Road Trip: Challenges and Successes!

Our day started in Missouri and ended in Nebraska and along the way we had quite a few challenges! First, I didn't wake up until 8:30 am because I had a diet Pepsi too late last night and couldn't go to sleep!  I told Mike, next time wake me up!  He said he just figured I needed to sleep. 

 I dressed quickly, packed my bags and my laptop, and took a few pictures of our loaded rig and then we went to the breakfast room. Well, we missed the breakfast!  All the other hotels we have stayed at closed their breakfast at 9:30 and this one closed at 9!  Challenge Number 1 - no breakfast!  Mike grabbed a cup of grade 'B' coffee - he said at least it was strong though lacking in flavor!  All of you who know Mike, know he makes his coffee strong and he likes dark roast robust coffees!

We climbed into the truck and got on the road.  We decided to head north out of St. Joseph, Missouri up Highway 29 through Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska to hook up with Interstate 80 to head west - instead of following the majority of the traffic which seemed to be heading west on Highway 36 to go west through Kansas.  

The road was great - hardly any traffic!  We came across a cornfield with a bunch of windmills in it. Mike was thrilled the road was uncrowded as it took a lot of the stress of driving the loaded trailer down the road.  

Despite it taking a little longer to get to Omaha than we had planned, the route was gorgeous!  Rolling hills covered with just-about-ready-to-harvest corn and lush deep green soybeans, spotted with immaculate farm houses and grain bins. 

 We settled in and enjoyed the ride . . .until we started looking for diesel again!  Exit after exit went by and no stations!  Challenge Number 2!

We pulled off at one intersection to get diesel and the turn into the station was too tight for Mike to take with our rig.  So we drove down the road a little bit, turned around, and went by the station again. He looked at the station again and thought he could probably make it and our gauge was down to 2 miles of fuel remaining!  He slowed the rig and began to back up to park and I heard a car honking so I told him to stop - a car was honking! There was a car behind us that we couldn't see - an elderly lady had pulled up so close to the back of the trailer we couldn't see her in our mirrors!    We ditched the plan to go to that station and  started out to the road when I noticed she had got out of her car and was looking at the front grill.  We must have hit her so Mike parked the truck and we went down to talk to her. 

Sure enough, the plastic hooks on the very back of our rig had sliced open her front bumper like it was butter! 

 Challenge Number 3!!  At least no one was hurt and her car had very little damage and of course, our heavy rig had no damage.  She was very nice and we apologized and said we just didn't see her which was the truth.  We both went on our way but we still hadn't fueled up!

We got back on the highway thinking there would be another gas station at the next exit.  We still had our jug of diesel in the back of the truck in case we were desperate and it was looking more that way than not with each exit we passed.  We checked our GPS and it said there was a station 6 miles down the road so we prayed we would get there - we did! Finally a success!

(I'm missing pictures for next paragraphs - see end of post!)

We pulled into the gas station to refuel and there was an Antique Mall at the gas station!  Success!  So as Mike refueled, I hit the mall running!  I didn't want to hold up our trip too long, but I hate to miss even one row of these malls, thinking I probably will miss a great deal!  Again, I was on the hunt for the mysterious purple chicken and other treasures!  I scoured the booths and saw amber chickens, and lots of white chickens, but no clear purple chickens.

The sales lady reminded me they had an upstairs so I climbed the stairs to the loft.  It was in the loft I found another great treasure!  Standing tall in a back corner of one of the booths was a vintage metal bird cage with it's original stand.  Birdcages sell out of the store as fast as we can get them in and birdcages on stands are hard to find - particularly when its an original pair!  It's easy to put a mismatch set together when you find a stand in one place and a cage in another but this was an original set!  I reached over to check the price tag and I almost fell over!  $12.  I read it again thinking it was marked wrong - nope - I read it right - $12!!  It was coming home with me!

Then just down about four more booths, I found a gorgeous Scarlett O'Hara type Southern Belle dress in my favorite color - tiffany blue!  This dress has ruffles all the way down the skirt and even little ruffle cap sleeves with a fitted bodice.  I pictured my friend's daughter, Rebecca, in it - perhaps dressed up as Little Bo Peep for Halloween or wearing it for a Cotillion-themed sorority party!  I took the dress and the birdcage down to the counter.  The price tag had fallen off the birdcage somewhere on the way down the stairs before I got to the check-out - Challenge Number 4!

