PANHANDLE TEXAS – UNIQUE MOTHER ROAD MEMORABILIA
Your first stop in the north-central Texas Panhandle is Shamrock, which, as its name implies, was settled by an optimistic Irishman who sought a future in these once-daunting plains. You might be tempted to take a photo of its vintage Art Deco-style Tower Station, now a visitors' centre, and U Drop Inn, which encompasses a cafe and gift shop.
Then you can have a quick look around the Pioneer West Museum, located in a former 1928 hotel favoured by travelling salesmen and focusing on the area's Native American and pioneering heritage.
Next comes McLean, home to the Devil's Rope Museum, which exhibits and sells every type of barbed wire you can imagine. Don't scoff ... that was what kept the cattle in and the critters out on ranches throughout the West.
At Groom, you are confronted by the local equivalent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, except it's a water tower. Reputedly it was purposely installed askew to lure motorists into a nearby long-vanished truck stop.
Forty-five miles later you arrive in the jewel of the Panhandle Plains, Amarillo, population 202,333 and enhanced by a one-mile stretch of Historic Route 66 bordered by shops, galleries, music venues and restaurants. The Texas Route 66 Visitors Center provides an overview of the Mother Road's many attractions.
If you're a vintage and hot-rod car enthusiast, you may want to drop into Bill's Backyard Classics and to get an even better idea of how people travelled down the Mother Road in self-contained comfort, you can stop by the Jack Sisemons RV Museum, which includes among its treasures the world's oldest (1935) Airstream Trailer and the vehicle that accommodated Robin Williams in the 2006 film RV (also known as Runaway Vacation).
But without doubt the area's most-renowned motor attraction is the Cadillac Ranch, sited near I-40 and featuring ten graffiti-enhanced 1949-1963 Cadillacs semi-entombed nose down in a former cow pasture. There since 1974, the bizarre creation was produced by the Ant Farm, a San Francisco-based art collective, and you are encouraged to add to its appeal by bringing your own cans of spray paint.
THE AREA'S MOST-RENOWNED MOTOR ATTRACTION IS THE CADILLAC RANCH, SITED NEAR I-40 AND FEATURING TEN GRAFFITIENHANCED 1949-1963 CADILLACS SEMI-ENTOMBED NOSE DOWN IN A FORMER COW PASTURE.