We awoke to a cloudy, rainy morning! Looks like we made the right decision to go to Sandia Peak yesterday. Will need to find a few indoor activities until it clears up this afternoon.
Here are a couple of photos from yesterdays activities.
A beautiful cactus from the La Bajada hike
A petroglyph from the Petroglyph National Monument of unknown meaning
Yes, it’s only 60 miles from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, but it took us nearly all day to get there. We left at SF 8 AM and arrived ABQ at 3:30-ish!
But there was a side trip a couple a few miles out of SF called the La Bajada. Of course, it had a cache. Only thing is we had to walk up hill to get it. It was located on a really old section of the historic route 66 that is today only passable via high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles. Lots of curves, big rocks and wash outs. However, we did see two such vehicles making the trek during hour hike up to get the cache which took us about an hour to get to the top. It was 1.67 miles. Only 37 minutes to return to the car. Gravity works better going down!
As we neared ABQ Joyce wanted to see the Petraglyph National Monument. So, we stopped and spent about an hour walking on the Boca Negra trail which, you guessed it, was mostly up. We saw quite a few of the petraglypys on the rocks for hundreds to thousands of years old made by the ancient Pueblo people who inhabited the Rio Grande river valley.
Arriving at our hotel, another Best Western, we decided the weather might be better tonight for taking the Sandia Peak Tram up to the top in hopes of getting great pictures and a nice dinner. We hurried out of the hotel and up the road to get there in time to take the 5 PM tram to the top for our dinner reservations at the High Finance Restaurant. Yep, high finance alright! As usual we shared an entrée and both were too full for dessert.
We stayed on top until just after sunset taking the tram back down.
Although there was a geocache located in the parking lot, we didn’t find it. Then followed the Garmin nuvi back to the hotel by some different route than we got there.
Tomorrow, depending on the weather is ABQ day.
Was caprese salad and bruschetta wit6g smoked bacon, avocado and tomato and cheese. Light fare, but tasty.
Now to plan for tomorrow. Already got reservations at the Best Western.
Nighty night!
We had a leisurely morning. Since there was no coffee in the room (4* hotel downtown) we walked about 4 blocks ti a small Italian cafe where we had great coffee and breakfast.
We spent the morning sightseeing by foot in downtown Santa Fe. We saw the “miraculous spiral staircase” at the Loretto Chapel and the lobby of the La Fonda hotel where we obtained another geocache. This was followed by a visit to the New Mexico State Capitol where we also found another geocache.
For lunch we went to the Travel Bug Cafe where we “discovered” the travel bug on the Murano and got another geocache find.
In the afternoon we visited the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and found two more geocaches.
This followed by a beer in the hotel bar/patio and dinner at Mangiamo Pronto Cafe Italiano.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped in the central square for some live music. Tomorrow we depart for Albuquerque.
We got up shortly after sunrise from our lodging at the Roadrunner Lodge in Tucumcari, dressed and started walking with camera in hand to photograph some of the signs, motels and other buildings in the early morning sunlight. This without the first cup of coffee!
After we returned we got coffee at the motel lobby and got in the car to drive to some photo ops further than we wanted to walk. Got back to the room and had a breakfast of cereal from the supplies we brought with us. Then showered, packed, loaded the car and departed around 9:30 AM for Santa Fe. Today’s drive was only about 180 miles so we arrived about 5:30 PM in Santa Fe.
This was a really interesting drive today. We alternated between the old historic Route 66 roads and the new I-25 interstate highways. Where this happened most of the time it was because the extra work to cut a new road seemed to outweigh the advantages of using the existing roadway for the new highway.
Lots of buttes and big sky along the way today. We had the windows open most of the day today even though the carmometer showed about 88 degrees. Really nice to have the wind in the car which reminded me of the days without air conditioning! Places we passed through today included:
Montoya
New Kirk
Santa Rosa (Saw the Blue Hole deep water sinkhole–81 ft deep, 60 ft across and clear to the bottom)
Romeroville
San Jose
We found several caches along this route which was the pre-1937 Route 66 alignment. Due probably to politics, when the highway system was upgraded, this route was changed to go directly to Albuquerque from Tucumcari (now I-40). In the early days, it was probably routed this way to follow existing Santa Fe Trail and later the Santa Fe Railroad. We followed the railroad line most of the way today. We also crossed the Santa Fe and Pecos, trails at various places in the last three days. Also the Pecos river (3 times) and the Red River.
