Route 66-Tucumcari to Albuquerque

  The small towns of Santa Rosa and Cuervo were totally dependent on Route 66 traffic and they’ve been slowing crumbling since the opening of the interstate.

        

    Santa Rosa is worth a stop to see the  cars at Route 66 Auto Museum. All the cars have been restored by “Bozo” Cordova and most are for sale. The museum isn’t very big with about 30 and a lot of memorabilia.

  The museum is accessible ands the parking lot is large enough for RVs.

  We took a short trip south of Route 66 to see the Blue Hole. Santa Rosa has many natural lakes which is unusual for the area. They form from sinkholes in the limestone bedrock. Blue Hole is the most famous and popular with divers because of it’s depth and clarity.

  The parking lot is large enough for RVs.

  Many of the old motels and restaurants are still in business

    Back on the interstate billboards line both sides of the interstate for several miles in an attempt to entice travelers to stop at Clines Corners.

  Clines Corners has been in this location since 1937 selling gas, food and souvenirs.

Longhorn Ranch, at exit 203, was at one time a popular roadside attraction with a motel, garage, service station, an Indian trading post with curios, a museum, an imitation cowboy town, Indian dances and a stagecoach rides. There isn’t much left now, just a motel that doesn’t rent rooms and a restaurant and bar. The large parking lot is used by truckers and the bar is topless. We spent a quiet night parked near the ruins of the trading post.

  A closed RV park is located on the opposite side of the interstate.

  The Mountain Lodge in Carnuel was built in the 1940s and destroyed by fire in 2014 but it still has a cool sign.

                 

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Route 66-Tucumcari

  Tucumcari is the largest city between Amarillo and Albuquerque so it’s always been a popular stop for travelers. Although there are no longer 2000 motel rooms as touted on old billboards there are still plenty of places to stay overnight, either at the newer motels along the interstate or at the classic 1940s motels along Route 66. This is one detour off of the interstate that every traveler should make.

   We stayed at the Cactus RV Park so that we could see the neon signs at night. The RV park is located in the courtyard of the closed Cactus Motor Lodge. The RV park is very well tended and the motel buildings still look fairly sturdy even though they’re not in use. The park is an overnight stop for most people and doesn’t have many amenities but each site does have full hookups. We had very fast WiFi at our site.

   Most of the motel signs have not been restored so we didn’t get  many night pictures.

The Blue Swallow Motel has been in business since 1940.

 Tee Pee Curios, built in 1944, was a gas station, grocery, and souvenir shop. When Route 66 was widened in 1959, the tepee entrance was added and the pumps removed

                    

   The Americana, originally the 1935 Desert Air Motel, has a great neon sign.

        

  The Palomino opened in 1953 and unfortunately the sign isn’t completely light any more.

The Motel Safari was built in 1959

        

The Buckaroo Motel, with another great sign, opened in 1952

  La Cita has been serving travelers Mexican food since 1961.

         

   A lot of cool old stuff is on display at the Tucumcari Trading Post.

  Even the closed business have interesting signs.

     

           

  Most of the gas stations have been restored and some are being used for other businesses.

  The city has three small museums. The historical museum is housed in an old schoolhouse and several other buildings. The museum contains a large variety of artifacts but has very little historic information. After visiting all of the buildings we still knew little about Tucumcari’s history.

  The second floor and basement of the schoolhouse are not accessible. Some of the paths on the grounds are surfaced with rough gravel.

  RVs can be parked on the street.

  Two gorgeous antiques – a 1940’s Wurlitzer jukebox and an Owl slot machine from the early 1900s.

        

   Mesalands Community College's Dinosaur Museum is a nicely done small museum with great fossils and casts of dinosaur bones.

  The museum is accessible.

   Small RVs will fit in the main lot. Larger RVs will fit in the additional lot across street.

                    

The Route 66 Museum was supposed to be opened but it wasn’t. :-(

  The parking lot is large enough for any RV.

         

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Route 66-Texas/New Mexico Border

   Glenrio  is a ghost town. At the most two person and a number of dogs are the only inhabitants. In all fairness Glenrio was never an actual town. It existed solely to supply services for travelers along Route 66. During the 40s, 50s and 60s traffic streamed through town, filling the gas station, bar, restaurant and motel parking lots, then one day in 1975 everything stopped. 

       

         

  The pavement ends and a dirt road continues into New Mexico so we’re on the interstate for awhile. 

   Russell's Truck And Travel Museum is located inside the travel center. There isn’t a sign on the outside indicating where to go but it’s straight back from the front entrance. The museum includes over two dozen beautifully restored cars and trucks plus Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, M&M and Route 66 memorabilia.

  Back on Route 66 the semi ghost town of San Jon has a nice little city park with free overnight RV parking.

       

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