so mrs tredboy and i are driving from near new york city out to las vegas. yesterday i saw (in tenesee) a mercedes benz towing a camouflage bass boat, huh? ironic how i saw an "i heart bubba" license plate in arkansa, but it was a california plate. i passed about fifty thousand waffle houses, and almost as many subway sandwich places. we saw what must be the largest elvis statue ever at the elvis/b.b king rest stop in memphis. and today we're going to a steak house in amarillo, texas that will give you a FREE 72 ounce steak if you can eat it in an hour or less. yikes! almost five pounds of meat! in an hour!!! what a strange country we live in. if anyone knows of any other strange stuff around the country, let me know, i'm bored as shit out there on the road, i just thank god for satellite radio! tred.
Made that trip (Cali-TN) many times. try to see some of the old route66,if you have time. Good luck on the steak, not many get it free! Sparky
Yeah,Look for the cadillac ranch there in Amarillo on the south side of I-40. A guy has a gob of caddy's buried nose first inna ground. Also I think the worlds tallest cross is right in that neighborhood too. Have a nice trouble free trip,T.OUT
Our country isn't strange, unless you are from a foreign country. Our country is the most diverse, beautiful, and interesting country on earth. Get off the expressway, and use the federal routes that parallel it. Go through the towns that used to be the main routes, and check out the architecture of the buildings, the old neon signs, and great family restaurants and diners. The old roads were built to allow motorists to see natural beauty as they drove across the country. The Interstate system is built as a national defense hiway to allow rapid movement of equipment in an emergency. The trip across country should be better than the destination - especially if you're going to Vegas. You've got nobody to blame but yourself if you're bored. Mutt
the big texan is awesome. i stayed at the hotel there once. its called the horse hotel. not only is the steak big but its good. west texas is just a weird place. b
I've seen many of those roadside sites..., But nothing can top the "Big Hole"..., the "GRAND CANYON"...!!! But I do like Ghost Towns of the old west..., Jerome AZ has a cool mine with a couple hundred old vehicles strewn throughout the hills...!
I LOVE eating at those places...most times those folks can do some serious cooking! Ironic aint it? Most times you can travel the rural routes quicker than the hwy due to all the road const.
I cannot imagine being bored on that trip..... I save all year long to be able to make those trips and I INSIST on leaving the interstates to travel the "blue hiways". I make a lotta stops to eat and pee.......even if I don't hafta! Gives me a chance to BS with the locals. 'Course now, I'm also one of those guys that would rather watch the history channel than Queer eye for the straight guy or some other waste of valuable time... Mingle with the locals........they have great stories...
One of the more often overlooked things to do is to take the family and go for a ride on Sunday afternoon.You would be surprised what you will run into less than 50 miles from home. My ex-wife and I were foster parents for a number of years and as I worked six days(and nights) a week Sunday was a special day in our house.We didn't attend church as often as we should,but Sunday afternoons were known as,"Road trip time". We were an emergency foster home so you never knew when they would be calling to see if we could take another placement(usually at 2am).This was BCP(Before Cel Phones)so we usually didn't drive too far. At one time we had 5 foster children(from two families);all girls and all under the age of 8. They were originally from Cambodia and their families had fled the Khmer Rouge.Some didn't make it. Anyway the girls really looked forward to our Sunday drives.Unless you are a kindergarten teacher or day care provider,you probably will never know what it's like to have 5 little girls in the back seat of a Mustang GT(or my V-8 Bobcat wagon)each vying to be the first to point out some wondrous thing along the road.It can be a learning experience. I would always vary the route and sometimes I would get lost going down roads I had never even knew existed,but it was always fun.And I began to realize that you didn't have to go to the latest newest fad amusement park to really have fun. It's really amazing how a little kid can make you realize there is so much around you;all you have to do is LOOK for it. Those girls are all married now(except for one who is just finishing high school)and some have children of their own.My ex-wife still keeps in touch with them and fills me in on the latest happenings.Hopefully this year I'll get to see them again. Sorry for the rant but this post brought back a lot of good memories. Ray
That ain't no rant Ray. Thanks for the cool story. My dad used to take us for Sunday Rides in his brand new 1948 Chevy 4dr. Me and my brother fighting in the back seat and Mom trying to keep the peace. Great memories. BB See ya at Billetproof?
ok, i should definitely clarify: fucking virginia is boring, and most of oklahoma along route 40. BUT, today rocked! i stopped at the big texan, no one attempted the 72 ounce steak, i told the mrs. that if i saw a signed picture of goddamn boyd coddington, i would rip it off the wall . i saw the biggest cross in the western hemisphere, i saw the cadillac ranch (actually very cool, almost a religious experience for me). i got pelted with a lot of hail in texas, got some sand blown into my eyes in new mexico, oh yeah, i think i saw cole foster's purple chevy on I-40 in oklahoma!!! if it wasn't his, it was a great copy. i saw a saturn on fire bad. there were a shitload of dead armadillos along side the road, and in new mexico these goddamn little birds sit in the road (highway) and almost don't move for cars. what the hell!? today was fun.
Lemme get this straight, Tred(and it's none of my business, I know)........you're going from New York to Vegas via Virginia and Tenn? How old IS that road map you're lookin at? I envy you---I haven't done that trip in about ten years, and I'm due Meat's good at the Big Texan, eh? If you go home the same way, let us know--we can get y'a ll a ride in that bass boat..... mid-tenn mike
nah, i was informed it was too pricey and not how it was originally built, but way more cheesy. we skipped it.
There is a hot rod/car culture/50s poodle skirt/Route 66 nostalgia cafe in Santa Rosa, New Mexico and a car museum with a lot of rods nearby.