Date: 22 May 2007
Start: Tucumcari, New Mexico
End: Holbrook, Arizona
Distance Travelled: 431 miles
Duration: 10 hours, 30 minutes (including accounting for MDT to MST change)
Map link (approximate).

Today started with us poking a little more around Tucumcari than we had the day before, since we had a little more time available to us. The primary reason for this is that Tucumcari has an amazing number and variety of wall murals throughout the town (my personal favorites being these two), in addition to some other art, and we were trying to see just how many of them we could dig up before we had to head on. Thankfully, the town provides you a convenient brochure, which gets you close to the mark in most cases.

Once we hit the road, it was pretty much a straight shot between Tucumcari and Holbrook. A few interesting things are along the road... as with pretty much any. As an aside note, while this information is about a year out of date now, there was intermittent traffic affecting a varying number of lanes on west-bound I-40 between Tucumcari and Albuquerque. We never experienced any significant delays, but I imagine they could get pretty bad, if traffic snarled. First off, the Flying C Ranch off I-40 west-bound's exit 234 was a great place to gift-shop, and we walked away with a rather nice set of agate bookends. The people behind the counter were also kind enough to lend us a few tools and bits and bobs for me to poke into the engine compartment and take a look at the air filter. An interesting side-effect of going up in altitude is that modern cars are confused by the decreased air pressure, and continue pumping in air like they were back at sea level (which is where mine spent most of its life). Needless to say, this robs you of performance pretty significantly, and I just wanted to take a look at the air filter to ensure that it was not aggrivating the situation. And, of course, as with all things, by the time the computer caught up with the altitude increase, we were already back at sea level.

Moving on west, you will eventually find yourself in the city of Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico, and suppjosedly the second-fastest growing city in the country... and I can certainly understand why - the city is remarkably scenic, it has a gorgeous mountain range to its east that you have to get up and over and then slide down into the city from, and the highways are well-kept and easy to navigate. That said, do be careful of the billboards and road signs - we were interested in stopping by the Petroglyph National Monument, however, there is also a neighborhood called the Petroglyphs. The former is at exit 354, the latter is at 98th Street... just be sure you know which one you want to go to.

After Albuquerque, we hopped off the I-40 at exit 117 (Mesita), and took Route 66 through Laguna Pueblo land. Do be advised, however, while this is a particularly scenic part of New Mexico (which is saying something for that state), what with Owl Rock and other interesting geologic formations, photography, sketching, and other recordings are generally not allowed on tribe lands. If you forget, there are rather clear signs at every entrance to the reservation, and I understand you can request permission of the tribe for certain, specific locations and limitations, but I do not really know how. Once you have successfully navigated Dead Man's Curve (appropriately named, given its over-180-degree direction change), you will eventually get to the little town of Laguna (exit 114 on I-40), where you can stop at the Conoco in town and buy a Laguna burger meal for $4.99... if you have the 20 minutes to wait for them to cook it on the spot for you. Of course, given the prices these days, and the size of the meal in the pictures, it might just be worth it.

We drove down I-40 for another stretch, hopped off on Route 66 again at exit 96, and then back to I-40 at exit 89 through a little town called McCartys, which was never a particularly large settlement, but is now nothing more than a ghost town. After McCartys, you will eventually find yourself at the Continental Divide, where if you started one marble on the west side of the line, it would eventually find itself in the Pacific, and another marble on the east side of the line, it would eventually find itself in the Atlantic. Kinda nifty.

After, that, you will eventually find yourself in Gallup, of the song's fame, and eventually New Mexico's mile marker 0 will slide into view, with Arizona itself not too far behind.

Fair warning about Arizona: They do not, repeat, not, use Daylight Saving Time. Honestly, more power to them. That said, it can be somewhat confusing going from MDT in New Mexico to MST in Arizona... in fact, we would not have even realized it, and continued thinking we were running late for our night's accomodations, had our cell phones not corrected themselves once they crossed the border. Along with a little temporal uncertainty on the Arizona side of the border, you will find a gift shop shaped like a wigwam, and Fort Chief Yellowhorse, which used to be a gift shop, I assume, and is now rather abandoned.

Thanks to the extra hour we gained crossing the Arizona - New Mexico border, we were able to swing by the Petrified Forest National Park and poke around for a little bit. Unfortunately, we were only able to venture into a small portion of the Painted Desert portion of the park, but as you can see, the views were amazing. This is definitely a place one should go to when you have at least a day available, and a very good camera.

Continuing west from the Forest, you will eventually drive by Stewarts Petrified Wood Shop, and you will definitely know when you do - you simply cannot miss it. Unfortunately, it is only open from 9 to 5, so we were not actually able to go inside... more the shame. There are, however, ostriches outside. Lots of them.

Finally, after all of this, you will eventually find yourself in Holbrook, Arizona, where we spent the night. Where, you ask? Well, first, we had to have dinner at Joe and Aggie's Cafe, Holbrook's family-owned and -operated (since 1947) Route 66 restaurant. The staff was remarkably friendly, and the owner (who manned the small gift shop at the front of the restaurant) was more than happy to talk about Route 66 history, trivia, and details - and was quite up-front about how much he thought Cars positively affected Route 66's tourism. The Mexican food at Joe and Aggie's, however, was outstanding - for about $8 a person, you get more food than you could hope to eat, delicious sopapilla, and wonderful home-made chile sauces (though their intensities do vary from batch to batch). Should you ever find yourself in Holbrook (which, of course, you will if you ever explore Route 66), Joe and Aggie's Cafe is highly recommended.

As for where we went to crash after our satisfying meal... well, in Holbrook, it just had to be the Wigwam Motel. These easily recognized (and often emulated) accommodations are easily found, and absolutely surrounded with all manner of classic cars. On top of their nostalgic charm and distinctive styling, they are actually rather comfortable inside, being somewhat larger internally than one might expect, and kept quite clean and neat. The only downsides were a typically short, 1950s shower, and a very cold tile floor, but those were easily offset by a comfortable bed and beautiful red light that filters through the curtains in the mornings.

Before we turned in, though, I did take the opportunity to try and capture some of the town's neon. Unfortunately, there was not terribly much, but enough for a few interesting pictures.

While we had technically already been in contact with the Mother Road, this day definitely served to immerse us in its culture and history, which is not really a bad thing to explore, when you get right down to it.

The full set of pictures from today can be found here.