Today we entered into the state of Texas. The countryside is definitely turning more arid the further west we go.
It was another great day for photography as we saw lots of quirky and colourful things to take pictures of. This is the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Oklahoma run by Harley. Harley came out to greet us wearing only denim dungarees and his long straggly beard. He told us that nothing was for sale in or outside of the shop but he told us that if we came inside he would do a performance for us. We declined his kind offer!
This is a rusty trike outside of his store.
Some of the signs he has on display outside.
This is Harley's 'hillbilly castle', which he invited us to take pictures of.
This fantastic building is the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. It is a 1926 art deco building that has been carefully restored to its former glory. It is a 66 icon and has directly inspired Ramone's House of Body Art in the film Cars.
Our next stop was the Devil's Rope Museum (barbed wire). Barbed wire played a very important role in the development of Texas cattle ranching as it meant that the ranchers could contain their cattle in designated areas. The museum had thousands of different types of barbed wire and the tools used to install it.
Route 66 turned into a mud road affectionately known as Dirt 66 in our route guide book. This is an infamous one mile stretch of unpaved road known as the 'Jericho Gap' and before the 1930s it was 18 miles long! Tom encouraged me to drive down this stretch but after 50 metres it was obvious that our pretend 4x4 car was not up to the job as we were grinding the bottom on the ruts on the road. Back in the heyday of 66 local farmers made a fortune towing broken and stuck cars out of this area.
A leaning water tower we spotted at the side of the road in Britten, Texas.
This is the Bug Ranch. Five VW Bugs (Beetle) have been planted with their bonnet into the soil. Visitors spray paint these in different colours and patterns. The area was abandoned but we got some nice photos.
This is an older car that was next to the Bug Ranch and had also been spray painted.