I told the lady it had been marked $12 but she said I would have to find the tag.  I don't blame her - I couldn't believe it was $12 either!! So I traced my steps back to the staircase and went back up the stairs, and then scoured the booth - the tag was no where to be found.  I went back down and told the lady I couldn't find it and she said she would go look.  So we both repeated the same search - nothing!  She said she would call the vendor.  None one answered - Challenge Number 5!  She called the vendor's sister with whom she shared the booth and the sales lady described the birdcage set.  The sister said she didn't know what the price was and we would have to get a hold of the vendor.  So again the sales lady called the vendor - no answer.  She started writing up the dress and told me she would try one more time - she answered!! Yeah - but the vendor said she was just in the night before and bought she had just reduced the cage to $15 -not $12!  "I'll take at $15" I whispered to the sales lady - but the sales lady told the vendor that I knew the tag said $12 so perhaps we should split the difference - the vendor agreed!  Final price - $13.50! Still a deal - I told the sales lady thanks so much and she said, "I watch American Pickers - you never should pay full price!"  Wow! What a great sales lady!  Another success!

Mike had been really patient and had bought himself a donut while he was waiting for all of this.  He came over while I was checking out and the sales lady asked, "So where are y'all headed from here?' We told her and she said, "Oh no you're not!" Challenge Number 6!  She explained that the Missouri River had reached flood stage back in May and the Army Core of Engineers had blasted the levee, leaving part of Highway 29 impassable!  She explained not a lot of travelers know because they have not had any press coverage.  She explained that over 150,000 acres of corn and soybeans were under water in the bypass due to the flood.  Lots of her farming friends were under duress and she said she felt so sorry for them.  We looked at each other, understanding her story, and then we realized that must have been the reason the road was so empty!

We grabbed our map and she showed us how she got around the road closures on a Highway 59 the weekend before to get to Omaha.  We thanked her profusely and headed north on Highway 59.

There was a John Deere dealership about a mile down the road and Mike thought he'd just check with them about the status of the road to be sure we were headed in the right direction.  They confirmed we were on the right road.  Then about five miles down Highway 59 we came to a road closure sign!  Mike sighed and said, "That guy I talked to was a tool!"

Challenge Number 7 for the day and we had only been on the road for a few hours!  There was no option but to turn around and go back to the last spot we saw we could get on the main highway.  We backtracked and then decided we should just follow all the other big rigs in front of us!  We stopped one more time in a little town where we saw a bunch of big rigs parked and Mike went in and talked to the good ole boys sitting around a table shooting the breeze.  They all confirmed we were now on the right road and it was the only way to go 'unless you got an airplane!' Success!

We passed through Iowa and all of it's corn fields and then finally made it to Omaha, Nebraska and onto Interstate 80 where we will be all the way through Reno and almost home.  On the road for about three hours, Mike said he needed to stretch his legs and we might as well find diesel.  This time, we were not going to wait too long so we pulled off at another gas station which had an Antique Mall next to it.  We got out of the air conditioned truck and the heat was unbearable - it was 97 degrees and 95 percent humidity!!  I quickly went into the Mall.  Mike filled up and then joined me in the air conditioning!!  The Mall had a little cafe inside so Mike sat down and relaxed a bit - it had been a pretty stressful day to that point!

I started the search for the elusive purple chicken, the small little bottles for another client and any other great finds I may uncover.  Then I saw it - what I thought was the holy grail!  I had never seen so many glass chicken dishes in one place!

 I looked carefully at the dealer's collection - but still - no purple chicken!

I was able to find a few tiny bottles for my other client and saw all kinds of vintage farm equipment and mid century furniture but nothing really excited me.  I was a little off my game - probably due to the stress of the morning.  I ran back into Mike and he showed me one of his finds - a belt buckle with the Sacramento Northern Railroad emblem on it!

 The Sacramento Northern Railroad used to go right by our house in East Nicolaus.

