By Thomas Best
Those of you following along over the last month know that I am providing you with a travelogue of driving along Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, I will discuss the 487 miles crossing of the “Land of Enchantment,” New Mexico.
The first city you will arrive at is Tucumcari. The town is allegedly named for two Native American star-crossed lovers, “Tocom” and “Kari,” who allegedly met their deaths in the area. You will especially want to spend some time and money at the “Tee Pee Curios,” one of the best gift shops we visited. This store had a wide array of items for sale from humorous t-shirts, commemorative plates, desert rocks, and southwestern pottery. In Tucumcari you will also find a number of original motels, such as the “Blue Swallow Motel.” This motel is unique for having garages next to the rooms. These garages are not longer open, considering the larger size of most modern cars, but these garage openings are now decorated with beautiful murals featuring scenes from Route 66.
Just down the road is another favorite spot to enjoy on Route 66—especially if you are really hot and want to cool off. This is the Blue Hole, a pond with an extremely deep watery cave system. In the center tube, scuba divers learn skills needed for deep dives. Most people simply join in swimming in this iconic blue hole.
Grants, New Mexico was next up with its collection of Native American artwork in a plethora of eye-catching patterns and colors. Soon you will be at the place in the Rocky Mountains where you will reach the physical “Continental Divide.” This the geographic site in which precipitation flows either back to the east and toward rivers running into the Gulf of Mexico; or, on other side, waters which run into rivers heading toward the Pacific Ocean.
Our last fun place to visit in New Mexico was the “El Rancho Hotel,” a place where it feels as if you are back in the 1930s and 1940s. This is western-themed hotel where all the Hollywood stars once stayed when they made movies in this area before World War II. How about sitting down to eat in their restaurant where John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart once ate their meals? Or how about visiting the front lobby and pick up the feelings of a Mae West, Kirk Douglas, Ronald Reagan, or Spencer Tracy resting after a hard day of filming in the desert? I really loved walking around this hotel, which is allegedly very haunted. I really sparked up when I reached the “Humphrey Bogart” room. He stayed here when he was making the classic film, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
New Mexico is truly the “Land of Enchantment.” Next week, we crossing Arizona.
Photo by: nmrt66.org.png
