Today may have been the best day on the Mother Road. We had four major destinations: Cadillac Ranch, The Midpoint Café, Glenrio, and the Blue Swallow Motel. We left Amarillo and headed to Cadillac Ranch. It was really crowded, but Mike and I had to leave our mark. Mike, thinking he was still 20, jumped up to the top of one of the cars to leave our mark and started losing his balance. When he jumped off, a kid from a school field trip got in the way, and Mike sprained his ankle while avoiding the collision. Did that prevent us from leaving our mark? Check the pictures to find out. We then drove to Vega to visit the restored Magnolia Gas Station and Dot’s Mini Museum. We did see the two old bridge abutments from the previous alignment on the way to Adrian.
The Midpoint Café was amazing! The ugly crust pie was the best I’ve had in ages! We had a nice conversation with Fran, who is originally from Westfield, MA. My dear friend and mentor at ECS, Dan Knapik, is now the mayor of Westfield. Fran remembered Dan and his brother Mike, and when I told Fran I had a Daniel Knapik for Mayor bumper sticker on my Jeep, we both knew we had a great photo opportunity! I can’t believe I am 2,000 miles from home and met someone who is a Route 66 icon, inspired one of the characters in “Cars”, and she was born and raised in Western Massachusetts!
As great as the Midpoint was, Glenrio was everything I thought it would be. Seeing the ghost town in pictures is not the same as being there. The only thing that would have been better was meeting Roxann, the last resident from the heyday of Route 66, but she did not come out at all today. Her parents ran the Texaco Station and the Little Juarez Café. We also found the foundations of the Deep Rock Station and the Ranch House Café. Mike found an electrical service box near the station and we also found the Deep Rock Station sign frame.
We took many pictures on the Texas and New Mexico side of Glenrio, then took the Pre-1952 dirt alignment for 18 miles through Endee to San Jon. San Jon is loaded with old gas station and motel ruins, not unlike countless towns we’ve seen along the road. We continued on 66 into Tucumcari, but we were too early to check into the Blue Swallow, so we continued on to Montoya, Newkirk, and Cuervo before backtracking back to the Blue Swallow. Cuervo is a real ghost town that can be seen right off Route 66 and it was almost eerie being there.
What can I say about the Blue Swallow besides it is an incredible, vintage Mother Road Motel! Bill has been a Facebook friend of mine for about six months, and he and Terri welcomed us with open arms. They still show the room to each customer like motel proprietors did in the old days. The motel is incredible (we have a vintage rotary phone in our room, and it works!) as are the murals. We are going to grab some dinner and take some photos tonight of the neon signs in Tucumcari. It really is “Tucumcari Tonight!” Tomorrow we will explore more of New Mexico’s Route 66!
No comments:
Post a Comment