Day 8 - Tagging Texas

Shrimp

Today's post begins with a funny little story about......... shrimp.

I was awakened by one of my children coming into the "bedroom" last night flopping down on the bed beside me.  I was pretty sure it was Cassidy since she had fallen down the evening prior while she and Eli chased each other through the Target parking lot where we had stopped to pick up some supplies.  She had fallen on her hip and now has a pretty good battle wound bruise.  I thought perhaps she needed some Advil.  Ha!  Not it at all.  I reached over to touch this someone beside me and it was indeed Cassidy.  "Honey, are you alright?", I asked.  "Yeah", squeaked out wearily.  "Do you need something?", I proceeded. "No".  Hmmmm, "What are you doing?"  Her reply..... "I'm eating shrimp."  This is where it gets pretty funny because now Shale has woken up and is listening to this whole dialogue.  "What?", I responded.  "I. Am. Eating. Shrimp!"  Oky doky then....I thought that is what she had said.  Shale and I are totally losing it at this point and poor Cassidy is none the wiser.  "Do you want to go back to bed?"  "I am".  "Your bed?"  "Oh, ok....this is your bed! Ok", she replies as she stumbles to get herself off of the bed and walk down the small hallway back to where she had come from.  As she made her way back to her bed, Shale and I naturally chuckled for a few more minutes. 

Cassidy has been known to sleep walk so it wasn't a complete surprise that this happened but boy was it funny!  We have been laughing about, "I am eating shrimp!"  all day!  A side note here....The girl doesn't even like shrimp!  Funny!

Anyone that has traveled with me anywhere near the south part of this country knows that I love the Waffle House.  I don't know why, but I do.  The kids joined me there last summer on a trip out to Kentucky to visit family but Shale was not with us so he has never enjoyed the simple pleasure of the All American Breakfast that the Waffle House serves up - he did this morning!  Our server Nikki was fast and friendly and the food, delish!  Why don't we have these in Southern CA yet?!

Simply Delicious!

Now, let's get to the whole...."We are armed and quite possibly dangerous" statement from last night.  Just outside and to the west of Amarillo, TX there is a ranch - Cadillac Ranch.  This is not your typical ranch.  This ranch is the home to 10 Cadillacs half buried nose down in the dirt.  In 1974 these cars were buried by three gentlemen that were part of the then art group, Ant Farm.  The models represented all have the tail fins that were a defining feature on all Cadilacs built between 1949 and 1963.  Thousands of people flock to this Ranch to add their own flair to the cars and we too did just that!  Check it out!

Armed with paint and following the posted rules!

Eli at Work

Our resident perfectionist - Cassidy

Surfs Up peeps!  Even in TX

If you can't think of anything to draw, just write your name!

As if spending a couple of hours painting cars wasn't enough....we headed to Conway, TX where you will find Slug Bug Ranch.  Five of Volkswagen's finest are buried in the same manner, nose down next to a fairly sketchy old abandoned Motel/Cafe/Gas Station.  This place isn't as much of a tourist attraction as the original artsy Cadillac Ranch that we had been to a few hours prior - Sweet!  Nobody was there.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves and the few passers-by that came to take photos weren't there to paint so we really had a good time here and felt as if maybe our art may last a day or two before someone was to come along and paint over it!

Slug Bug Ranch - Conway, TX

Eli and his masterpiece

Guess Who!

I think maybe Shale is missing the beach!

Don't judge....my brain is fried from having to write the blog every night,
at least I still know my name!

Thank goodness there weren't any more graffiti art stops because at this point we had blown through about 15 cans of paint between us all - that's a lot!  Eli told us that painting at Bug Ranch was at the top of the "Fun" scale for this trip.  We all really did have a good time and on a scale from 1-10 on the "Fun" scale for this trip...I'll give it a 10 also.

On to Shamrock, TX.  The restored 1936 U-Drop Inn and Conoco Gas Station otherwise known as The Tower Station and Tower Cafe are there in the middle of town.  They now operate as a visitor center, museum and the city's chamber of commerce is in the building.  Another "Cars" inspiration here - the art deco architecture of this old building appears as Ramone's automotive body and paint shop in the movie!

Shamrock was our last stop in Texas.  On to Oklahoma!

The Sooner State

Well, we knew we'd get to Oklahoma sooner or later!  Hehe, clever! Since it was late afternoon when we arrived in OK, we thought it would be a good idea to start looking for a place to get some food and stay for the night.  Heading into Sayer, we  ran across a do-it-yourself car wash. Cleaning up the car from the dusty south west was much needed. This was the kids' first time at this type of car wash so they had a good time taking the lead on the clean up....Shale and I agree that child-labor is a good thing!  

How nice to have the car cleaned up!  Thanks kids!!  As we resumed our search for food and a place to stay for the night, we happened to run across Bruce and his pet Brahman Bull Romeo.  True story.  I had Shale pull over so I could get the 411 on this!  Bruce and his wife have had Romeo since he was a baby.  He hangs out in their yard all day long and sleeps in the barn behind their house at night.  Every evening, Bruce gives Romeo a good brushing and according to Bruce, as long as he has the brush in his hand, Romeo follows him around!  This is definitely not something you see every day!

Romeo enjoying a late afternoon brushing from Bruce.

By the time we rolled in to Elk City, OK it was 8:30pm.  What a day!  We found a great little restaurant off the highway for dinner and by the time we left it was 9:30pm and we pulled in for a good night's much needed rest.  Tomorrow we plan on trekking most of the way across Oklahoma - another long day...I'd better get some sleep.  Until tomorrow......

                     

A view of the night sky - Elk City, OK