Turbines, Cadillacs, and Steaks: Route 66 Through the Texas Panhandle

What’s left of Route 66 in Texas stretches across its Panhandle from Oklahoma to New Mexico, often as a frontage road for Interstate 40. On either side, grasslands stream by, the scenery broken by wind turbines rotating like giant pinwheels on the horizon and the occasional oil derrick. But the communities and attractions along this part of the Mother Road — which celebrates its 100^th anniversary in 2026 — make it a classic American road trip.

Shamrock

Fifteen miles from the Oklahoma border, Shamrock is Texas’s first Route 66 stop and home to one of its most famous attractions, the Conoco Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café. If the art deco building looks vaguely familiar, it should: The Conoco Tower Station inspired Ramone’s Body Shop in Cars. Stop by the attached diner, named the U-Drop Inn by an 11-year-old boy in a contest, for pulled pork and brisket dishes before heading to the Pioneer West Museum.

Located in a brick building that was once the Reynolds Hotel when it opened in 1929, the museum displays local history, from Native Americans and early settlers to astronaut Alan Bean, a Panhandle native. Curator De-An Turner says many visitors stop by after visiting the Route 66-era Magnolia Gas Station next door, which the museum also manages.

McLean

Founded by English rancher Alfred Rowe, who later lost his life on the Titanic, McLean has two local history museums that cover Route 66. The first, the McLean-Alanreed Area Museum focuses on city founders and residents, and has a good display on the McLean Prisoner of War Camp, which housed approximately 3,000 German prisoners during World War II.

Nearby, the Devil’s Rope Museum tells the story of barbed wire, covering its invention and use by cattle ranchers as well as by soldiers on the battlefield. It also has a large room dedicated to Route 66 memorabilia.

McLean also boasts the first Phillips 66 gas station on Route 66. (According to the National Museum of American History, Phillips Petroleum Company executives chose the Phillips 66 name because the car testing its fuel reached 66 miles per hour on Route 66.) Like the two gas stations in Shamrock, you can only walk around the 1928 station’s exterior, but for Route 66 enthusiasts, it’s worth the stop to see its cottage style architecture, complete with a beige brick chimney and black shingled roof.

Jericho Gap

The small town of Alanreed and two ghost towns separate McLean from Jericho Gap. Although Jericho Gap is also a ghost town, its owners, Blair and Blanca Schaffer, welcome visitors to stop. Blanca says they originally looked at the property because they wanted extra land to farm, but then learned Blair’s family had ties to Jericho Gap, including family members buried in its cemetery.

“When we started digging into Jericho, it was almost like our duty to continue the legacy,” Blanca explains.

Not much remains of the town, which once had 100 residents, beyond a crumbling gas station and its adjoining motel rooms, but the Schaffers have plans to one day open a museum and maybe an Airbnb on the site. To raise money for restoration, they host metal detecting excursions, stargazing, and 5k and 10k runs.

Groom

Nicknamed the Leaning Tower of Texas, the Britten Tower tips toward I-40 at exit 114, just before you enter Groom. The owner of the gas station that once stood nearby purposely built the tower in the early 1980s to lure drivers off the interstate. Today, you can’t get close to it, but you can pull off the side of the frontage road and pose for a picture pretending to hold it up.

Two exits down on the south side of the interstate, the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ stands 19 stories high, making it the third largest cross in the western hemisphere. On a clear day, you can see it from 20 miles away, according to Daphne Adkins, owner of Daphne’s Tour & Travel.

Visitors can stop to walk past the stations of the cross statues surrounding it any time of the day or night.

Amarillo

From Groom, it’s about 30 minutes to Amarillo. As we exit I-40 and retrace Route 66 through the city and into downtown, Adkins points out buildings that were once motels and restaurants, including the original location of The Big Texan Steak Ranch & Brewery.

The restaurant famous for its 72-ounce steak challenge — eat the entire steak and sides in under an hour and your meal is free — now occupies a spot along I-40. If you have time, overnight in Amarillo (The Barfield, Autograph Collection offers elegant downtown accommodations) and watch hungry diners try their luck while you enjoy a smaller steak.

The city’s Route 66 Historic District is a good place to pick up Route 66 the next day and search for souvenirs. Stretching along a mile of SW 6^th Avenue on Amarillo’s west side, the district has a mix of antique stores, art galleries, and restaurants.

Before you leave Amarillo, stop at Cadillac Ranch. The art installation of 10 spray-painted Cadillacs buried nose-first into the ground is one of Route 66’s most iconic sites. After parking along the frontage road, you can purchase spray paint from a vendor and leave your own mark on the cars.

Vega

A Route 66 road trip continues past Bushland and Wildorado to Vega, where the Magnolia Gas Station predates the Mother Road. Donny Allred, a retired Oldham County judge who now volunteers at the small museum inside the gas station, says that people from all over the world sign the guestbook.

“It’s amazing the people that stop here and are fascinated by the cowboy culture and Route 66,” he says.

Across the street, the Milburn-Price Culture Museum displays the Model T that inspired the character of Lizzie in the “Cars” movie and has the world’s largest branding iron on its front lawn. Behind the museum, visitors can step inside a wind turbine blade and walk partially down its length.

If you have a sweet tooth, stop at Mama Jo’s Pies & Sweets where the pies feature handmade crusts using owner Joann Harwell’s family recipe. The pies are so good that, from now on, anytime I drive I-40 through Texas, I’m detouring into Vega for a slice.

Adrian

A white line across the main road in Adrian marks the halfway point of Route 66. Park at the Midpoint Café for a photo-op before heading in for burgers and fries. According to Adkins, the café’s former owner, Fran Houser, inspired another Cars character, Flo.

Next door to the café, the Dream Station sells souvenirs. Depending on the time of year, the souvenir shop and café can be jammed with people documenting the midpoint of their road trip.

Glenrio

The ghost town of Glenrio spills from Texas into New Mexico, and besides a cannabis dispensary across the border, there’s little to see here except the white 1968 Pontiac Catalina parked in front of a shuttered gas station. Over the years, the car that Larry Lee Travis once owned has become a dark attraction after he was murdered at his gas station in Adrian in 1976.

Following his death, his wife brought the car back to Glenrio and parked it at the gas station next door to her house. Please respect her privacy.

Although Route 66’s journey through Texas ends here, you’d ideally continue across New Mexico and through Arizona before ending at the Santa Monica Pier in California like drivers did during the road’s heyday. But if you can’t, Texas gives you a taste of the Mother Road’s quirky, fun, and welcoming small towns.