DAY 2: Pamela's Birthday

Today is Pam's birthday and we woke up eager to get started,. The first stop on the itinerary was Jack Sisemore's RV Museum, a free walk through museum highly recommended on things to do in Amarillo and we have to agree. These pristine RV's give a glimpse into Jack's life as well as the Camping/Traveling  culture dating back to the 50's and beyond. At the end of the walk through we were greeted by an older gentleman that thanked us for coming out and when we introduced ourselves he said he was Jack Sisemore and that he's there everyday. He told us a few stories of his travels and specific campers that were his since he was a child, he's now 74 years old and one of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. He loves seeing guests enjoy his collection, so sign the guestbook if you happen to pass through.

Jack Sisemore's RV Museum

 

This is the bus used on Robin Williams movie 'RV'.

The story of Jack and how he began his business.

A Makeshift gas station similar to the first Jack owned.

Pamela and the man himself, Jack Sisemore

Jack explained that this was the first A.C. unit for cars, fill with water and the air passing through is cooled and ventilated into the car, DO NOT OVERFILL!

Our next stop was the famous Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation and sculpture built in 1974 consisting of old half buried Cadillacs at an angle
at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Be sure to bring Spray Paint when you visit.

The Birthday Girl

Representing the foundation of our Adventure!

Keep and eye out from the highway when traveling through New Mexico, you may not know what you will see, in this case, a Tyrannosaurus Rex made of metal or an extinct Volcano you thought was a Mountain. Even though i've been to Colorado when i was a teenager, Pamela had never seen Mountains in person before, it was great to see them for the first time all over again through her eyes.

Life imitating art, or art imitating life?

Historical marker explaining the extinct volcano just behind it.

A sign you don't see in Texas too often.

The view made for a pleasant drive.

A disturbing monument to America's past. Reading about places to visit off the route, i learned about the Ludlow Massacre,
an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914. Some two dozen people, including women and children, were killed. The chief owner of the mine, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was widely criticized for the incident. The Monument lists the names of the people killed on this site 4 men 2 women and 11 children, and 30 were killed total. The Cellar pictured was under a house that was set a blaze, the women and children sought refuge there where they perished. I tried to go down but upon opening the cellar door, i noticed black widows, so i quickly changed my mind. Just off in the distance were remnants of the old shops and school, and i believe a jailhouse.

The Ludlow Massacre Monument

The Cellar where the women and children sought refuge.

The old school houses with what used to be a slide and a flagpole, just a few hundred yards from the Massacre site.

One of the school houses.

Inside the school house.

Old stores just yards away from the school houses, and Massacre site.