We left Amarillo this morning, after one last round of photos inside the Big Texan restaurant. As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, we passed a significant milestone on our trip today - the midpoint of Route 66! In Adrian, TX is the Midpoint Cafe, precisely 1,139 miles from either end point of the Mother Road. As you go west, things get more and more spread out, so we will be covering a lot more miles each day as there are less and less things to see along the road.
One of our stops today was in another ghost town - the border town of Glenrio along the Texas-New Mexico border, it straddles the state lines. Since it was in two different states and counties - on the Texas side you couldn't sell liquor and on the New Mexico side there were no service stations because the gas taxes are higher. It is so sad to see these towns just abandoned, it makes you wonder at what point the people finally decided to walk away from their homes and businesses. I can't imagine what that must be like. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-Glenrio2.html
As you drive west, the landscape changes from Texas pancake flat but still green into the mountains and mesas of New Mexico. The vegetation changes from grassy scrub to cactus, smoke trees and cedar.
We made a stop in Tucumcari NM for a sweet treat and a visit to a curio shop, and a look at the famous Blue Swallow Inn, a Route 66 institution. It is a unique in that each motel room has it's own pull in garage next to it. Tucumcari is also known for its neon along Route 66, unfortunately we passed through at the wrong time of the day to enjoy that aspect.
Our final stop before entering Albuquerque was a very cool car museum in Santa Rosa, NM. It was started by a local man who owned a car repair shop and collected vintage cars as a hobby. He needed space to store his growing collection, so decided to share them with others by placing them in a museum. Over time, he has collected and restored over 30 cars, as well as amassed a nice collection of road signs and other Route 66 memorabilia.
We arrived in Albuquerque, and cruised Route 66 through town to our hotel on the west side near Old Town Albuquerque. We walked over to the Old Town Plaza, which is where the city of Albuquerque was first established over 300 years ago. They have a beautiful plaza with a park and gazebo, and there are a lot of authentic New Mexican restaurants, art galleries and other shops surrounding it. If you are not familiar with New Mexico, it is a melding of Mexican and Native American cultures. It really is a unique environment - with long historical context in place for both groups. We enjoyed out dinner outside on the restaurant patio while listening to a live band playing a concert in the Plaza Gazebo across the street. Mark had sopapillas for the first time, which are squares or rectangles of fried bread that are usually eaten with a drizzle of honey, and typically accompany meals similar to rolls, biscuits, or a breadbasket. I had some fabulous chili rellanos - one of my favorite things in the world. Trajan doesn't do Mexican food, so he had some fruit and chips and had a mini McDonald's picnic afterward while we listened to more music in the Plaza.
We covered a lot of miles today, and had another wonderful day on our journey. It looks like we are finally going to hit some real heat tomorrow as we cross in to the Painted Desert in AZ.
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