Route 66 – Part Too
Route 66 (Fourth St) in Albuquerque!
Albuquerque is actually a pretty nice town. The picture above may look questionable, but apart from the metal bars over every window in the older sections, it’s a nice burg. Anyone else would have found a parking garage near the civic center and seen the sights as well as some kind of sidewalk fair going on, and I noticed many tourists and hangers-out.
From there, Route 66 goes up to Santa Fe, which I intentionally bypassed since I’m not up for the complex GPS combat needed to tackle 66 through it. But even my bypass didn’t work that well and I wound up on I-25 way too much of the time. This was due to sloppy directions on my part, as well as closed roads and closed exits
A pull-off beside Old 66 has two monuments commemorating the Civil War soldiers who lost their lives at the Battles of Glorieta Pass, the equivalent of Gettysburg in the East.
This one was put up in 1939 by the Texas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, honoring the fallen Texas Volunteers.
This one was put up by the Colorado State Historical Society in 1993, to “balance” the commemoration. The movement was begun by a politico who saw the first plaque, and wanted to mount something honoring the fallen Colorado Volunteers. The plaque notes the pitched two-day battle, adding that a flanking move to capture Confederate supply wagons resulted in their withdrawal. It also ended the threat to Colorado’s gold mines.
When I arrived at my next overnight spot beside Old Denver Highway/Old Las Vegas Highway/Route 66 at 1:30 PM, I decided it was too early in the day to stop, and made my way to Santa Rosa in plenty of time to catch a fine dinner at the Silver Moon Cafe there. It’s a Mexican/American joint, and oh my, that was good eatin’.
Route 66 through a forest.
The overnight spot I didn’t stay at after all.
Much of the road in and south of the forest was a bit uneven from age, adding some bounce and working the suspension.
The Mother Road, which follows the terrain instead of taking the railroad approach.
Though mild here, this gives a hint of the two different approaches. 66 drops lower and rises higher than the Interstate does.
Now THIS is classic Route 66.
This road is a ribbon that delights the eyes, laid out at a time when long-distance driving was more of an adventure.
Approaching a valley interchange with the Interstate, which could be ignored in this case. Drive on! Notice the height difference in the distance.
As I recall, US 84 is one of the older paths for Route 66, and in this case, it’s an extraordinary wide two-lane for 30+ miles, with broad paved shoulders. One of the few 65 MPH sections, and nothing on it but a few ranches and residences.
If I still had my Mazda RX-8, I’d be exceeding the speed limit, badly, about now. Not such a good idea in the heavily-loaded Mighty Furd.
Two old customer Furds overnighting at a repair shop in Santa Rosa. Waiting for parts to arrive, I’m sure. Amazing.
Resting from terminal bloat at the local TA Travel Center, I’m parked near a highway but away from the trucks idling all night, and there are no railroad tracks nearby. With the heat of the day cooling off, it looks to be a fine evening.
After a long day on Route 66, I consoled myself with this plus some kinda skewered shrimp appetizer.
Then these chicken enchiladas Santa Fe, which I got excited about and carved up before remembering to take a picture. I ate everything, and refrained from using my hands as scoops, mainly because it was HOT!
Life’s too short to gobble down a Big Mac, fries and a Coke, and call that dinner. I can eat better than that in the camper, but I most certainly could not approach the meal I had here at the Silver Moon, 1959-style!
Strolling Amok 
I’m very much enjoying the ridealong. Amazing that you are finding the time and energy to post these and do all that driving too!
Thanks for the links to the petrified forest, they’ve made me curious about your early days on the road so I’m making my way back to your Enterprise/ Defiant days.
Well, keep in mind that I’m only averaging 90 miles per day Ming, which allows backtracking when necessary with plenty of time to gather photos and blog when that day’s touring ends. Only a couple of days have crimped the leisure time left over.
However you might define what’s interesting, I don’t sense any changes between old and new posts. Very little goes stale time-wise. I have a small trip diary of a young woman taking the train to the West Coast when that was the only practical way to get there. I find it more interesting than most modern accounts, and I’ve posted about it early on. I figure that if you don’t consider current posts as a waste of your time, then the earlier posts should do it for you as well. In the same way that I visited places and learned the ropes and realizations of living in a big TT, it’s the same thing today, only in a different rig able to go where the TT couldn’t. No point on waiting for me to visit someplace like the Petrified Forest, when it’s already been covered earlier. If and when I hit it a second time, that newer post will be markedly different in content, and probably abbreviated. Why photograph the same things twice? Same thing with realizations, which I’m unlikely to repeat without perhaps taking a different or expanded tack today.
I’m enjoying your unique point of view on the places you’ve visited, some of them prompt me to add more items to the travel file. I’m also enjoying reading about the transformation of an ancient TT into your home.
“Unique” is a charitable description, and I thank you!
Remember our trip on the “new” 66? Two rules we had: we stop whenever someone wants to, for any reason and NO FAST FOOD or chain restaurants. Still ranks as my favorite road trip of all time.
You have no idea how close I came to making an emergency call to you to ask if you could remember the name of the Mex restaurant we hit in Santa Rosa. But I suspect this place was it. THAT trip was a singular experience. And the method being to intercept an older person to ask what they thought the best restaurant in town was. Worked like a charm. Good times! That trip was the experience of a lifetime, Matt.