Mike's Uncle Jim lived in East Nicolaus during that time and they used to play outside and watch the trains come through.  Mike got the buckle as a gift for his uncle - so don't breathe a word about it if you see him!  He also found a small bottle with 1930's Crude Oil from a well on a Nebraska's School site - he wanted something to remind him of Nebraska for his desk,  Mike has a whole collection of small objects on his desk from his travels - so I thought I'd surprise him with something as well.

 I found a plastic scale model of the St. Louis Gateway Arch in one of the booths and bought it for him.  In order to look at the harvester tracks before we bought them, he had flown into St. Louis, Missouri. He rented a car and drove downtown to visit the landmark before proceeding onto Divernon, Illinois and the Dowson's farm to view and purchased the tracks. So now he had a souvenir of that trip as well!

Before we left the store, Mike said I HAD to see something. I followed him to the back of the store and he pointed to this -

It was probably the single most cheesiest picture I have ever seen of Elvis!  Do you just not love that wide lapel?! Mike's mother loves Elvis so I said, "You don't want to get this for your mom do you?!"  "NO!" He exclaimed. "I just wanted you to take a picture of it so we could show her!  It's amazing!  It's like a memorial!  Half picture, half shrine with the light on the frame that shines on it!" I was sooo relieved!  Not only is it a cheesy picture, but the tacky brass frame adds to its cheesiness!  We thought about getting it for our White Elephant Christmas - but we were too cheap to pay for it!  Like I always say, you can find anything in an antique store!!

Back on the road, we drove through more and more cornfields and soybean fields.  At least on Interstate 80  the speed limit for all vehicles is 75 miles per hour.  We decided just to eat at Taco Bell tonight since we had so many challenges today. Sometimes you just have to call it quits when the day doesn't start just right.  We pulled into our hotel about an hour earlier than usual and I started working on my blog. Then along came Challenge Number 8 - I couldn't get my pictures to load!  I loaded the first batch and then bam!  The wireless went down and I couldn't load anymore.  So I'll add the rest of the pictures to this post later - I'm calling it quits for today!

Road Trip: Destination Reached!

Since I couldn't work on my blog last night, I ended up getting some much needed sleep.  Both of us woke up early and we got on the road right away. Today was a big day - only about an hours drive to our destination, Divernon, Illinois to pick up our harvester tracks!

We drove through St. Louis Missouri and saw the St. Louis Arch in the distance . .

right before crossing over the Mississippi River!

As we continued north, we drove past some beautiful farms

and lots of fields of corn!

The Dowson family farms 50,000 acres of corn and just built a new dryer to dry it.  Mike said I would know we were there when I spotted the big dryers, as we had bought the tracks from the Dowsons. Corn harvest has already started back here so truck after truck rolled in to unload while we were there. These dryers are the biggest I have ever seen and they still can't hold their entire crop!

As we drove into the dryer yard, I saw our tracks sitting off to the side next to a pickup.

We parked our rig and walked over the check them out again while we waited for Chris Dowson to come with a front loader so we could load the tracks onto the trailer.

Mike dug the chains he brought out of the lock box . . .

and measured out and marked placement of the tracks on the trailer, while we waited.

Chris arrived shortly thereafter, along with "Big Mike" - a 6'8" young man who was driving the front loader.  The guys proceeded to chain up the tracks to the front loader as I snapped these pictures!

The first track was carefully lifted and placed onto the bed of the trailer.

Then the second track was placed next to it.

Chains were run through the tracks

and then hooked onto the bed of the trailer, then tightened with binders.

For extra safety, we added strong straps through the top of the tracks to keep them from tipping during transport.

Finally, Mike toenailed in four boards around the base of all sides of the tracks.  The load was secure but Mike wanted to find out what his load weighed so we drove up the road one exit.  Mike dropped me off at an antique mall while he went to the scales to weigh the load.

The antique mall was out in the middle of nowhere and it didn't look like much but when I walked in, there must have been 200 booths - a whole mall of antiques to treasure hunt in!  I have a whole list of things I am looking for - both for friends, and for clients!

 One client collects these glass chicken/nest dishes and she needs a purple one - I found this one, sent her a picture from my phone, and got a message right back from her that the one she needs has a beaded edge instead of this edge!  So if anyone out there knows where I can find one - let me know!  Until then - I'll keep searching!

