It’s Day Six of our Route 66 road-trip, driving from Weatherford, Oklahoma (Is this the Way?) to Amarillo, Texas. Who are we? Jeff and Jane, expat Brits living in Santa Monica, California. We have just finished our number one bucket-list item – driving Route 66 from Chicago back to our home town. Our mission? To Eat Vegan on Route 66 and share our experiences with you.

Route 66: Leg Power and Wind Power

First stop, the tiny One Room Jail just before the Texas border. Here, we met the marvelous but mad Swiss, Marcos. He is cycling the whole of Route 66, plus New York to Chicago, plus Los Angeles to San Francisco. And this was his second time doing it! He put us to shame in our air-conditioned Jeep, although we agreed he was totally insane.

Next, we arrived in the deserted town of Shamrock, home of the delicious art-deco Conoco Tower Gas Station. Of course it was closed, but at least the original restroom was open, clean and in working order. The only resident seemed to be a giant snake that reared up as we passed in the car.

Noticeably, hundreds of wind turbines dot the landscape of the High Plains of Texas. In fact, there are 11,000 in the region but the power grid infrastructure limits their usage. Even so, Texas generates 20% of its power from wind and has the highest number of wind turbines by state. Not bad for the oil capital of America!

How to Eat Vegan on Route 66: Curry not Steak

As we arrived in Amarillo, we drove along the historic 6th Avenue with its bars and diners. Tonight, though, we chose a motel purely based on its location next to an Indian restaurant with vegan options. Nothing excites a vegan Brit more than that! Unfortunately, the Atrea Inn is cheap and cheerful, but with rather dismal rooms.

From there, we walked to the Georgia Street Taphouse, a nondescript sports bar, for a beer. On the way back, there was a vast plume of black toxic smoke coming from a parking lot, where hot rods were deliberately ‘burning rubber’. Apparently, this is called a ‘car show’ in Amarillo!

Thankfully, the Indian Oven proved to be a delicious vegan-friendly option as we dined on Daal Tadka and Chili Channa. The Sikh owner was friendly and we had a great discussion on food and religion. Next morning, Jason’s Deli was able to rustle up a plant-based Southwestern Bowl and Spinach Wrap – so rather a successful way to Eat Vegan on Route 66 in the home of the The Big Texan Steak Ranch.

Just Stop Oil with Wind

Tip of The Day – If you’re worried about the carbon footprint of your journey, then it’s easy to carbon offset your emissions with Sustainable Travel International. It cost us just $10 to cover our 2,300 mile road-trip. Of course, as a vegan you are already cutting your food’s carbon footprint by half!

Finally, use my public shared Google Map Route 66 Vegan to locate all the places mentioned on this trip.

Miles Traveled Today: 202

Total Miles Traveled: 1137

Next stop – Albuquerque, New Mexico.