We awoke to lightning and a heavy downpour. The rain looked like it was going to clear, but it didn’t. We got a slightly late start. We broke the group into two parts. I led the second group.

This year’s Gypsy Tour is centered on the exploration of Route 66. We rode for a couple of hours in the rain on sections of the original route. We hit a lot of deep puddles and mud in the many low spots in the road. In OKC the route is a 4-lane state road, but outside the city it is 2 lanes. At one point we left the modern 2-lane highway and went on an original 2-lane stretch. It’s very narrow and we had to ride in single file.

Our first stop was the pony bridge over the Canadian River. There are 38 pony sections to the bridge.

We stopped at various old buildings. Chris, our leader, exclaimed many times, “This is really cool! You gotta see this.” Everyone enjoyed the sights, but most wanted to move on and get to lunch and later to our hotel

On the left is an original Conoco gas station and on the right is a general store.

We stopped at the Route 66 Museum and took the self-guided tour.

After lunch our last tourist stop was Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo. Some brought paint to decorate the cars. It’s way off the road in a farm filed. You have to go through a gate and walk a couple hundred yards to get to the site.

The group is staying at two hotels. Some are at the Blue Swallow, and some at the Route 66 Historic Motel in Tucumcari, NM.

We had a catered barbecue picnic dinner at the Blue Swallow. They also had a fire going and we made “smores.”