Route 66 traverses the city of Amarillo, mid-panhandle Texas, about halfway between Albuquerque and Oklahoma City. For motorists getting their kicks on the Mother Road, a mandatory stop is the Cadillac Ranch. A few miles west of the city, ten Cadillacs, vintages 1949 to 1963, are half-buried at an angle, in line, nose down, tail fins pointed skyward.
Category: Places
Places I remember
Transgender and Sanitation
I’m so glad to live in an affluent country where we can have controversy and outrage about who is using which public rest room. And where state legislatures controlled by purported small-government politicians can pass laws prohibiting local governments from legislating certain things. Poorer countries have concerns about toilets more basic than the gender of the person using one.
1906 Santa Rosa Earthquake
The famous earthquake hit San Francisco 110 years ago. But fifty miles to the north, a sleepy Sonoma County town suffered worse devastation.
Merle Haggard – March 2014
The band came out first, dressed in dark suits. They warmed up the crowd with a couple songs before Merle Haggard came on stage. He also wore a suit. Underneath his jacket, instead of white shirt and tie, he sported a red hoodie sweatshirt, white drawstrings hanging down. The hood flopped in the back; a cowboy hat was pulled down over his gray mane.
The Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the Sea is a long way from Bakersfield by most any measure. This show attracted more cowboy boots than had ever been inside the venue. Haggard prefaced the song “Workin’ Man Blues” by saying people in Carmel might not understand it, but then “You probably did all your working before you got to Carmel.”
He closed the show with the provocative “Okie From Muskogee.” 
Haggard’s parents came from Oklahoma to Oildale, California, where Merle was born. He introduced the song by saying he had written it for his father. He instructed the audience to sing the first line, “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee.” He said that wasn’t loud enough and to do it again. We did, with more enthusiasm. Haggard finished the song by stating he doesn’t smoke marijuana much any more.
Click here for a later version of “Okie” with Marty Stuart and Willie Nelson.
Team Mascot Report
The Washington Redskins controversy still simmers. The team’s owners are adamant that the name is not derogatory to Native Americans. A majority of NFL fans argue that the name is benign. Most people with “reddish” skin find it offensive.
Our 51st State?
A recent road trip took me through the heart of the State of Jefferson, our 51st state. What’s that, you say? We have only 50 states? Read on.