Cadillacs and Bluebirds

We had a wonderful Wednesday. It started with a flight to Tradewinds airport (TDW) in Amarillo, TX. This was a lunch/sightseeing stopover on our way to our next overnight destination in Tucumcari, NM. Amarillo was a fun stop. We of course had to visit the infamous Cadillac Ranch, where a row of Cadillacs are buried in the middle of a corn field. It has turned into a graffiti fest, where people come, spray cans in hand and leave behind their mark. We of course joined in the ranks, as you can see by the photo. It was quirky and fun to see for about 15 minutes, but the 100+ temps were too extreme for us and we quickly returned to our air conditioned courtesy car. (An old model Ford Taurus Station Wagon with a bad transmission). After the thrill of the Cadillacs, we headed to a historical section of town, on old Route 66. We had a great lunch at a wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant (they usually have the best food), called Smokey Joes. Randy had one of the best Cuban Sandwiches of his life. I had some brisket tacos that were to die for!

After lunch we returned our courtesy car and fueled up to head to Tucumcari.
We learned a sobering lesson in mountain flying. It is not a good idea to launch for a flight in higher altitudes at 107 degrees fahrenheit. It was a rough ride and we were both very glad to be on the ground in Tucumcari. From now on, we will be doing our flying in the early mornings when it is still cool. Airplanes like cool.

Tucumcari was one of our favorite spots so far. We LOVED our motel, the Blue Swallow. The owners, Kevin and Nancy were wonderful. They made us feel like part of the family. They were from Michigan, so we chatted quite a bit. The way they have maintained this motel shows the pride they have in their part of the historical preservation of Route 66 landmarks. The Blue Swallow exudes the old Route 66 charm. It was clean, tastefully decorated and Kevin and Nancy bend over backwards for their guests. Kevin even picked us up at the airport and drove us back for our EARLY morning flight on Thursday. We would return there in a heartbeat. What a great place.