I went around the corner to another booth and I was met with this whole case of Candlewick glass!  My friend Margaret inherited some Candlewick from her aunt and she is always looking for unique pieces.

Margaret once told me she was looking for a special cookbook for her mother.  I found a booth full of vintage cookbooks and sent her a text!  She confirmed I had found the one she was looking for - her mother had received a copy of the cookbook for a wedding present and five years later, she and her husband lost everything, including the cookbook, in a devastating flood.  Margaret wanted to replace the cookbook she had received for a wedding present!  But shush if you know Margaret or her mother - it will be a surprise gift!!

Another client is looking for vintage hats with veil netting and I was able to find three for her here and great prices!  I found some miniature bottles for another client, some vintage wooden spools, a vintage birdcage, some piano player rolls,  a dainty rosary, a vintage wedding dress, an off white demi-lune table, and a Catalina Pottery Vase - all for a grand total of $126.00!!  THAT was a great day! 

As I walked out the door with my hands full, Mike told me I had to go into the next building.  The sing on the building said "Crafter's Mall" but he said he went it and found a booth with some vintage stuff he thought was pretty cheap.  He led to one booth filled with antique oak furniture and other home accessories so I started checking price tags - he was right - really good prices - then I saw the find of the day!  A vintage double laundry tub - perfect for filling with ice and beer bottles, or other beverages for a party and the price tag - $22!!  In California, this tub would have cost $150!  We also bought a vintage gateleg table, in excellent condition for $65!!

We loaded up everything without taking pictures because it was about 98 degrees with 75% humidity and we had to get on the road because we had been treasure hunting for about 3 hours and we had to start heading back home.  Look for my posting "Opening the Treasure Box" when I get home to see all these treasures!  We left Illinois, passed back over the Mississippi back into Missouri, and turned west.

Once the air conditioning in the truck had cooled us off, we realized we had not eaten anything since breakfast at our hotel!  So again, I got online, checked Trip Advisor for restaurants in a town called Hannibal - the number one listed was a place called Fiddlesticks.  GPS told us we were just about there so we pulled in.  The service was unbelievable! Our drink glasses were never empty, our salads came within 3 minutes of us placing our order and the main course was not much further behind.  We were in and out of there in about 30 minutes! Pretty good for a sit down dinner and the food was pretty good!

It had been a full day.  Back on the road, it wasn't long until the sun started setting. Now we were heading into the sun towards home, and we still have room in 'the treasure box' so who knows what we'll find on the way home?! Now our cry will be - Westward Ho!!

Road Trip: Rollin' and Throwed Rolls!

Yesterday we spent a full day driving with very few pit stops!  Then when we got to the hotel last night the high speed internet was not working and I didn’t bring my cable along to work from a hardwire!  So this will be a short post about day four!  First pit stop was a short detour to Shawnee, Oklahoma.  It’s no secret that I am a Brad Pitt fan so since we were so close we had to go to his hometown and see where he grew up.  

 We found the old downtown and it looked old!  We had entered the ‘bible belt’ and found hardly anything open yesterday, since it was Sunday, so it was a great day to catch up on our driving!  On our way to our next destination, we stopped at a rest area just outside of Shawnee to use the facilities and like lots of other rest areas, it had a designated spot for animal use.  But this rest stop took it to the next level by segregating the areas depending on if you had a city dog or a country dog.

The city dogs were to use this . . .

And the country dogs were to use this! 

 I thought it was hilarious – especially to think some state worker actually spent time making the signs!

 Back on the road we saw field after field of soybeans.
And then we made one more quick stop –

 We HAD to see Carrie Underwood's hometown!  It was right off the highway so we just rolled through and snapped this picture!  The rolling hills Oklahoma were beautiful and the highways were moving nicely – despite going down to one lane at times, traffic moved at speed limit so we made good progress, entering Missouri, since we needed to catch up.

 About 4:30 we finally got hungry so I did a quick search on the internet to find a spot to eat.  The first restaurant that came up on my Google search for “Springfield, Missouri” was a place called ‘Lambert's Cafe’.   

 I read some of the reviews and the people said it was where they went anytime they went to Branson or anytime they were in Springfield so we decided to give it a try, even though the reviews said sometimes there was an hour long wait to get in.  After giving the hostess our name, she said the wait would be twenty minutes – already better than we thought!  We were seated in fifteen – even better!

