Day 3: Santa Rosa, NM to Shawnee, OK

I forgot to mention yesterday that while I was in Old Town Albuquerque I went to the Rattlesnake Museum. I am kind of ambivalent about snakes. I've seen them while running and practiced my hurdling skills from my high school track team days to leap over them and have seen them while riding too. I think they're kind of cool but I can't understand why someone would want them as pets. The Rattlesnake Museum is kind of what you'd think - about 30 or so Rattlesnakes in individual tanks (like aquariums) in a back room of a souvenir shop. They were actually pretty cool though snakes kind of have a mean look to them (duh, these were poisonous - they're all about the meanness). Most of them were sleeping but a couple were slithering around in their tanks. I didn't stay for the video which yielded a kind-hearted chastisement from the guy manning the till. Seeing snakes in cages is one thing; seeing them on video killing their prey and fueling my active imagination is quite another! They gave me a "certificate of bravery" when I left the museum.

I am not going to share the latest sleeping (or lack thereof) adventures - the whole situation makes me cranky when I think about it too much.

New Mexico has quite a few huge and expensive I-40 renovation projects. I know this because along the side of the road by these projects are the exact dollar figure, as in $9,372,641.08. How can they be so sure of the cost?? How do they know it doesn't cost $9,372,641.09?? Seeing these signs totally amused me and I kind of (not) looked forward to the construction to see them.

The terrain of New Mexico flattened out as I approached Texas and became more expansive. I totally loved Texas (what I saw of it!)!! I know Texas gets a bad reputation but you've got a love a state that is so fiercely proud and so fiercely unapologetic for itself. The welcoming signs went on for like a mile, but my favorite was "Welcome to Texas - Drive friendly - the Texas way". I think the Texas way of driving means truckers can freely honk their horns at single females with California plates because I got three honks within 20 miles of the New Mexico/Texas border. The Texas landscape is beautiful - wide and expansive fields dotted with stockyards. Ok, I am a vegetarian and I have a thing about cows. When I drive past cows I have to greet them all and chat with them a bit. Yes, I am weird but various traveling companions have called me worse. The stockyards kind of freaked me out. First of all, they reek (duh). Secondly, all of my new special cow friends are not long for this world and they have no freaking idea. This is totally distressing. Thirdly, after seeing like the millionth stockade I realized that perhaps my kind (ie vegetarians) might not be completely welcome in Texas.

My first stop was at the Cadillac Ranch. I have been dieing to see this since I read about it a couple of months ago. Basically it's like 12 old Cadillacs that have been stuck in the ground vertically and spray painted within an inch of their lives, over and over again. It was so awesome! And it was particularly awesome that I met some French tourists and some Aussie tourists who were equally enamored. Take a look:



As you can see someone was painting one of the cars white to make it like a new canvas.

Speaking of cars, I have noticed that not only am I the only VW around but almost the only foreign car around. There are a few old model Hondas with Texas or Oklahoma plates and every once in a while you can see a Toyota but I get the feeling that those drivers get funny looks from their neighbors. While I was driving through Oklahoma City I got the weirdest looks from people (ok, mostly men). I could see them drive up behind me, I am assuming looking at my California plates and then several double takes/passes and no quite passes while they check out who's in the car. Dudes, it's just me! Not very exciting at all! Like they've never seen a VW before?? Or perhaps they are noticing how amazingly dirty the back is from the rain yesterday?? I am definitely out of place for driving a foreign car. You can see tons of dealerships along the side of the 40 but they're all for Ford, GM, Dodge, etc. I did see one Mini Cooper with Oklahoma plates zipping around and I nearly cheered. It's weird out here.

The second stop I made was at the Big Texas Steak Ranch in Amarillo. I know I'm a vegetarian but I had to stop and admire the sheer tackiness of it all! The place started advertising before I crossed the border from New Mexico! Basically its a steakhouse but they claim that if you can eat a 72oz piece of meet and all of the sides in one hour your meal will be free. No cost estimates on artery cleaning, etc. Inside the place they actually had a cooked 72oz piece of meet and the sides laid out so you could see what you might be taking on if feeling brave. It was massive, like the size of my head!! I can't imagine anyone doing it and living to tell the tale. I think you get the idea of the place:

Yes, those are bull horns on top of the limos in the first picture. Inside is just as tacky. I asked a couple from Tennessee to take my picture with the bull. I wore a mock look of horror on my face and they asked why I did that. I said I was a vegetarian and was being funny for my friends and family. The look on their face (horror) told me I uttered the one phrase I should never say in Texas or the rest of the south, "I am a vegetarian." Should it come up again I will say I am fasting. I don't dare ask anyone where I can get some tofu or organic food - is lynching still acceptable practice here :)

Unlike crossing the border into Texas, crossing the border into Oklahoma is a sedate affair. They have one lovely stone sign that is set so far back from the road you could easily miss it. Their welcome center is about 8 miles into the state and probably the nicest welcome center I've ever been to with the nicest staff I have ever met. To the west of Oklahoma City the scenery is sweeping planes and reddish clay dirt. They weren't kidding when they wrote "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the planes"! In certain areas the gusts were intense! Like hold on hard to the steering wheel intense!

So far, the gas prices have been cheapest in Oklahoma. I have a turbo engine so my car takes the supreme gas and I paid $4.18/gallon in Oklahoma, the least I've paid in forever!

Oklahoma City . . . I wasn't sure what to expect here - I'd heard good things about Oklahoma City (OKC) but my guide book had a scant two pages on the place. I started off in Stockyard City. Yes, I went there on purpose. I was curious and when I am I ever going to have a chance to see a place devoted to cowboys, horses and cattle?!?! I was hoping to see a real cowboy. By "real cowboy" my boy crazy mind thinks "tight jeans, cowboy books and a slow drawl." By this definition I didn't see any cowboys. I did see some real people who work on real ranches so that was pretty cool. The actual stockades were empty - they do their auctions in the morning - but I got the idea pretty quickly how it worked. Sniff, sniff, poor unsuspecting cows! The rest of the "city" had all sorts of western wear, horse supplies, spurs, equipment, anything you can think of really. Oklahomans are friendly! I bought a couple of post cards and then spent like 15 minutes talking with the salesman! It was really cool.

Downtown Oklahoma City was a little disappointing. It's mostly office buildings and a few special districts. The office building area shuts up tight at 5pm, and reminded me of what I remember of Des Moines. I saw the Oklahoma City National Memorial which commemorated the April 19, 1995 bombing. It was a very tasteful and somber memorial but the overt patriotism made me uncomfortable. I won't go into more details here. I also visited the Brick District which is comprised of buildings made of, you guessed it, bricks! They refurbished all of these old buildings and made them into restaurants. It's right next to the OKC baseball stadium. Who knew Mickey Mantle was a hometown son??

There were also a ton of fiberglass public art statues. I've seen these all over the world (literally) but this one was my favorite in OKC:

It's been a long day. Total miles: 465.4. Can't wait for tomorrow!