Well, we made it, but all did not go well.  When we left the house, our flight was reporting as on time.  By the time we got to the airport, our Richmond-Dallas flight was delayed an hour, which already meant we would miss our connection at DFW.  (Can't make it from one terminal to another and on the plane in 7 minutes, even if the Richmond flight actually landed when the new time suggested.  Can't even make it off the plane in that amount of time.)  On the bright side, the sole agent checking in passengers at RIC (?!) was able to get us on a flight to Amarillo that would get us in only about 2 hours later than originally planned. A little bonus was that we ran into the woman who is the new IB English 12/TOK teacher at Henrico High School, picking up where I left off.

So far, not so good, but could have been worse.

Next phase:  Dallas to Amarillo:  it got worse.  Within moments of the gate agent starting the boarding process, the powers that be closed the ramp (all the airport outside except the runways) due to lightning.   Delay impossible to determine.  The good news is that we weren't already on the plane, or we'd have been waiting there.  The bad news is that once we finally got on the plane, about 30 minutes late, we ended up sitting there for more than an hour anyway.  The ramp may have been open, but the pilot didn't make it.  So first, new pilot brought in from somewhere--fortunately not far.  Second, powers that be decided to reroute the flight, so we had to wait for paperwork.  Third, the new route was longer, and there was insufficient fuel, so we had to wait for a fuel truck.  THAT took more than 30 minutes.  Fourth, we had to wait for the fuel truck to pump 900 pounds of fuel into the plane.  The really annoying part of that was that I got a text update from American Airlines literally every 10 minutes telling us that the flight had been rescheduled for the time the text was sent, when, of course, we were obviously not leaving.  Six of those later....

We finally left nearly 2 hours late for Amarillo.  

The upside was that the plane was less than half full.   We each got a row to ourselves (in the extra legroom row), and I got to finish watching Molly's Game, which I had started on the flight from Richmond.  I recommend that highly.

We arrived without incident in Amarillo, got the bags and car about as easily as was possible, and were on our way to Route 66.

We checked in to our hotel, the Route 66 Inn.  Tim did a lot of research before we left to find classic Route 66 hotels that are highly recommended by Route 66 tourists. (A lot of those hotels have become flop houses.)  This one already appears to be a winner:  the clerk came down to our room because he realized that he had not coded the room key for both nights, and he took it back, fixed it, and returned it.  This is in stark contrast to our hotel in Toledo, where the clerk threw away our folder of travel plans, including $100 worth of baseball tickets, because it was apparently too much trouble to call the room and let us know we had left it on the counter.

We then went for an immediate late dinner to the Big Texan Steak Ranch, known far and wide (literally) for its 72oz steak challenge.  The rules are here (and you should read them--they are hilarious!), but basically, if you can eat a  72oz steak, a baked potato, a salad, a roll and butter, and three fried shrimp in 60 minutes, you get the meal free and your name on the winners board.  If you fail, you forfeit the $72, which has to be paid up front. This challenge has been in existence since the steakhouse opened in 1960, and there have been 9649 winners so far.   I did the math...that works out to a winner on average every 1.78 days.  When two guys showed up to try it while we were there, I asked the waitress how many people take the challenge; she said "About 20 a day."  You read that right.  More on a busy weekend--up to 30.  Even if we assume some days slower, and take an average of 10 per day, that's roughly 200,000 people who have been crazy enough to try it.  I am boggled at every aspect of this mania.  She also confirmed my assumption that the VAST majority of people who try it are men.  Why was I not surprised?  This contest obviously could only happen in America, and it taps a deep vein of macho idiocy along the lines of the Darwin Award phenomenon.  The genius who thought this up has made millions for Big Texan Steak ranch:  at 190,000 losers, that's a lot of dough paid over up front.  The story of the genesis of this contest is here, and it is also worth reading.

At any rate, they put the challenger(s) up on a platform with a special table, and they run a timer over their heads.   The whole restaurant, perhaps needless to say, rushes over to watch and take pictures.  I was profoundly glad that we were finishing up when our two got started, so we did not have to witness the end--or whatever dire failure happened along the way.  (Our two were drinking beer as well--cuz, yeah.  That's not filling.)  

The most recent winner (on July 3rd) was a guy from Australia, who managed to eat the whole thing in just under 40 minutes. Utter madness.

A quite entertaining way to end the first day on Route 66.

Tomorrow, we head to our first two NPS sites:  Lake Meredith and Alibates Flint Quarries.