 The décor was casual country with flags from all fifty states hung like banners from the ceiling.  There were old license plates from every state hung on the walls over vintage posters from all parts of America.  Guns and other old western memorabilia also hung wherever there was room.  The walls were literally wallpapered with ephemera!!  
 Lots of fun things to look at as you were walking to your table!

The waitress showed up pronto and we had our drinks and the next thing we knew, there was a server at our table dishing out fried okra for an appetizer!  Mike ordered the fried chicken, and chose his sides: turnip greens and baked beans.  I ordered the Chicken Caeser Salad which had artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes in it! 

  A few minutes later, a waiter rolling a cart of hot rolls strolled down the aisle by our table calling out, “Hot Rolls!  Hot Rolls!”  Customers everywhere held up their hands and the waiter proceeded to throw the rolls their way!  
 Evidently, Lamberts is famous for their “Throwed Rolls!”  

 Mike held up his hands and the next thing he knew a roll was flying his direction! 

The rolls were hot out of the oven and a perfect texture – not so dense they would hurt someone if it hit them in the head, but not too flaky that pieces would fall off as the rolls were flying in the air!  
 You can check out a video of Lambert's ‘flying rolls’ on You Tube if you click here!   
I asked the ‘roll guy’ how many rolls they go through in a day and he said about 600 dozen!  I did the math real quick – that’s 7,200 rolls a day – all baked fresh from scratch on site!

My salad was crisp and fresh and the dressing not too salty, like some.  Mike’s side of turnip greens had pieces of baked ham in them and the perfect blend of bitter and sweet.  His baked beans also had great flavor and the beans were cooked al dente – not too mushy – just right!  They served our sodas in huge 40 oz mugs and they were ‘bottomless’! I couldn’t drink all of mine, but I guess it saves the servers from having to give refills all the time!  In addition to your entrée, they have what they call “Pass arounds”.  Pass arounds are dishes that servers walk around and serve up to your plate – as many times as you would like.  The ‘pass arounds’ they served while we were there were the hot rolls, fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, black-eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes and sorghum molasses!  No one leaves hungry from that place and I couldn’t help but think how football players would love to eat there!

As we were leaving the place was filling up!  We were glad we decided to stop in early and must have hit the lull perfectly.  After our visit, we both said no wonder this place is so popular!  It was a lot of fun and the food, everything we had anyway, was delicious and cooked perfectly!!  Next time we are in the area, we will visit again and try some of their other entrees – maybe their ribs or their pulled pork sandwich!

We still had about 150 miles to go to get to St. Louis – our goal for the day!  However, we were sleepy from our delicious dinner so we were longing to find a Starbucks – we had only seen one when we passed through Oklahoma City on our whole trip!  It was if someone upstairs was looking out for us because no sooner than we wished we could find one, there was Price Cutter Grocery store billboard with a Starbucks logo on it saying “Starbucks inside!”  We couldn’t believe our good fortune!

 

Mike was thrilled as he is our sole driver and he needed a pick me up – He said it was the first A+ cup of coffee he had had in four days!  It was just enough to keep us awake – we made it to Pacific – just 30 miles west of St. Louis – it was good enough!  We had driven 650 miles yesterday with no shopping stops to make up time!  Today we picked up our harvester tracks so I'll have a post about that tomorrow morning!

Road Trip: It's Bigger in Texas!

When we woke up this morning, the hotel decor reminded us we were in the southwest.  We changed it up a bit last night and stayed at La Quinta Inn in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Mike rated the coffee here B+ whereas the coffee at Holiday Inn Express was a C!  He is in search of the A coffee!!  We haven't seen a Starbucks for about 600 miles!! The fireplace in the hotel lobby was like you'd find in a pueblo somewhere.  My mother-in-law is building a house and wants a fireplace similar to this so I had to take a picture.  

 Back in the room, the vanity lights had cut-outs of kokopelli, coyotes, lizards and other Native American icons.  

 We started loading the car back up and once outside noticed the landscaping had definitely changed!  Cacti, joshua trees and lots of huge red rocks were the landscape designers tools of the trade here!

