bombs were lost over Spain when a B-52 collided with a refueling tanker. 
Two bombs were damaged, contaminating over 1,400 tons of soil that has since been stored away.

Sadako Sasaki was an 11 year-old Japanese girl
who developed leukemia from radiation
exposure.  She hoped that folding 1,000 paper
cranes could cure her Leukemia.  It didn't.

The consumer products based on the new fad of radioactivity was particularly amusing.

Nothing beats a glow-in-the-dark
Donald Duck watch for a kid's birthday!

Watch your Geiger counter watch go nuts, when you and your kid wear your watches simultaneously.

Nothing gives a woman that special glow more than radioactive jewelry!

Got chronic ailments?  Try the therapeutic
benefits of Radithor (radioactive water) a try.

We had a tight schedule to keep, so we couldn't linger too long at the museum.  We hopped back into the car and drove over into Arizona.  We were able to use our Every Kid In A Park pass for the first time at the Petrified Forest National Park.  The park is known for its abundant fossils that date back to the late Triassic Period when the area was mainly subtropical.  Many trees that fell into the water were quickly covered in sediment.  Instead of decomposing, the logs were permeated by water high in silica.  This caused their organic material to be replaced with quartz crystals creating their fossilized state.

The park is meant to be visited by vehicle.  There are periodic parking spots where visitors can stop and hike short distances to points of interests.  Part of the park is also known as the Painted Desert, because of the colorful geological formations.  We enjoyed the views of this part of the park from the scenic overlooks easily accessible by vehicle.

Despite the harsh desert environment, there are hundreds of archaeological sites within the Petrified Forest National Park, some of which date back to 8,000 years ago.  We visited a much later site called Puerco Pueblo that dated from 1250-1380 CE.  This settlement consisted of about 100 above-ground single rooms surrounded by a large wall.  Eventually, these Indians migrated to more hospitable areas leaving behind boulders adorned with petroglyphs.

There's not much to see at Puerco Pueblo except for the outlines of the former stone buildings.

Native Americans were plagued by giant, baby-eating birds.

The Boy found this archaeological site to be quite exhilarating.

As we drove on to the next couple of points of interest, we could see that much of the park is strewn with deposits of petrified trees.  Few are completely intact.

The Wife was certain that we could just pull over, grab a big log of petrified wood, and take it home with us.  I had to convince her that it would be a very bad idea.  For one thing, those petrified logs are much heavier than regular wood, it would be a federal offense to take something from a national park, and we would have to leave one of The Kids behind to make enough room for a log.  I really didn't want to hurt my back trying to lift one of those things.

This petrified tree created a stone "bridge" across this small dry creek.  The concrete
was added later by the National Park Service to prevent it from collapsing.

The Wife was impressed to find that some of the petrified trees
were able to keep their interior architecture of concentric rings.

This massive petrified tree is located close to the visitor's center near Route 180.

The trunk was larger than the height of most people.

Sadly, The Kids were not impressed by much of the Petrified Forest at all.  I guess they couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of being able to see trees that stood during the times of the dinosaurs.

Once we left the park, we stopped at Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Company in the nearby town of Holbrook.  This place was a museum in itself.  

The selection of petrified wood on sale was superior to that of the National Park's gift shop.

Their pieces all come from outside of the park since the wood is plentiful throughout Northern Arizona.  There are also pieces that are shipped in from around the world.  Jim Gray also had a huge collection of objects not for sale including some rare brightly-colored petrified wood and fossilized creatures.  

"Wild Bill," a 2.9 million year-old alligator, was originally unearthed in Florida.

This caprolite specimen reveals that this dinosaur last dined on liver, fava beans, and a nice Chianti.

Another Route 66 landmark in Holbrook is the Wigwam Motel.  Guests can stay in rooms that, no surprise, resemble wigwams.

Once a chain of 7 motels that stretched from Florida to California, only 3 Wigwam motels survive today.

We continued westward until we reached the town of Winslow, Arizona.  Naturally, we had to make a brief stop at the Standin’ On The Corner Park, an homage to the Eagle’s song "Take It Easy."  

There are two statues in the park.  The first is Jackson Browne, the main author of the song.

In 2016, a statue was erected of Glenn Fry, the
song's co-author, shortly after he passed away.

The park can't be complete without the flat-bed Ford...but where's the girl?

After 9 hours of driving, we finally reached Flagstaff, Arizona.  

We ate dinner at Delhi Palace, an Indian restaurant near our hotel.

Using our free Marriot vouchers, we checked into the Springhill Suites which is nicer than the one that we stayed in at Amarillo, TX.  However, the morning breakfast was equally bad.  But then again, it was free.  

Amarillo By Evening

The world outside the 50 states is a dangerous place.  Terrorists have committed multiple atrocities in England, France, Belgium, and Germany in the last few years.  Political instability and rioting has rocked South American countries like Venezuela and Brazil.  There are even concerns that American tourists have been drugged at all-inclusive resorts across the border in Mexico.  So when it was time for The Wife and I to decide on our next family vacation after a year-long respite, did we take these global issues into consideration?  Hell no!   The Wife and I just decided that The Kids were the right age for a road trip across the Southwest United States.

