Just before I purchased my travel trailer, I signed up with a business named Harvest Hosts, which subsequently merged with an outfit called Boondockers Welcome. The premise behind this that there are businesses and people who will allow a traveler to spend the night at their location in exchange for patronage. I try to take advantage of these hosts when I travel between destinations. There is something nice about driving 300 miles and pulling into a brewery or winery and spending the night on their property after sampling their wares. All of the experiences have been great, and the hosts and I mostly consider this a win-win.
April, 18 2023 I stayed at Tallahassee Automobile & Collectibles Museum which happened to be excellent. They had a vast property to use for parking including many large trees available for shade. Its location was also superb since it was only a short drive off the highway and across the street was a good restaurant serving a good variety of beer. The museum housed an impressive private collection of cars including a nice run of 50’s Thunderbirds plus several renditions of the Batmobile. Classic cars in every direction.
The 19th was a stay in Alabaster, AL, home to Siluria Brewing Company. Train tracks were remarkably close to the business but this tends to be a common occurrence and not much of an issue. The people were very pleasant.
April 20 found me in Olive Branch, MS at Mississippi Ale House. It was pouring rain and I got soaked which haunts me to this day, but the beer was good and they served good pizza so I had no complaints. The weather kept the crowd down and this provided an opportunity to talk with the bartender who was an interesting guy to speak with.
Where else can you find this?
April 21 was Ozark, AR, home to Ox Bend Brewing. Along the way we stopped at Natural Bridgen in Arkansas, The largest natural bridge east of the Mississippi. This is their photo.
Once in Ozark, I had to back into a spot so that the hood of my truck was close to the road but the brewery was close to the town center and it was an easy walk. This place provided the most drama during the trip as Jasper J Wigglebottom escaped from the trailer when I returned from my visit to town and he began running recklessly all around. My friend dove after him, afraid that he would run into the road and he ended up with a bloody face and leg. He got stitches in the local ER plus a brain scan because he was on blood thinners. His face turned black and blue and stayed that way for a while. Below is the taproom at Ox Bend Brewing.
April 22 was Roughtail Brewing Company in Oklahoma City. Along the way we stopped at Fort Smith AR, which had one of the last used gallows in the US. They had a demonstration this day and fired a cannon which scared Jasper half to death.
Roughtail was nice enough except it was a busy day and there was a crowd present with a single bartender working. He was attentive and helpful to those he was serving but he had the same conversation five times in a row as people ordered flights of four beers and no one knew what they wanted. No doubt you will be pleased to know that I survived the horrible ordeal of waiting for a beer.
Next stop is the Bar Z Winery outside of Canyon Texas, conveniently located just south of Amarillo. I had two important stops there. First was the Route 66 visitor museum. Second was lunch.
The Museum
This was a fine place to visit and the people who worked there were friendly and knowledgeable. I enjoyed a nice Mexican meal in town and then headed to the winery. In their words, “Handcrafted, award-winning & distinctly Texan wines – full of flavor and bursting with personality.” Located on the rim of the historic Palo Duro Canyon, Bar Z features wines made from 100% Texas grapes. Our patio also has one of the best views in Canyon, Texas!”
This proved to be a great place to visit since Jasper could run around and get some exercise. This parking area was large and there were seven other RVs spending the night. We ended up spending $130 on wine, but it was nice talking with others who had visited some of the same hosts I had stayed at or had planned to stay with. The place is owned by a couple with the wife being very friendly and talkative, but the husband was a little odd and he spent some of the time walking around with a handgun tucked into his pants. Not exactly SOP for safety.
The next morning, I stopped at the largest 7-11 I had ever seen and proceeded to Santa FE for a stay at Santa Fe Skies RV Park. This segment was the only time I experienced high winds, but the truck and trailer performed well.
But first was a stop at the Cadilac Ranch. This is an art project that has been around for ages.
From Wikipedia:
Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm.
The installation consists of ten Cadillacs (1949–1963) buried nose-first in the ground. Installed in 1974, the cars were either older running, used or junk cars – together spanning the successive generations of the car line – and the defining evolution of their tailfins. The cars are inclined at the same angle as the pyramids of Giza.
Chip Lord and Doug Michels were architects; Marquez was an art student at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to Chip Lord, “Ant Farm was founded as an alternative architectural practice, kind of an experiment in an attempt to subvert normal corporate ways of doing architecture.”
According to Marquez, “Chip and I were living in the mountains north of San Francisco, and there was a book meant for kids left in a bar near where we lived. It was called ‘The Look of Cars,’[4] and there was something on the rise and fall of the tail fin. I didn’t have a lot to do, so I just sorta drew it up. I’ve always loved the Cadillacs.”
The group claims to have been given a list of eccentric millionaires in 1972 in San Francisco, identifying Stanley Marsh 3 of Amarillo amongst those who might be able to fund one of their projects and submitted it to him. Marsh’s response began “It’s going to take me awhile to get used to the idea of the Cadillac Ranch. I’ll answer you by April Fool’s Day. It’s such an irrelevant and silly proposition that I want to give it all my time and attention so I can make a casual judgment of it.”
Cadillac Ranch was originally located in a wheat field, but in 1997, the installation was quietly moved by a local contractor to a location two miles (three kilometers) to the west, to a cow pasture along Interstate 40, in order to place it farther from the limits of the growing city. Both sites belonged to the local millionaire Stanley Marsh 3, the patron of the project.
The park was very nice with a steady influx of travelers who mostly stayed a few days then resumed their journeys. I had a lot of fun talking to folks which was made easy by my close proximity to the dog park. Jasper launched his charm initiative and made lots of dog friends since he was in a playful mood given his confinement in the truck and trailer during the trip.
The dog park at Santa Fe Skies RV Park.
