Day 34 -- May 4, 2003 -- Sunday

46 degrees when we left our motel in Gallup. It rained during the night, but that didn't count against our amazing record of 34 days without rain as we were only counting rain that fell while we were driving or walking around seeing sights. It was so much cooler in California, Arizona, and New Mexico at this time of year than we ever thought it would be.

Sunday morning isn't a great time for sightseeing as most places are closed.

Gallup is filled with old motels with great neon signs. We thought we saw them last night, but we only saw part of Route 66. This morning, we saw far more. I was sorry I didn't get these photographed after dark so we could capture the great neon.

The El Rancho Hotel & Motel is famous. It was built in 1937, and many stars have stayed there. Most of the motels were pretty empty, but the El Rancho lot was packed.

Formally opened December 17, 1937, the El Rancho Hotel was built by the brother of movie mogul, D.W. Griffith. Drawn by the many films made in the area, Ronald Reagan, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Kirk Douglas were among the many stars who stayed there. Autographed photos of the stars, Navajo Rugs, and mounted trophy animal heads adorn the two-story lobby with its circular staircase.

The scenery on the east side of Gallup is extremely pretty -- mountains and red rock formations similar to Sedona. Right smack dab in front of some of the most beautiful scenery is the Vern Hamilton Construction Company's sand and gravel plant. What a blight.

The Red Rocks State Park was very pretty.

We visited a number of tiny towns today that are along Route 66. There wasn't much to see. Coolidge was interesting; the only access to the town appeared to be through a drainage-like tunnel, though the scenery was beautiful. Continental Divide consisted of two stores; the altitude is 7,295 feet -- no wonder it's so cool here. If it ever rains, the water will now be flowing to the Atlantic Ocean; that's what happens east of the Continental Divide. Bluewater had a Route 66 Swap Meet junk shop and a great neon sign at the long-closed Bluewater Motel. We saw a great-looking old barn between Bluewater and Grants. We saw black lava beds near McCartys as well as the ruins of a Whiting Bros. service station. We saw an old cafe in San Fidel and old cabins in Cubero. The Budville Trading Post looked great in Budville, but it was not open -- not sure if it was permanently closed. We saw a trading post in Paraje, a flower shop in New Laguna, and the bridge in Rio Puerco, one of the longest in New Mexico at 250-feet. There wasn't much to see, but we were on the real Route 66 for much of the drive.

Grants is a good-sized town. We enjoyed the park with a beautiful waterfall fountain and a wonderful Route 66 sculpture. We took a number of other photos in Grants. While I do most of the photography, Bozzie Jane did take some shots out the car window on her side of the road. She has a GREAT eye, so I wish I could get her interested in doing more photography.

We rolled into Albuquerque on the interstate, and we were surprised to see a sign that said "Albuquerque -- Next 17 Exits." That's a lot of exits! We drove the length of town on Route 66 (Central Avenue), and we once again saw a tremendous number of old motels with great neon signs. We stopped in Old Town -- old buildings with tourist-oriented businesses. We had excellent Mexican Food at La Placita.

Albuquerque has an especially beautiful old theatre -- the Kimo. You'll notice that my photo is off center. We were approached by a man who said he was a Navajo. The top was down on the car, and I was 20 feet away. I felt he wanted to steal my camera, and he kept trying to get close to me. It was a scary deal. I managed to get back to the car and get us out of there. We understand that Albuquerque is a pretty rough place.

The Aztec Motel is a landmark...and really quirky. All kinds of stuff is stuck on the walls. We would have explored more closely, but we came across three rough-looking characters walking down the street when I was out of the car taking photos. I put the top up and locked the doors the rest of the way through Albuquerque. We stopped at a nice-looking-on-the-outside "Giant" gas station, and there was a beggar stationed in a wheelchair right outside the ladies room. The lock didn't work on the ladies room door, and the men's room was completely closed and not available for use. The place was filthy. We didn't get a good feeling about Albuquerque.

Most of the gas stations that we have hit from California to New Mexico do not take credit cards at the pump, and many do not take credit cards at all. This was a hassle that we didn't like.

We took the "back route" to Santa Fe -- Highway 14, known as the Turquoise Trail. It is scenic, and another of the sights on my "must see" list was just off the highway.

Tinkertown was everything I hoped it would be and much more. It was billed as the world's largest miniature western town, but it is really an incredible art gallery of the life's work of Ross J. Ward. For over 40 years, Ross Ward did woodcarving to create and then expand Tinkertown. His woodcarving is incredible, but his overall artistic ability and the way everything on the property looks was what really blew me away. Ross was also a philosopher, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the philosophies that were sprinkled in along the way. Tinkertown is truly unique and represents an amazing accomplishment. I have to rank it as the best "attraction" so far. Ross died on November 13, 2002 at the age of 62. His death announcement was painted on a toilet seat, and the message includes "That's the Capper."

Please go see Tinkertown when you go to Santa Fe!

Barbara has been very worried about the drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe as she had heard there are people who would attempt to rob and kill us. We did see a car on the side of the road several times that looked suspicious, but we stayed well away.

We passed through Golden, Madrid, and Cerillos on the way to Santa Fe. We planned to stop in those little ghost towns tomorrow after we see Santa Fe. We met Ben, a photographer with a fancy old camera on a tripod. He was photographing an old building with light shining through the remaining slats of the roof. I took the same photo he was taking, and I got a nice shot of him and his camera with the old building behind.

Barbara and the kids have been to Santa Fe, but I somehow missed it until today. It is a beautiful place. The sky and the clouds have a beauty that I have never seen anywhere else.

When we checked into the Eldorado Hotel, Boz realized it was the same hotel she and the kids stayed at 15 years ago. Great hotel near the Plaza. Patrick was the desk clerk. We were about to head to our room when something was said that got us talking. Patrick got very excited when he learned about our trip, and he recommended a number of places for us to go in New Mexico. It turned out Patrick was a photographer, and we arranged to meet him at 3:30 tomorrow to see some of his photographs of places he feels we should go. What a delightful encounter!

We walked around Santa Fe through sunset. The sky was incredible, and I took some good photos -- even if they were over the tops of buildings and electrical lines in Santa Fe.

It doesn't take a lot to make a day special. There wasn't a lot to see or do in the seven hours it took us to drive from Gallup through Albuquerque. But then we loved Tinkertown, met a special person in Patrick, and enjoyed beautiful Santa Fe and its incredible sky.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we've been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we've seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of "vital statistics" on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you'd like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

Click here for Page 1 of the photos from Day 34 -- May 4, 2003

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Click here for Page 3 of the photos from Day 34 -- May 4, 2003

Click here for Page 4 of the photos from Day 34 --  May 4, 2003