Day 36 -- May 6, 2003 -- Tuesday

Week 6 begins.  Day 36. 36,993 on the odometer. 8,957 miles so far. Leaving Albuquerque. Back on Route 66.

I dropped recorder #4 on the carpet. Just a little drop while trying to carry too many items at once. It didn't fall far, and it didn't fall hard. But the compartment door where the tape goes no longer opens, though I can pry it open just far enough to put tapes in and pull them out. These tape recorders are an invaluable tool, but what a hassle they've been. We did find the missing travel alarm clock and one of the two missing lens caps, so we are doing pretty well in the holding-onto-our-stuff category. We have had several encounters with men trying to steal my camera, but we've managed to keep the camera and stay out of harm's way. When around rough-looking folks, I always put the camera strap around my neck; it looks a little dorky...but it makes it much harder for someone to grab the camera.

We put the top down for the first time in a long time. The last warm weather was Day 24 in Tucson! The top went back up after 11 miles. Wishin' doesn't always work. I guess we wanted it to be warmer, but it wasn't.

An old Conoco station appeared in Barton, and we stopped for a few photos. We also stopped at the old 66 Craft House to see some funky sculptures.

New Mexico State Highway Patrolman Max stopped to say hello while I was on the side of the road taking photos of the ruins of an old trading post near Moriarty, New Mexico. No flashing lights or anything like that, just a hello stop. He asked about the book and posed for two photos. The property was fenced off, and there was an animal cruelty notice stuck on the fence for animal neglect. Being big animal lovers, Bozzie Jane and I feel the penalties should be much stronger for people who mistreat animals.

We saw some interesting Route 66 businesses in Moriarty.

The Route 66 maps that we bought -- one for each state -- have been invaluable on our trip. That said, we have found two specific points where the maps were totally wrong. East of Moriarty is one of those spots.

Route 66 Magazine has a very good suggestion about traveling Route 66: "When traveling Route 66, keep your expectations low, and just appreciate whatever is there."

We came across another old ruins of some type of building, and when I investigated further, I found a cement container of sorts that had the faint words "Snake Pit" still visible. I appreciated that it was there, and I wonder whether it used to be a roadside snake attraction. It wasn't listed in any of the books we have.

Our next adventure was the search for the wagon wheel at Longhorn Ranch. Ace Navigatrix Bozzie Jane spotted this on our New Mexico Route 66 map. We saw the Longhorn Ranch, but no wagon wheel. I was determined to find it, so I drove to the dead ends of both access roads, but no wagon wheel. We retraced our path, but no wagon wheel. We drove all around the ruins of what was the Longhorn Ranch roadside attraction, but no wagon wheel. We finally decided that the wagon wheel is probably now in a Route 66 museum somewhere along the route.

It was sad to see the huge pile of rubble that used to be Longhorn Ranch. A "bank" building is still standing -- just barely, and there is a motel operating across the road as well as a modern gas station.

Ten miles down the road, we finally found Wagon Wheel. It turns out Ace Navigatrix Bozzie thought Wagon Wheel was something to see in the town of Longhorn Ranch, but it was actually the next town over. We got a good laugh out of it. There wasn't anything to see in the town of Wagon Wheel. An upside down restaurant sign out back of a building, but that was about it. Not even a wagon wheel.

Clines Corners has been a way station for travelers since the 1930's with a great selection of souvenirs. We needed gifts for three upcoming visits with friends and family, so we stopped to check it out. It's a big place with a lot of souvenirs -- mainly Indian-themed items. Lots of tacky stuff. We found three items that we thought were pretty funny -- a double teepee-shaped picture frame, a plaster of paris clock with an eagle holding an American flag, and a bobblehead Indian chief. We hope the Shanklins, Robertsons, and Overalls enjoy them as much as we enjoyed picking them out. Corinne and Loretta helped us at the cash register. Corinne gave us free batteries for the clock. They were both very excited to be in the book. They said the bobblehead Indian chief was a new item, but it had been selling really well. I asked if the clock had a Swiss movement. She didn't know. I'm pretty sure it has a Taiwan movement.

Many of the little towns we stopped to see had nothing to see. There were no commercial buildings at all. In some cases, there was nothing at all.

The Flying C Ranch was listed on our Route 66 map, so we expected something appropriately old. I was very disappointed to find a relatively modern DQ and Citgo station. The place is owned by "Bowlins." I first saw what was purported to be something old in southern New Mexico just to find a shiny, new Bowlins service station and gift store. These folks may be some of the people Ross Ward was referring to when he made the sign at Tinkertown that reads: "There are souless men who would destroy but time and man will never build again." While we want the modern conveniences on one hand, we hate to see the old wiped away. I will fully admit to having a double standard.

I looked around Milagro for some bean fields, but Bozzie Jane says that is MEXICO not NEW Mexico. So we drove on.

There just wasn't much to see for the 114 miles between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa is another story. Santa Rosa has the 1927 Comet Drive-In Restaurant, other great old buildings like the Lake City Diner and the old Guadalupe County Courthouse, and what's left of a real Route 66 landmark, the Club Cafe. The Club Cafe was built in 1935, and it used a distinctive billboard with a cartoon of a fat man. The cafe is gone, but its signs remain, and the fat man is now the property of Joseph's Restaurant.