Back in the 1980’s, practically every family I knew crammed into their wood-paneled station wagons for 2 weeks and did their best impression of the Griswolds.  Mine was no different.  The Wife’s family did it too.  Luckily, neither of us had a Cousin Eddie.  We thought it was important that The Kids experience their share of backseat boredom as well.  Besides, it would allow us a chance to visit several of the kitschy locations that dotted the American heartland along Interstate 40 and historical Route 66.

Our main goal was to visit as many National Parks that we could.  The U.S. National Parks system has a problem with age.  The mean age of a visitor to a National Park is well above 50.  Young people are too tied up in their electronics and gadgets to make it to the great outdoors.  Young Americans need to experience the natural splendors protected by the National Parks Service.  In turn these wonders would hopefully inspire them to be responsible in maintaining them for future generations as well.  Since The Girl had just finished 4^th grade, we were eligible for the Every Kid In A Park initiative.  This would save us $180 in admission fees to the eight parks that we planned on visiting (alternatively, a year-long pass to all parks can be purchased to $80).

*****

Friday, July 21, 2017

We set out early for our 10 hour drive to Amarillo, TX.  To break up the monotony of the drive we planned on stopping at any location close to the highway that sounded even remotely interesting.  Unfortunately, our first stop at Toad Suck, Arkansas was a total dud.  It had gained notoriety a few years ago from a poll that called it the most unfortunate named town in America.  Otherwise from that, there was absolutely nothing there except for a convenience store and a couple of storage buildings.  We all wished we could have the 30 minutes of our lives back that this detour had taken.

Strangely, we saw no toads.  Just a whole lot of sucking.

The drive through Oklahoma was uneventful and boring, mainly because I slept through most of it.  As we passed into Texas and neared Amarillo, we began to encounter some of the oddities notable for Route 66.

About the only interesting thing that we
encountered in Oklahoma was these teepee-
shaped picnic benches at the rest area.

The "Leaning Tower of Texas" was just a marketing ploy to get people to stop at Groom,TX.  The
owner hoped it would catch the eye of motorists so that they would stop at the nearby truck stop. 

East Texas is so flat and monotonous--perfect for the plethora of windmills that dotted the landscape.

Whenever I told anybody that I would be driving to Amarillo, the first thing they would always ask is “Are you going to the Big Texan?”  Of course we would.  Its reputation is built on the 72 oz steak challenge—eating that huge piece of beef, two sides, and a roll in under an hour to get the meal free and eternal bragging rights.  As much as I wanted to participate, The Wife shot this idea down.  The last thing she wanted was for me to be in a food coma for the next several days, making her do all the driving. 

Even at 5:30 PM, the restaurant and adjacent parking lot were packed.

Just in case visitors missed the hundreds of
billboard signs off the highways advertising for
the Big Texan, this display informed visitors
what the restaurant is famous for.

There is no doubt that the interior of The Big Texan was designed by somebody with ADD.  The establishment is filled with a whole lot of random stuff inside as well as a gift store full of odds and ends.

The Girl failed at making new friends.  Perhaps there was a language barrier as they were quite taciturn.

The Girl tries on a 20 gallon hat.

Hollywood films often get it wrong.  Bad guys often wore pink cowboy hats.

There were a couple of cheesy games to pass the time while patrons waited for their tables.

I wished for Zoltar to make my penis "Big."
He turned my schlong into Forrest Gump.
Stupid is as stupid does.

The restaurant was decorated with a kitschy Western theme.

The Big Texan wasn’t just décor only, the steaks were actually well-cooked and the portions were gut-busting.

Does it make me gay that I enjoyed eating the Rocky Mountain oysters?

A kid's-sized order of chicken fried steak served in a souvenir hat.

Chicken fried steak with a ton of gravy

The Big Texan strip steak

A 16 oz, bone-in "The Duke's Cut" ribeye

While we were there, only one patron was man-enough to sit on the stage
and try the 72 oz Big Texan Steak Challenge.  He failed miserably.

Afterwards, we headed out to the outskirts of town to visit the Cadillac Ranch.  Back in 1974, the late millionaire Stanley Marsh commissioned a work of “art” comprised of ten Cadillacs buried head-first into the ground.  Since then, people have placed their personal stamps on these vehicles with spray paint.  We brought some cans, leftover from various school projects, and took our turns at being graffiti artists.

After a couple of decades of being decorated, these cars are likely more paint than metal.

The Girl struggles to work the spray can.

The Boy enjoys drawing graffiti without being arrested.

As a patriotic American, I left a testimony to our great country.

Later that night we stayed at the newly built Springhill Suites.  Our stay didn’t start out well, as the room they initially gave us hadn’t been cleaned yet.  The beds had yet to be made, the old, dirty sheets were still on the floor, and the previous-occupant's towels hadn't been changed.  I swear I even saw pubic hairs in the sink.  Fortunately, the hotel staff were very accommodating.  We were quickly given a new, cleaned room and had a restful night.