Back on the road again, we planned our stopover points. We told ourselves no stopping until Amarillo but we took a detour to drive the old stretch of Route 66 through a small town named Tucumcari.  It was once a thriving pit stop on Route 66 and lots of old hotels dotted the sides of the road.  It was a little disheartening when we saw hotel after hotel look like the one in this picture. 

When the new highway 40 was built, these hotels slowly lost business and eventually fell into disrepair.  We started to wonder why we had chosen to veer off the main highway and just before the road hooked back up with Highway 40 we passed this building.

The sign on the building said "Trade Days". I told Mike - don't bother - let's just keep driving and he told me no - stopping to check out these little venues was why I wanted to come along.  We turned around and headed back to the barn.  A small group of people were inside with tables and tables of antiques, collectibles, and other items!  A nice surprise since the rest of Tucumcari looked like a ghost town!  

I bought this distressed wood shelf with a mirror - handmade by these wonderful people - Shirley and Buck Evans.  Shirley and Buck had run a grocery store for years in Southern California.  They bought a sheep ranch in Tucumcari for their retirement and they were the organizers of Tucumcari Trade Days - the sale we just happened upon!  They hold the sale the third weekend of every month and dealers can rent a space for $35.  I bought a boxful of aqua blue vintage glass ornaments in various sizes from a dealer.  I also bought several things from a third dealer:   a small cupboard that held plates, three canning jars of vintage buttons, some enamelware burner covers that I am going to convert into magnet message boards, a vintage set of four card games, and he threw in a piece of raw turquoise he had found in Kingman, Arizona for a bonus!  Mike even found some vintage hardware he plans on using when he builds his bar and a sand painting, a gift for his mother.  We said goodbye to our new friends, packed the 'treasure box' and hit the road again.

We quickly passed into Texas and talked about how that side trip turned out so well.  

The Texas landscapes was a bit greener than we had seen and we started looking for cattle. A short while later, we took another one of our side trips we planned and stopped on the side of the road.

We started walking out about 200 yards to the 'Cadillac Farm'.  I remember reading about the farm back at Cal Poly in my Contemporary Art class and had always wanted to see it in real life.

A Texas man who made millions when he discovered helium on his property, commissioned an artist to half bury the Cadillacs creating a striking repetitive sculpture on the Texas landscape in 1974.

The Cadillacs originally had all their hubcaps, fenders, and other loose parts welded to the frame to prevent looters from taking parts of them away. Some of these pieces remain but the Cadillacs have  sort of evolved into a form of interactive art. Spray paint cans lay beside the graveyard of cars and artists of all ages have left their mark on the vehicles.  Mike found a can with some white paint still in it and left this message.

A couple was there with us and they wrote 'Happy Anniversary' to themselves then handed us the can of bright pink paint. 

 'Cherish Art' is a message I want to spread - I think it is a crime that so many art programs are cut due to budgets deficits!  Art is our culture and without it, we would not know so much about previous cultures, societies and our own history!

As we turned to leave the kaleidoscope of cars, another young family approached.  I would have loved to seen the Cadillac Farm when first installed and all the cars were intact.  The cars got fixed up a few times when various rock bands used the Cadillac Farm as a back drop for their music videos but none recently.

Driving away from the farm, I wondered why the public can't pick up after themselves and also about how visitors had visited the site since it was installed.  There is no lock on the gate and visitors are allowed to go in day or night so you'd think they would respect the free exhibit and pick up their cans!  

Amarillo was not far way now, so I checked my Romantic Homes magazine to see if any Antique shops were listed for the town.  There was one: Whispering Pines Antiques.  I quickly put the address into our GPS to see how far off Highway 40 it may be - only a few blocks so I stopped in and met Angie Mitchell, the owner.  Her shop was gorgeous!  Two fully dressed Twin beds anchor the floor displays which reflect a vintage prairie theme.

Whispering Pines Antiques is located in a historic district on 6th street in Amarillo.  There are numerous antique shops and cafes so it is a great place for a day trip.  Angie was lots of help and suggested a few other places I may like to visit.  During our conversation, I learned that Angie was a blogger, too!  We exchanged cards and promised to keep it touch through blogging!  I will feature Angie and her shop on a future post but thought I'd tease you with a few pictures I took.  

