California 2021:
Day 6 - Route 66: New Mexico

	Friday, November 5, 2021: The Blue Swallow Motel looked just as beautiful in the morning sun. We were on the road just before 8 AM.
	We drove Tucumcari Boulevard West, ...
	... stopping immediately when we saw a donut shop with a drive up window.
	We showed restraint and got four donuts, from the bottom left, clockwise: a chocolate yeast donut with sprinkles, a blueberry cake donut, an apple fritter, and a Long John. Very tasty!
	We took more photos of classic buildings as we drove west on Route 66, including the Americana Motel, ...
	... the Buckaroo Motel, ...
	... and this Magnolia Mobile service station, which appears to be from the classic era, but doesn't have any restored pumps or façade.
	Past the end of town, we continued on the two-lane highway, ...
	... following it for about three miles before we merged onto I-40 West.
	About 30 minutes later, we encountered a very spooky fog bank over the road.
	The temperature dropped dramatically and visibility reduced considerably. It only lasted for a few miles, and then it was blue sky and sunshine again.
	The Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, has an eye-catching sign.
	La-Mesa Motel looked like all three things on its sign: clean, comfortable, and reasonable.
	We stopped at Park Lake to look around at the beautiful swimming hole. It has a lovely slide, ...
	... and a long pier with a diving board at the end.
	We turned on Blue Hole Road, and drove until we arrived at ...
	... the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa, an artesian well that is 81 feet deep and 60 feet in diameter.
	The water is serenely still, even though there is enough flow from the well to cycle the water completely every six hours.
	The white squares made of PVC pipe are suspended some distance below the surface and give you an example of how clear the water is. The spot is a popular one for dive training (which was about to happen on this morning) as well as a local swimming hole.
	We headed out of town on old Route 66, past the Sun and Sand Motel, ...
	... and the Tower Motel.
	Back on I-40, we started seeing endless billboards for Flying C Ranch, which is a combination gas station, trading post, and souvenir shop.
	A little further down the road, Clines Corners did the same thing, plastering the road with billboards hoping to attract customers.
	Right off the exit in Moriarty, New Mexico, in the parking lot of the Antique Auto and Toy Museum, there was a semi-trailer turned into a map of Route 66 through New Mexico. The entire map is made using New Mexico license plates. Let's take a closer look.
	It was really well done, and we especially liked the license plate for the Blue Swallow Motel, placed at its correct position on the map.
	This part of Route 66 follows the Salt Missions Trail Scenic Byway in New Mexico, a route that follows the winding wagon road through the Spanish land grant towns and through the Estancia Basin's salt lakes and prairies.
	This part of Route 66 followed New Mexico Highway 333, which paralleled I-40 to the south.
	Debbie noticed that this Scenic Byway sign was shaped like the state of New Mexico, which was really cool.
	There were many indications that we were on Route 66, from the street signs, ...
	... to the Route 66 shield painted onto the road itself.
	We hopped back on I-40 briefly, ...
	... before getting back off on the outskirts of Albuquerque. The Route 66 shield on the sign told us we were heading in the correct direction.
	We drove straight through the heart of Albuquerque, passing more beautiful classic buildings like the Piñon Motel, ...
	... the Bow and Arrow Lodge, ...
	... the Tewa Lodge, ...
	... the Hiland Theatre, ...
	... the "Reels and Wheels" ABQ Ride bus shelter, which sits in front of the Hiland Theatre, ...
	... the Zia Motor Lodge, ...
	... the De Anza Motor Lodge, ...
	... the Premiere Motel, ...
	... Nob Hill Court, ...
	... Hiway House Motel, ...
	... the Library Bar and Grill, with its awesome books on the roof, ...
	... Kimo Theatre, ...
	... and Lindy's Diner.
	We made our way to the Dog House, a carhop-style restaurant on the west end of town. We pulled into an empty parking spot, a waitress noticed our car was new, took our order, ...
	... and twenty five minutes later we had our food. Tom ordered a chili dog and Debbie ordered a burger. We ordered a side of tater tots (they were out of onion rings), and two Diet Cokes. The parking lot had cleared out considerably by then, and we ate our food there before moving on.
	Heading west out of the city, we drove past the El Don Motel, ...
	... El Vado Motel, ...
	... and the iconic Westward Ho Motel.
