Isn’t a Shamrock supposed to be lucky?

Today’s trip was a 371 mile long trip and with my restrictions on top speed towing it was easily a 6 hour drive. While too long for my comfort there really arent any great places to stay in parts of the country where 80 MPH speed limits and miles of nothing make settlements rare and good RV spots even rarer. Our trip was not all that remarkable and we were looking forward to seeing more of RTE 66 as the RV campground implied…Texas Route 66 RV Park.

We arrived to find several pickup trucks out front with families standing around. The office person was very friendly but the facility looked ridden hard and put away wet. (My horse analogy for the day). The office person commented on trying out a few sites and while saying so her apparent significant other popped out behind a curtain and gave advice. Evidently a really bad thunderstorm had come through the day before and power and internet was iffy. She was also trying to accommodate my request to have open sky for my Starlink since I was covering for my Chief Medical Officer and needed full time access to the internet. Off we went following her golf cart. After a long round about trip we pulled into one spot only to have her say no lets try another. We circled back way out to the entrance and then back to a longer spot. Second time a winner. Very nice people so far. After an uneventful set up we hunkered down for the night as dark clouds moved in.

This campground has animals a winner for Jo. Goats, Sheep, horse and ponies. Wind was away from us so all good lol. That night we watched lightning flashes all around us and hoped another bad storm wasn’t moving in.

Aside from rumble strip noise from the nearby interstate we had a fairly uneventful night. This was a two night stop to rest and see a little of the Route 66. Shamrock had been a major intersection of Rt 66 (East coast to West coast) and RTE 83 (Mexico to Canada route) before the Interstate allowed faster travel meaning a day trip was much longer and a stop in Shamrock wasnt needed. Once the Interstate was built it is pretty evident that the town fell into disrepair. Many many stores and businesses are boarded up. Kinda sad to imagine once very busy family businesses gradually went away and frankly hard to imagine what you do for a living other than farming and where you go for groceries etc. That said there were many hotels, motels, fast food transient related businesses and gas stations for those of us just passing through. And Hasty’s restaurant/diner.

Hasty’s popped up on local businesses as a place to eat. We headed there for a quick burger. The diner seemed busy and even had a drive through….how does that work for non fast food….it appeared no one was in a hurry and we saw trucks come and 10 minutes or more later make it around the building to the order pick up window. We walked in and it appeared no one would be telling us where to sit so we picked out a booth and waited. Eventually a nice local person came over and said you need to order at the counter so off we went. Many diner type choices and many great sayings on the wall about we dont care who you are or who you think you are or who your daddy is we reserve the right to not serve you etc lol. We ordered burgers on Texas toast (hey we were in Texas) and after a moment of indecision changed my Diet Coke to a chocolate shake (cmon its a diner). And we went back to our table to wait. Lots of local farmers were coming in and shaking hands….waitress in her 70’s came out with our order and spent 5-10 minutes chatting with friends at nearby tables. Some cowboy hats but more baseball caps. A real fun place that showed the camaraderie still present in a town that had seen better days.

One thing I found out while looking for things to do beyond taking a day off from the road was the gas station used in the animated movie “Cars”. I hadnt seen the movie but driving into town and seeing the gas station it looked as if Disney had designed the old ConocoPhillips station then made the movie rather than it being a pre-existing station. This was not the functional only design we see today but a design the architect had to be proud of. No wonder they used it as the model for the movie fast station.

With lots of lightning our first night and the reference by the owner I wondered if a bad storm swept across the open prairie where would we go and then found what looked like bunkers. And the more I looked they were scattered across the campsite. Not a common campground experience in the northeast lol.

It was a nice visit to Shamrock, Texas that gave us some insights into local Texas people and places. The next day we headed to Benton, Texas half way between Waco and Austin Texas for a 3 night stay. Both places we wanted to see.