Here We Are on Route 66

Hallelujah! Mom, Stryder, and I were able to leave the Land of Entrapment today! The car people in Denver shipped Stryder's radiator cap hose connector thing to Albuquerque this morning, then the car people in Moriarty went and picked it up, then they installed it, and finally at about 3:00 this afternoon the Taylor Trio was on the road again. I guess that some antifreeze had eaten away at Stryder's radiator cap connector, and the resulting antifreeze explosion had fried the thermostat, but now that it's all fixed, he should be good for 500 billion miles. The guys at the car place kept wanting Mom and me to take the old radiator part and the thermostat with us so that we can show them to Dad, so I guess we'll find a place in Mom's suitcase for them--they are pretty unusual souvenirs. It's a good thing that they finished the car when they did, because Mom and I were getting a little tired of Moriarty. We had eaten at least once at every restaurant in town. It felt good to get on the road again, and Stryder is working wonderfully. Mom and I stopped for dinner in the funny little Route 66 town of Tucumcari, New Mexico. We had awesome hamburgers with cheese and spicy chilis on them at this place called Ken's Ice Cream Sandwiches. Mom had read online that anyone traveling through Tucumcari MUST stay at the Blue Swallow Motel just for the experience. So we were kind of wishing that things had worked out for us to make it to Tucumcari the other day . . . until we saw the Blue Swallow in real life. We decided that it will be all right if we never stay at the Blue Swallow Motel. We then drove through tornado country--including Vega, Texas, where a tornado touched down on Tuesday. As we drove through the totally flat terrain, we were grateful for the nice, sunny weather. Maybe getting stalled in Moriarty was a good thing after all. I don't think that we ever want to live in (or even visit for any length of time) Wildorado, Texas. The unpleasant aromas emanating from the cattle lots were bad enough just driving by! We decided to call it a day in Amarillo, and will try to get an early start tomorrow so that we can make it at least to central Louisiana. As we drove into town this evening, even though the $25.99/night Camelot Motel looked fun (just kidding), we opted for Hampton Inn. Mom told the guy at the front desk that there would be two adults staying in the room, but then he looked at me and said he would only charge us for one--hey, wait a minute!