I can’t say we woke up feeling refreshed after our short night’s sleep in Tucumcari, but we were ready to get back on the road and cover some more ground for our road trip in the US.
Our plan was to try and hit up some more of the Route 66 roadside attractions in Oklahoma that we hadn’t gotten to the first time around. But somewhere that we hadn’t planned on stopping, until we saw the sign for it on the highway, was Shamrock, Texas.
One of the best aspects of a road trip in the US is that it’s such a huge country and there are always small towns to explore right off the highways. I’d experienced a little bit of this last year when we’d stopped in Metropolis to gawk at the Superman memorabilia.
Shamrock, Texas, sounded like our kind of place. Or maybe we were just imagining lots of little leprechauns and pots of gold. Either way, a sneaky little Route 66 marker told us all that we needed to know: that if we pulled off the highway at this exit, there’s a good chance there’s something pretty cool there.
In reality, Shamrock is one of the sleepiest and smallest towns I’ve ever seen. Empty shop fronts were strung with aged four leaf clovers; an obvious leftover from St Patrick’s Day (after all, I would hope that in a place called Shamrock, they do St Patty’s pretty well). It seemed as though the most we would get from this quaint little town was a tankful of gas.
That was, until we walked the length of the Main Street and saw an old Conoco gas station staring us in the face, complete with Route 66 markings and Art Deco architecture. It was much more impressive than the one we’d seen on our previous USA road trip, and it looked even more grandiose in the strong sunlight.
The Conoco isn’t open anymore, but the U Drop Inn is; a small little cafe situated to the right of it. The cafe opened at the same time as the gas station, back in 1936, but then closed in the 90s. After a local bank realised its landmark status, they purchased it and re-opened it in 1997. It now belongs to the city and I’m sure there are some interesting conversations to be had over a cup of coffee within its walls.
We didn’t have time for a coffee as the open road was calling us again, but if Shamrock taught me anything, it’s that you should always take the turn off the highway. You never know what you might stumble on.
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