 There were so many things in her shop I wanted to buy, but decided to limit my purchases to a few gifts for friends.  I can't tell you what they are yet, since my friends read this blog!!

Two doors down from Whispering Pines was another antique store so Mike and I decided to go in and enjoy the air conditioning for a while longer!  This was a store with lots of vendors who had their own spaces so there was tons to look over.  Pink milk glass is hard to find in our area and there was lots of it here!  I almost bought a vase but then my sense came over me and I stuck to looking for things some of the customers, of the shop I am in, were looking for.  Meanwhile, Mike was looking around and spotted a cabinet filled with player piano rolls, but it really was a wine cabinet.  He had been looking for something to store his wine collection in and decided he had to have it.  I left with a frame of a vintage cabinet door, a small decorative frame and a turquoise blue candy dish, but he was the big spender!  We loaded the truck since we had spent too much time there and were on our way when I said, "I forgot to take pictures!!" - It was too hot and we were too hungry to unload!

Our stomachs were growling and we were really happy to learn "The Big Texan" was not far down the road!  At 'The Big Texan' restaurant, if you can eat a whole 72 ounce steak you get it for free - if you can't it costs you $55!!  Since we were in Texas, we felt we couldn't leave without a steak!

The outside of the restaurant has so much kitsch it attracts loads of travelers off the road. This huge bull advertises the 72 oz steak challenge!

We went in and expected a wait and were just about to sit down on this bench made from hide and horns, when the hostess said 'follow me'!

 The inside was full of trophy mounts and the tables were covered with oil cloth that looked like Holstein hides.  All the wait staff was dressed in jeans, belts and big buckles and cowboy hats.  The place was like a well oiled machine with lots of staff buzzing around filling orders, refilling drinks, busing tables, and there was even a strolling guitarist who came around to each table.

Mike decided on an 18 oz. prime rib and I ordered a 9 oz fillet.  Within seconds of our order, this basket of fresh baked soft rolls arrived at our table.  They were the perfect solution to our hunger pains - light enough not to fill us up!

Here is Mike's dinner!  Dinners came with your choice of two sides - he chose cole law and Texas home fries and I chose coleslaw and ranch beans.  There was also five things you could order as 'toppers' for your steaks so both Mike and I ordered our steaks accompanied by blue cheese crumbles.

My fillet was so delicious I ate the whole thing and only had a bite or two of my sides.  The coleslaw was ok and my ranch beans had a great flavor, but I decided to spend my calories on the juicy steak!Mike said his was wonderful, too!  I had a bite of his Texas home fries just to taste them and they had a nice spice coating and were cooked to perfection - but Mike couldn't eat them all!  The waiter, (who resembled Brad Paisley!) asked if we would like to order dessert - Was he kidding?!  They say things are bigger in Texas and this meal certainly supported that statement!

It was harder to climb up into the truck after that meal but we had to continue down the road.  The small town of Groom in East Texas has two claims to fame: the first, the world's largest barbed wire pile, and the world's largest cross.  They call the barbed wire the 'Devil's rope' and Mike said he has seen enough barbed wire in his life he didn't need to see any more - and it was a ways off the highway.  

The cross was so big we could see it miles away on the highway, and it was on my side of the road so we didn't have to stop to get these pictures!  In the picture above, you can get the scale of this cross!

 But I love this picture that I snapped from the passenger side with my iphone! The Texas clouds add an ethereal touch to the clouds!

Driving down the highway for another hour we enjoyed seeing the first tractors since we left home and they were working up some dust.  

 We left Texas, where everything is bigger, and entered Oklahoma, were the rolling hills were definitely greener!

 The sun was getting low and we entered another time zone, losing another hour, so we decided to stop in Weatherford, a small town just west of Oklahoma City.  My new blogging friend Angie, from Whispering Pines Antiques, recommended stopping here for lots of shopping opportunities! Our goal was to reach Oklahoma City by tonight, but neither of us wanted to face city traffic and we had to think about parking our 'rig' for the night so the suburb of Weatherford was a perfect choice for our stay overnight.  I am excited for tomorrow! We pass through Shawnee, Oklahoma - Brad Pitt's hometown and also Checotah, Oklahoma - Carrie Underwood's hometown, on the way to St. Louis, Missouri.