Route 66 in Texas and New Mexico

Sorry, this posting should have been done a couple of days ago. That was when we reached the half-way point of Route 66.

Route 66 passes through the northern portion of Texas known as the panhandle. Amarillo was our only stop. The Big Texan is the most famous restaurant on the Route and its claim to fame is the 72oz steak it serves to the courageous or the stupid. If you can eat it and all the fixings within an hour it’s free. We didn’t bother. Instead we had what’s called a chicken fried steak. This is a portion of ground beef, which is breaded and deep fried, and covered with a creamy, fatty, disgusting, artery clogging gravy.



No tofu was on the menu but there was rattlesnake for the daring and bored. However, there was a warning for anyone who ordered it. “Lots of bones, not much meat. And if you complain you’ll get a live one!”

Just down the highway lies the Cadillac Ranch. You can see the row of graffiti scrawled vintage Cadillacs buried nose first in a field as you drive by. They are arranged in the earth at the same angle as the pyramids in Egypt. The Cadillac Ranch is a project by the Ant farm collective. Bruce Springsteen has a song called Cadillac Ranch.

We hauled ass into Tucumcari, New Mexico and spent the night at the Super 8 Motel. We noticed a couple of the classic Route 66 motels on the main strip advertised that they were American owned. It seems immigrants from India who acquire ownership of motels on the route generate animosity.

Tucumcari had the best selection of abandoned gas stations and other defunct businesses from the hey day of Route 66, thus far. At the same time it also had many still viable businesses. We stopped to check out THINGS.



The store was filled with the possessions of people who once lived in the town but left after Route 66 ceased being an important east-west road. I bought a pamphlet from the 50s that shows farmers how to prepare for a nuclear war.

We had high expectations of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe is the third largest market for art in the U.S. B says: “This fact illustrates the old adage that you shouldn’t underestimate people’s capacity for bad taste. To explain how bad the art is to Canadians, just try to imagine Robert Bateman crossed with heavy metal fantasy art of naked Indians, or shall we say “noble savages”.



Most of the built environment of Santa Fe is done in the adobe style, including the strip malls and malls in the suburbs. At first, this was a nice change and we found it novel. However, it quickly became tiresome. Despite the city’s rich past, the contemporary cultural landscape of Santa Fe seems little more than a southwest Indian themed shopping mall selling art and trinkets to tourists. It seems, Santa Fe’s potential has been squandered.





However, Santa Fe is home to the oldest church in America. San Miguel was built in 1610.

Albuquerque, NM was next. We stopped for diner at the Route 66 Diner. The city has strong Latin and Native American characteristics. Unlike Santa Fe it seemed like a real place.

We continued to Grants, NM for the night. We stayed at a Motel 6, but had we known earlier we would have stayed at The Mission. It is a guesthouse run by a friendly couple. They rent only one lovely guesthouse behind their café by the week or month. It’s great home base to explore the surrounding areas in New Mexico and Arizona. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona are within easy reach. www.grantmission.com



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