5 October

Amarillo, Texas

Bad weather has put a bit of a dampener on our past couple of days. We probably shouldn't complain. In close to two years on the road over the past 30 years, we have probably had no more than a couple of dozen rainy days. Never mind. All was well by this afternoon when the sun broke through and the temperature climbed into the high 20s.

Much of the history that surrounds Route 66 is linked to major internal migrations across the US. Two of the largest were the Dust Bowl/Depression flight from Oklahoma and Texas to California and the movement of troops and equipment to the west during World War II. Along with these, since the 1960s and 1970s millions of Americans (and others -including us!) have taken nostalgic holidays along the “Mother Road”.

Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' and the subsequent movie immortalised the 'Oakies' who made the desperate trek to California along Route 66 in the late 1920s to escape starvation during the Great Depression.

Since we left Oklahoma City, the ghosts of the 'Oakies' have been all around us- the stretches of old concrete highway and bridges they crossed, the small towns where they camped and the photos in the local museums. The countryside is vastly different now, but some of the same desperation can be seen in the back blocks of the hundreds of struggling towns that dot the old highway. Trailer Park homes are the new refuge of the poor of America. They are depressing looking places which bring to mind Steinbeck's descriptions of the transit camps of the Depression years.

Tonight, we are by the Interstate in Amarillo. This is a big cattle town. And it smells like it! The stock sales are tomorrow so the yards must be filling up and the rain has added to the fragrance. The city has no real downtown – like St Louis and Oklahoma City -and what there is is more than 50% car parks. But there is a Mega Mall out on the Interstate with prices that would rival the clothes markets in Saigon.

2-3 October

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City “.. is mighty pretty..” so goes the line in the Route 66 song. And it sure is. But it is also deserted!

As in many other western cities, Downtown is a ghost town. Today being Saturday, it was even worse. Without a word of a lie, we could have lain down at the intersection of the two main streets with little or no risk of injury. Even the network of Interstates that ring the centre of the city were relatively free of traffic.

Domestic Terrorism came to Oklahoma City in April 1995. The Oklahoma City bombing left 168 people dead and a nation shocked. More of course was to come, but this was an enormous shock to this peaceful heartland US city. The monument that stands on the site is a moving reminder of the tragedy and its impact on the city and the country.

There is plenty of room out here in the west! Cities like this use space even more lavishly than we do in Australia. The State Capitol Park is enormous. Public buildings sprawl over a park with gardens and lawns that make it almost impossible to see one building from the next. And! The Capitol is the only one in the US with oil wells on its grounds!

Who could come to the west without visiting the largest Cowboy Museum in the world? Not us! Cowboy boots, hats, saddles, chuck wagons and a reconstructed old western town on a scale that could only be managed in the US of A had us a bit worried about the blurring of the facts and the Hollywood cowboy image. But what the... it was all good fun!