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Deb had to teach the next morning; she woke me up before she left and I unpacked and repacked the car (I had a lot more space available after doing that. Then I read newspapers until Deb called indicating that she had finished her first class. I met her for a latte until she had to go teach her next class; we said our good-byes.

With the top down I headed north on 6. I kept slathering SPF15 lotion on my arms but they were getting pink. Also it was over 90 and getting hot even with the top down. I decided I would rather not burn before I reached California and put the top up. It's also a lot quieter. I hit Dallas/Ft. Worth and then headed North on 278. I took this to I40 in Amarillo. Route 66 goes through Amarillo but I figured that would be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Also I'd been in Texas for a very long time, about half of the miles on the car were in Texas. I decided to wait a few miles; if I saw a Route 66 sign in Texas I would hop on it then; otherwise I'd take the first exit in Arizona. There also was a terrible thunderstorm, it cleaned the windshield some; I hope it cleaned the nose of the car as well. I don't see much lightning in the Seattle area; I generally enjoy seeing thunderstorms elsewhere. Traffic was light enough that it wasn't too bad.

That worked; when I neared the bottom of the first exit I saw a sign for historic Route 66. I followed Route 66 for a while and then decided to put on a light jacket and ride with the top down. That was much more fun. Route 66 in this area very closely parallels I40. Indeed, I soon learned that (1) Route 66 isn't all that well marked and (2) as a result getting used to U turns (dead ends) and getting stuck heading West on I40 would be standard lessons for the day. Several times I turned around before getting on I40 just to verify that Route 66 was subsumed by I40; that usually was the case. One time I followed the Route 66 signs, which lead me across a cattle guard and past a sign telling me that livestock could be on the road and there were no services. Nice. That was a very interesting section; in several places mud had overrun the road. Fortunately it was dry when I went across it; this was thick enough that if it was damp I would have turned around. Then I was lead through a drain culvert (more mud) and down a very bumpy road. Eventually I reached civilization again (not that I was terribly worried; I was less than about 100 feet from I40).

I rode this way until the sun went down; I was approaching Santa Rosa then so I checked into a hotel along Route 66 (Ramada, hardly authentic, but very nice).

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