	Route 66 continued on the frontage road north of I-40, ...
	... passing the Rio Puerco Bridge, which was built in 1933 specifically to carry Route 66 traffic. It is no longer in service, but it was saved from demolition and has been put on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance to Route 66.
	Not everything on Route 66 is historic, like this Route 66 Casino Hotel, which is very modern.
	We continued westward, passing the San José de la Laguna Mission Church and Convento Historic Site, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, ...
	... and realizing that we were at the exact same spot where we had photographed a freight train carrying Maersk containers when passed this way last year.
	Between San Fidel and McCartys, we passed this abandoned Whiting Brothers grocery store and service station.
	We had seen a still-intact Whiting Bros. service station in Moriarty, but we didn't realize its significance and photograph it.
	We finally managed to get a photo of an Adopt-a-Highway sign, which had been rare in New Mexico.
	We stayed on the frontage road version of Route 66, ...
	... enjoying the pretty fall colors on the few deciduous trees, ...
	... and the El Malpais National Monument lava fields east of Grants, New Mexico.
	In Grants, we passed the Franciscan Lodge, ...
	... the Sands Motel, ...
	... the West Theatre, ...
	... and the Uranium Cafe.
	Across the street from the Uranium Cafe is the Route 66 Drive-Thru Neon Sign, which we drove through, naturally.
	Next door to the drive-thru sign is the New Mexico Mining Museum, which has this Uranium mining drill head on exhibit outside. Look at all of those bite-y teeth on that drill head. It looks like it could get the job done.
	The nearby Fire and Ice Park had an exhibit on the street named the Native Basket Array, featuring this basket, ...
	... this one, ...
	... this one, ...
	... this one, ...
	... and this one.
	We passed the Bluewater Motel outside, you guessed it, Bluewater, New Mexico.
	The red-sided mesas with the green prarie was especially lovely through this part of the country.
	Hey! It's a billboard for the El Rancho Hotel! That's where we're staying tonight!
	We continued down the frontage road through the town of Continental Divide, passing this historical marker, ...
	... and were forced back onto I-40 when the frontage road ended.
	On the south side of I-40 outside of Continental Divide was another abandoned Whiting Bros. service station.
	We were loving all of the Maersk containers that we were seeing on the enormous freight trains going through the area.
	We especially loved this triple of two small Maersk containers with a full-sized one on top.
	As we entered Gallup, we saw the El Capitan Motel, ...
	... Arrowhead Lodge, ...
	... Blue Spruce Lodge, featuring steam heat, ...
	... Lariat Lodge,
	... El Morro Theatre, ...
	... and this large vase, which was part of the Great Big Pottery Project in 2016.
	We arrived at the El Rancho Hotel, our destination for the evening.
	The hotel offers the "charm of yesterday ... convenience of tomorrow."
	The hotel lobby features a giant fireplace, with a dramatic sweeping staircase to the second level, ...
	... with a balcony that wraps around the entire lobby.
	There are display cases with art pieces, and this vintage cigarette machine.
	There were also these vintage stamp machines, another vintage cigarette machine, ...
	... and this display case featuring props from the movie "Across the Wide Missouri" starring Clark Gable. An old letter in the display case said that the props were gifted to the hotel by Gable himself.
	We walked to the back of the lobby, and headed toward our room, ...
	... the Marx Brothers Suite.
	It was a lovely two room suite, featuring two double beds and a desk in one room, ...
	... a king-sized bed and sitting room in the other, ...
	.. and an adjoining bathroom.
	We headed out right at sunset to grab some dinner.
	We decided we would try Blake's Lotaburger. We had seen a number of these through New Mexico, and it was a chain we hadn't heard of before.
	The service was extremely slow, and it was quite a while before we had our food, which was two Itsa Burgers and a side of fries.
	It was well and truly dark by the time we left the parking lot.
	We drove down the main road in Gallup, looking for good neon signs. Richardson Trading Company was all lit up, ...
	... as was the Desert Skies Motel.
	Only part of this sign was lit, ...
	... but the Route 66 memorial looked great.
	The El Rancho was lit up as well, ...
	... with the entire main part of the building looking very charming.
	The main part of the hotel was lit with pink light, with neon running along the roofline. We returned to our room, settled in, and went to bed. Day 7 >