Day 5

This morning we awoke in the delightful and picturesque city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. After inquiring after a suitable breakfast joint at the front desk, we were eagerly directed towards IHOP and Cracker Barrel, conveniently located just next door. After a quick waffle supplied by the hotel, we set off to what Caitlin voted the lesser of two evils: IHOP. Inevitably breakfast supplied better people watching than food, and we were quickly off and on the road to downtown Tulsa, which was rumored to boast several impressive Art Deco buildings. It turned out the the rumors were true and we (at least Caitlin) were pleasantly surprised.



The further we drove, the flatter and more alien the landscape became. The severity of our emersion in Oklahoma was glaringly apparent when we were forced to come to a screeching halt to allow a dead deer to be hauled across the highway by an entrepreneurial couple driving a Suburban. Tragically, Caitlin wasn't quite able to snap a picture in time, but this is what we got.



As the road unfolded steadily before us and we soldiered on to Texas, the cow population took a turn for the surreal. The road ceased to have even the slightest variation in course, forcing us to find alternate means of passing the time, as the view out the window had been unvarying for at least 250 miles.





Somewhere between Elk City, OK and Amarillo, TX Joe discovered a life-and-sanity saving application entitled simply "Roadside." This delightful little widget is marketed as being, "Your Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions" and lead us to the first truly awe inspiring and wildly wacky attraction of the day: a 170-foot cross in Broom, Texas. This behemoth is visible from at least 25 miles away, and is an impressive yet unsettling sight to behold. Surrounded by bronze statues of Jesus in various states of crucifixion, we agreed it was one of the more bizarre things we'd ever seen.







Delighted with the success of our new-found application, we were quick to pin down our next offbeat tourist attraction, Texas' own version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa: the Leaning Water Tower, also in Groom, Texas. Who knew such a remarkably tiny town could host such wonders. Needless to say we didn't exit the car for this one, and settled on a couple pictures quickly snapped as we drove by.



Our final offbeat tourist stop of the day, and by far the most fun, was the Cadillac Graveyard in a cow pasture somewhere near Amarillo, Texas. A simple line of 10 Cadillacs buried nose-down in the dirt, these sculptural cars have been spray painted and vandalized to a near- unrecognizable extent. After a quick search of the surrounding area, we were lucky enough to find a half-empty can of discarded spray paint and eagerly added our mark. Climbing all over the cars, while admittedly treacherous due to the general disrepair and corrosion of the vehicles, was insanely fun.











We stopped for dinner at K-Bob's Steakhouse in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, which boasted the ever-exciting "Salad Wheel," before pushing on to Albuquerque. We'll be staying the night here, and with any luck we'll wake up with enough time to grab breakfast at a respectable establishment downtown before heading off to Flagstaff, a mere 5.5 hours away.