The students have now been virtually running and walking
Route 66 for 20 weeks. They're doing great in getting
mileage in each week, in spite of the zero temperatures
we've had for the past several days. This was a fantastic
week for the 5th graders! It was their second highest
mileage week since the journey began! They're now only 11
miles from the halfway point and closed the gap a bit
between them and the leading 4th graders. Currently, the 5th
graders are 128½
miles behind the 4th graders. If the 5th graders can keep
putting in a strong effort each week, they just might reach
California before the 4th graders.
The 5th grade class is currently in
Vega, Texas, a town
of 936 people. They only have
about 40 miles remaining in the state of Texas! Yahoo!!
They're just about done with their 5th state, and there's
only 3 states remaining until reaching the ocean! This week
the 5th graders ran through
Amarillo, Texas
- the 11th largest city in Texas with about 175,000 people.
Amarillo was once home to an event called the "Chicken
Follies". There was once a grocery store owner who used a
very unique approach to try and get customers. He would have
daily specials to try and get people to come to his
store and buy chicken. To draw people's attention, he
would climb up onto the roof and toss live chickens off the
edge. Now, while it's a fact that chickens in their natural
state can do a little bit of flying, these were market-ready
chickens, meaning that their wings had been clipped. They
would fly about as good as a rock covered in feathers! It
wasn't the best treatment of animals ever recorded in
history, and it certainly drew the attention of curious
people.
The 5th grade class also ran and walked past
Cadillac Ranch
this week. The ranch features a row of 10 Cadillac cars
embedded halfway into the ground at an angle. It's a very
eye-catching display! Also, if you watch the animated Disney
movie "Cars" you'll notice that the mountains in the
background of Carburetor County were drawn in the same shape
as the cars of Cadillac Ranch. Look at the picture to the
left and you'll see the angled mountains, which are shaped
just like the Cadillac cars at Cadillac Ranch.
So, at the moment the 5th graders are
in Vega, Texas... a place where you can stay at the Vega
Motel and see a lot of furniture and antiques from the 1940s.
There's not a lot to do in Vega, so check into the Vega
Motel and maybe you can find the movie "Cars" on the Disney
Channel. The town of Adrian, Texas - the official halfway point on
Route 66 - is 11 miles away and they'll easily reach that
point next week.
The 4th grade class is currently in
Cuervo, New Mexico - an empty ghost town
along Route 66. Cuervo means "small raven" in Spanish. One of
the old abandoned gas stations was actually made from an old
Santa Fe Railroad box car! The 4th graders have climbed in
elevation and are currently at 4,859 feet (which is about
1,500 feet higher than Missoula). This week they truly went
through some empty countryside without many places to stop
and get water. They saw some of this landscape a couple of
weeks ago when we watched part of a documentary on the 1928
run across America that Andy Payne won. The dusty, empty
dirt roads that Andy ran through on the Southwest portion of Route 66 eighty years ago
are what the 4th graders are traveling on now. However,
Santa Rosa Lake is only about 15 miles ahead, so we suggest that
they stop there... take a swim... and get a good drink!
It won't be long before both classes are once again in the
same state. Once the 5th grade class logs another 40 miles,
both classes will be in New Mexico. Soon the classes will be
receiving a worksheet on Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico that
Mr. Staso is preparing. There's always so many interesting
things about each state that we can't include in these
weekly journal entries, and we don't want the kids to miss
out on learning cool stuff! Thanks for stopping by and
checking in on these Route 66 travelers!
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Journal Entry > >
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5th Grade (39 students): Added
95
miles this week. Their total
is 1,128
miles. They have 1,150 miles
left and are 50% done with the trek. They are only 11
miles from the halfway point! Awesome week 5th grade!
