Day 10: Tucumcari, NM to McAlester, OK – Flying Saddlebags, Buc-ee’s Magic, and Barbed Wire Nostalgia
What a day. Day 10 of our Route 66 100th Anniversary tour tested our patience, our gear, and our stamina as we pushed hard across state lines—crossing out of New Mexico, blasting through the Texas Panhandle, and rolling deep into Oklahoma.
From road-tested mechanical duct-tape fixes to sweet moments with young future riders, today was filled with classic Mother Road memories.
Sunrises, Flying Saddlebags, and Crop Dusters
We woke up to a gorgeous Southwest sunrise, though the bikes were completely soaked from a heavy overnight rain. We wiped down the saddles, loaded up the gear, and pointed the front wheels straight toward the Texas border.
Right as we crossed the New Mexico–Texas state line, disaster struck.
A semi-truck behind us started laying on his horn. We pulled over onto the shoulder to check what was up, and sure enough: Blake’s left saddlebag was completely missing.
It had unpinned itself and bounced straight off his bike at highway speed! Blake turned back to retrieve it, finding it bruised and battered on the side of the road. I guess all the extra weight from the water bottles and Cokes we’d been packing finally stressed the mounting pin until it gave up.
We limped a few miles down the road into the tiny town of Lela, where we got a front-row seat to a crop duster working a field right next to the highway. He was flying impossibly low, coming in fast, and turning on a dime. It was incredible to watch—though it definitely made you want to hop in the cockpit for a quick joyride.
Gravel Showers, Buc-ee’s, and Future Riders
As we closed in on our scheduled pit stop, we got stuck behind a massive gravel truck—Sanchez Trucking—that was spewing sand, bits of rock, and aggregate chunks all over the highway. It was peppering us non-stop, getting into our eyes, and leaving us with the literal taste of sand in our mouths.
We finally pulled into the giant Buc-ee’s to escape the gravel shower and get to work.
- Shopping List: Ice, cold drinks, and a roll of heavy-duty duct tape.
- The Repair: We wrapped Blake’s battered saddlebag up tight with duct tape. It might not look pretty, but it’ll hold until he gets home!
As we were gearing up to leave the parking lot, I noticed a little boy named Isaiah watching us with wide eyes. He clearly loved the motorcycles and desperately wanted to come check them out, but when I waved at him, he got shy and hid behind his mom (and started crying a little from the shyness!). I walked over and handed him one of our custom Stator Hater chips. He instantly beamed with a giant smile and gave us a big wave as we fired up the bikes and rode off.
Barbed Wire Nostalgia & Luigi’s Tire Shop
Our next stop was McLean, Texas, home to the Devil’s Rope / Texas Barbed Wire Museum.
Browsing the displays brought back a ton of personal memories. My dad used to collect vintage barbed wire when I was younger, and I recognized a lot of the exact patterns on display—I’m pretty sure he still has a box of them sitting in his garage back home! Fun fact we learned inside: the first known use of barbed wire in Texas was back in 1857 by John Grinninger, who ran it along the top of his fence to protect his garden.
We continued down the road into Shamrock, Texas, to pull up to the iconic U-Drop Inn.
We had stayed across the street at our old hotel earlier in the trip, but the U-Drop Inn was actually open today! We ducked inside to grab our daily stickers and patches. Movie fans will recognize the distinct art deco architecture instantly—it served as the real-world inspiration for Luigi’s Casa Della Tires in the movie Cars.
Bridges, Push-Pops, and “Hot Rod Lincoln”
Cruising on toward the Oklahoma state line, we rolled across the famous Timber Creek Bridge in Elk City.
Built between 1926 and 1927, this historic yellow truss bridge is 99 feet long and only 18 feet wide. Meeting an oncoming semi-truck on that narrow deck will definitely make your knuckles go white!
Once through, we filled up in Elk City and grabbed a quick lunch at Braum’s before spending a couple of hours exploring the National Route 66 Museum. It’s a fantastic setup—packed with vintage neon signs, classic cars, motorcycles, and full-scale recreations of 1920s–1950s storefronts showing what Mother Road life looked like during its heyday.
While hanging out by the retro soda shop in the back of the museum:
- Billy grabbed himself a classic orange push-up pop.
- He dropped some change into the old-school jukebox and queued up “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
It was the perfect soundtrack for the afternoon. As we were walking out, the sweet lady at the front counter even handed us all free commemorative pins!
Wrapping Up Day 10
We hopped onto Interstate 40 for a short stint before veering onto Highway 270 through Seminole, eventually rolling into McAlester, Oklahoma, to check into the Hampton Inn.
Blake had a wild hair and wanted to keep riding another 4 hours straight to Hot Springs (which would have put our ETA after 10:15 PM). But after logging over 500 miles for the day, the rest of the crew was completely spent.
We voted to call it a night, ordered some pizzas straight to the hotel, and kicked back to watch Joe Dirt in the air conditioning.
Tomorrow’s Plan: Kickstands up at 6:30 AM for the home stretch push to Germantown, TN! Catch you on the road.