We enjoyed some excellent Mexican food at Joseph's, and we met some nice people. Rick, Dave, Jason, Ray, and Jose. The beads got several conversations started. Jose suggested that we go see the town of Puerta de Luna (famous because Billy the Kid ate his last Christmas dinner there), and Ray gave us directions to see the Blue Hole.

We saw the old Saint Rose Chapel on the way to the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is a unique spot -- a hole 81-feet deep, 60 feet in diameter with 61 degree water that is crystal clear. Divers love it.

Puerta de Luna had the old Nuestra Senora de Refugio Church, an old courthouse, and the Graelachowski territorial House -- famous in part because Billy the Kid had his last Christmas dinner there. It was a pleasant drive.

We saw the Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa. Between Santa Rosa and Cuervo, we found another ruins that we had not read about anywhere -- the Frontier Museum. It was a big place and was obviously old, so we wondered why we hadn't read about it. Perhaps it wasn't as old as it appeared to be.

When we reached Cuervo about 6 pm, the sun was already getting dim. I thought I saw what would be an interesting-looking old building off Route 66. Cuervo is mainly a ghost town, so we saw a number of picturesque old buildings/ruins. To get to the old building I had noticed, we crossed the railroad tracks where we hit a gravel road. It turned into a red dirt road. Then a red dirt road with cactus in the crown of the road. Hearing that scraping noise under the little white car is pretty unsettling, but I was determined at this point. We scraped along until we saw barbed wire scattered across the "road." I got out to take a few photos, but the fading sun was behind heavy clouds, and I'm afraid about all we have to show for this adventure will be the scratches on the underside of the car. You just never know; sometimes these little excursions pay off, and sometimes they don't. I will regret the little investigative side trips that we didn't take...never those we took that didn't pan out.

Newkirk and Montoya had some great ghost service stations. Boz took some excellent photos in Cuervo, Newkirk, and Montoya.

The Tucumcari Tonite billboard campaign has been successful for 60 years in promoting Tucumcari as the place to spend the night along this wide open stretch of road (104 miles to Amarillo and 173 miles to Albuquerque). Once billed as the town two blocks wide and two miles long, the town is now eight miles long and about two blocks wide. It once had 2,000 rooms; now closer to 1,200 -- mainly rooms in small independent motels. It was a great place to take photos of motel signs.

Perhaps the most famous of the Tucumcari motels is the Blue Swallow, primarily because of the cool neon sign with a blue neon swallow. The Blue Swallow was built in 1942, acquired by Lillian Redman as a wedding gift in 1958, and she operated it successfully for over 40 years by providing homespun hospitality and by endearing herself to generations of guests. Patrick told us to be sure to stop and go in and see it, so we did. I told the new owner that we were writing a book, but he just told me to knock myself out taking photos, and he went back into his living quarters adjoining the motel office. I was very unimpressed with him. The new owners probably won't succeed with this attitude. I did take a pretty good photo of the sunset over the Blue Swallow.

As we gassed up on the outskirts of Tucumcari, we met Rita. She is a nurse originally from Tulia, Texas. Rita REALLY wanted my purple beads. She said she would do ANYTHING to get those purple beads. She proceeded to lift her top and flash me -- right there in front of Bozzie Jane. I thanked her for her interest, but I told her the beads are lucky beads, and I just couldn't give them away. I did take her photo and promised her she would be in the book. She offered to flash again for the camera, but we declined the invitation. I have, however, purchased a case of beads as gifts throughout the second half of the trip.

I was disappointed that the sun set before we got to the border towns in Texas. It was as black as the Ace of Spades all the way to Amarillo. So, we didn't get to see the first/last motel in Texas in the town of Glenrio. In fact, we never even saw a sign for the town. It's in Deaf Smith County. The town actually straddles New Mexico and Texas and is supposed to have some great old abandoned buildings -- something anyone who has read a day or two worth of these reports knows I enjoy seeing. We'll just have to go another time.

We did stop in Adrian as I wanted to get a photo of the midpoint on Route 66. Adrian is exactly half way (1,139 miles) between Santa Monica and Chicago. I managed a couple of flash photos of what I could see right next to the road.

The time changed to Central Daylight Time when we crossed into Texas, so it was 10:30 pm when I met Rugby at the desk of the Marriott Residence Inn in Amarillo. I also met Rugby's girlfriend, Courtney, and Cedric, his roommate and the all-night man at the Inn. Rugby didn't even pause for a second when I asked him what -- other than the Cadillac Ranch and Big Texan Steak Ranch -- he felt was the most unique thing to see in Amarillo. He gave me precise directions to the sawed off giant's legs in a field south of town. All right! Rugby knew quirky!

As the day ended, the words of Ross Ward were ringing in my ears: "There are soulless men who would destroy but time and man will never build again." I hate to see historic old buildings torn down to make way for something new. It also never ceases to amaze how some folks can buy a business that has been successful for many years and proceed to make it unsuccessful in short order. We should all learn from the past. I love the story about the discussion between a father and son about which professional to hire. The son favored a young man not long out of school while the father favored an old gray-haired man. "The young man knows the rules, but the older man knows the exceptions."

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 36 -- May 6, 2003

Click here for Page 2 of the photos from Day 36 -- May 6, 2003

Click here for Page 3 of the photos from Day 36 --  May 6, 2003