Route 66 Part Four: Into the Desert

The Blue Swallow Motel, in vintage neon, in Tucumcari, New Mexico

(where we DIDN'T stay)

“Tu - cum - car - i, Tucumcari” Brian was chanting, sounding like Babe the pig trying to befriend the sheep. It was Monday morning, September 1st, we were 40 miles into New Mexico. Tucumcari is neon heaven. The renovating Safari Motel where we stayed was planning on $20,000 to fix their sign. We had seen great examples the night before, including the Blue Swallow Motel, (above), which didn’t allow dogs. (dang it)

Our goal Monday was to get to Gallup, but we had a side trip planned to Santa Fe. We weren’t deserting 66, we were following the path of the original route that made it’s way to the Santa Fe trail. There were rock stops on the way and the road the guide book took us on was nice. We did get a little lost once and ended up in a Bible resort, but we put the car in reverse and got out fast.

Santa Fe is surrounded by sprawl but the center of it is very beautiful and peaceful, a teeny river runs through it. When we got there we found full parking lots and a craft/art fair in the main square. Brian held the dogs while I ran into the churches.

San Miguel Mission is the oldest church in the USA, built by Spanish missionaries and the Natives they brought with them in 1610. The Cathedral is much newer, 1887, but still okay. We walked the dogs along the river and through town then made a quick exit. The Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown had a much nicer time, maybe next time.

Next, after dropping back down on 84 to Moriarty, was Route 66 into Albuquerque, (now that’s hard to spell). The big A is a bonanza of old Route 66 buildings. My doctor’s office told us we had to stop at the Route 66 Diner, so we did. Walking in I had the impression that it had all the charm of a Johnny Rockets. While we waited for a waiter, I checked out the Road Food site for an alternative. Surprise! Road Food had reviewed the place and Michael Stern himself had liked it. R-E-L-I-E-F. The place was built in ’92, I pondered, so maybe we had to give it a little credit for the 66 revival. The fried okra was great.

It seemed to take a long time to get out of the Big A. When we did, we lost 66 for awhile, buried under 44. We got off at Mesita where 66 picked up again. The road through Laguna Pueblo was an almost religious experience, and I was so taken back that I forgot to take pictures. The land has been populated for 5,000 years, rocks had names, there were house ruins made of rocks and the road had Dead Man curves.

We made our way to Gallup, 66 got easier, we relaxed. The red setting sun lit the red rocks, all was good, all was beautiful.

Then we arrived at the Best Western in Gallup. It was on the far west side, there was nothing near by, and the only window in the room opened to an enclosed corridor. It wasn’t pretty. But we had a few beers and went to bed.

We woke, we packed, we headed back into Gallup for breakfast. Wendy Zuverink, a middle school friend of Brian’s who used to teach in Gallup told us to go to Jerry’s for “local flavor”. We arrived just as the venetian blinds were being raised. A beautiful woman brought us menus. “The sopaipillas aren’t ready,” she apologized when she brought our food, “So I brought you fresh tortillas”. They were as warm as her welcome. A really great breakfast lifted the mood.

We headed off to Arizona, into the desert and made our way to our first National Park. The Petrified Forest tour starts with the Painted Desert and then goes south into the land of trees turned to stone. I had pulled into a view point when I told Brian of my first time there as a teenager. I was disappointed then because I had envisioned a standing forest of petrified trees not a bunch of stone logs on the desert sand. One look at Brian’s frown and I knew he had had the same vision, until that moment. “The trees had all fell down”. We hurried through the rest of the park.

We made our way into Holbrook and the second great meal of the day at Joe and Aggie’s. Not only did Road Food know this place but so did our spiral bound tour book. There were a few booths, petrified wood for sale in a bushel basket and we finally got to taste sopaipillas. We took a quick tour of the Wigwam motel, Brian named all of the owner’s cars that had been characters in the movie “Cars”.

We headed off to our second National Park and Brian’s first view of the Grand Canyon.

- - - David

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