After Glenrio we got back on I40 and headed across the Texas panhandle passing by Amarillo. Just before Amarillo on the south side of the highway is the Cadillac Ranch which we looked at in passing. In retrospect I wish that we would have stopped and taken a closer look and taken some pictures. The display is a group of Cadillacs partially buried in the ground. Is it art or junk? I guess it is in the eye of the beholder. There is more information and pictures at the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cadillac_ranch
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
We made it all the way across the panhandle and into Oklahoma. It's sure a lot shorter across the panhandle of Texas than across the wider part on I20 that we took on the way out.
We decided to stop overnight at Weatherford, Oklahoma. We looked in our handy campground guide and saw that there was an RV park on old Rte 66 at Weatherford so we programmed Amelia (our GPS) to take us there. The park was owned and operated by a nice lady who took some time to talk with us about living on Rte 66. She said that her and her husband had raised their family there and lived there during the hayday of Rte 66 before I40 was completed. Her place was on Rte 66 and looking out from the front of her property not real far away was I40 and in between was a large Kodak plant. She had run the park for the last 60 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cadillac_ranch
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
We made it all the way across the panhandle and into Oklahoma. It's sure a lot shorter across the panhandle of Texas than across the wider part on I20 that we took on the way out.
We decided to stop overnight at Weatherford, Oklahoma. We looked in our handy campground guide and saw that there was an RV park on old Rte 66 at Weatherford so we programmed Amelia (our GPS) to take us there. The park was owned and operated by a nice lady who took some time to talk with us about living on Rte 66. She said that her and her husband had raised their family there and lived there during the hayday of Rte 66 before I40 was completed. Her place was on Rte 66 and looking out from the front of her property not real far away was I40 and in between was a large Kodak plant. She had run the park for the last 60 years.
She related that her husband worked for the railroad and when the children were small she wanted to buy a movie camera to record the children. So while her husband was away she and the kids would go across the highway and pick cotton for the farmer there. She said that it was hard work but she eventually bought the camera. It would have been nice to spend some time with her and learn more about when Route 66 was the main road through town and the subsequent changes that I40 brought about. Maybe next time!
Weatherford had a complex of 98 wind generators over a 66 acre area close to town. Most of these are installed and I think owned by Florida Power and Light which seems odd at first but I guess it doesn't matter if it's a long way from Florida as long as there's a power grid nearby to insert the power.
Each generator generates 1.5 megawatts of power. The town has an information display in a park across the the town hall that explains the operation of the windmills. They have one of the blades on display there.
The blades for the windmill are 122 feet long and as you can see below the bolt circle to attach it to the generator is almost as tall as I am.
The blade is quite wide. It's 262 feet from the ground to the center of the hub on the generator, with the blades installed the propellers are 252 feet in diameter. I think this adds up to about 390 feet from the ground to the top of the propeller. These things are big!
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