Well, last night went better than the night before. I didn’t get in the bed until 2 AM, but once I got to sleep I managed to get about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up. We still got out of the hotel a little later than I expected, however, and due to rain on the way in to Albuquerque, I had to wash the car. Ultimately, we had to skip two of our stops this morning.

On the plus side, I got to try out the new Michelin Pilot Super Sports in the rain, and they did well. Overall, they are a better all-weather tire than the Toyo R888’s I replaced with them, but the Toyo’s still outgrip them in dry settings.

In any event, our first stop was at the ‘Big Red Arrow’ in Albuquerque, which is a huge arrow in front of a local Whole Paycheck. Beth and I got some goofy pictures of us and a shot or two of the GT500. As Beth was shooting the car, the owner of a beautiful black 2013 GT 500 with matte stripes dropped by and we chatted about the cars. Turns out she bought hers at the local Carmax, which is the first I’ve ever heard of these cars being sold by Carmax.

We left there and drove to the Route 66 Auto Museum to take a look at some old hot rods. The museum itself was kind of small and didn’t have a whole lot in the way of rare cars but it had a lot of the old standards. Among the things we saw were a hot rod ‘63 Vette (with a dual quad setup), a ‘30’s Chevy street rod, a ‘69 Camaro, a ‘57 Chevy and two ‘57 Nomads. But the most unique car there was an old cab over engine Chevy that had been converted into a big pickup truck. And of course the Edsel backhoe sitting out in front.

After that we went to Tee Pee Curios which is one of the last genuine curio shops on old Route 66. There we actually found several unique items to give as presents for friends and family as well as a few items for ourselves. Unlike most of the shops littering Route 66, Tee Pee Curios actually has unique items that are hand crafted by residents or are sold through the shop on consignment. This was very refreshing compared to the other shops that sell prepackaged junk for the tourist crowd. The proprietor was very friendly and chatted with us at length about the area.

After that we drove to the Rockin’ Y’s Roadhouse and ate a huge lunch of typical southern American food. Beth had the meat loaf with fried okra and mashed potatoes and I had chicken fried steak also with okra and mashed potatoes. Both of our meals came smothered in gravy. We both thought the meal was about as good as diner food gets, especially for the price and the quantity. Afterwards we had desert which for Beth was chocolate meringue pie and apple cobbler a la mode for me.

Our final stop of the day was the Cadillac Ranch, a free-standing art exhibit consisting of ten classic Caddies submerged nose-first into a field. This was pretty cool, though we didn’t paint on them (there were at least 50 people doing so in the time we were there).

Since today was Beth’s birthday, and we are both feeling a bit beat, we decided to stop at Amarillo for the night instead of pushing on for Oklahoma City. To celebrate, we went to a local spot called Embers, which is a mid-range steakhouse. The food here was excellent, easily the second best place we’ve eaten at yet. Juicy, tender steaks, and interesting flavor combinations in the sides and appetizers.

Tomorrow we will be hustling along, and hope to end the day in Alexandria, La and meet the Cajun Pawn Stars.