Making this trip today in a few hours reminded me of the difficulties early travelers on Route 66 had to get to the promised land in California. There is little water along the route, hot and dry in the summer with the potential for violent storms and travel over rough unpaved road surfaces. Still, a beautiful country.
Just before Santa Fe, we stopped to see the Pecos National Historical Park. This was an unexpected stop and very interesting. We learned about the Pecos Pueblo and it’s inhabitants before and after the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. We were able to climb down in a kiva and see the footings from the first mission that the Spanish Catholics built in 1625 and the standing structure from the replacement mission about 100 years later. We also got a geocache there by answering some questions posed along the 1-1/4 mile interpretive trail.
In Santa Fe we got two nights at the Hotel St. Francis in the downtown area using Priceline. This will permit us to walk to most of the interesting things. Had a nice dinner at the Cowgirl BBQ–Joyce’s choice (no surprise here). Enjoyed some NM craft beers; Gary had Sierra Blanca Nut Brown and Joyce had Monk’s Ale. Then nice walk back to the hotel for the evening.
Have a lot of catching up to do before we leave town. No interesting photos today. Lot of high country desert!
Got a late start this morning–due to late arrival in Amarillo last night! Slept to 8 AM-ish in the nice soft bed in the Sleep Inn. Finished breakfast around 9:30 and left about 10 AM for the days activities. Gary had a Texas shaped waffle and Joyce had cereal.
We had a short day (only about 120 miles). It was our plan to stay in the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari as it is one of the few restored motels with good ratings. When we phoned first thing in the morning, they were booked up for tonight. We decided to get started and work on the reservation later.
As we were late arriving in Amarillo, we had to back track about 6 miles to photograph some of the historic buildings in downtown Amarillo. Then we made our way to the famous Cadillac Ranch–10 vintage Cadillacs planted nose first in the ground. We spent about an hour there photographing and using spray paint to document our visit. It’s the thing to do there! Also found a geocache.
Places we visited in Texas
Vega
Adrian which is the midpoint of Route 66; 1139 miles to Chicago and 1138 miles to Santa Monica! We had a very nice lunch at the Midway Café. This place is a landmark and is famous for its “Ugly Pies.” We shared one! It was the chocolate chip pecan pie with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Nothing ugly about this tasty treat. There was also a rocking chair that said “Aunt Joyce” that belonged to a friend of the proprietor who happened to be there. She said only people named Joyce could sit in the chair and so Joyce did.
Then it was on to New Mexico!
We found a geocache at the TX NM state line on the old historic 66 Mile 0. Here we decided to take the oldest section of Historic Route 66 into Tucumcari, NM. It was a dirt/gravel road for about 10 miles. It was not hard to imagine the early travelers trying to make it to California along this route! There were only a few cattle and a couple of old residences along this route. Some of the cattle were in open range unprotected from today’s crazy drivers by fence!
We arrived in Tucumcari about 5 PM and checked into the Roadrunner Motel which Joyce remembered while I was taking photographs of the Cowboy Motel in Amarillo. She was able to get us a reservation and we were the first to get one of the four rooms they have available. This motel is another historic one (renamed from the Leatherwood Manor by the new owners.
We had dinner from our supplies in the room and then went out to take some photos of the Tucumcari Mountain and the various neon signs around town. Upon returning, we visited with the owners for quite a while and then decided to call it a night. But only after we updated our blog, geocaching logs and made some plans for tomorrow’s travel.
Another great day! Good night! Oh yeah, now we’re in the Mountain Time Zone. Hardly noticed the change while driving, but the sunset came an hour earlier today!
Good Morning, America!
After a good night’s sleep, I thought I might try to cover yesterday’s travels. We left sort of early–9 AM. The hotel w as on the SW side of downtown OKC and the historic route took us from the downtown area through the suburbs.
It was hard to imagine how it might have been in the early days of the Mother Road because of all the contemporary changes that have happened. As we got out of the urban part of OKC, I could begin to see many remnants that suggested it was different in timeas past. Just as we were about out of the city you could see recently converted fields to the newest crop–subdivisions on both sides of the road. Progress!?
IN OK
Yukon
Hydro (32 span bridge, Lucille’s Phillip 66)
Weatherford (wind turbine blades on display at museum)
Clinton
Elk City (Route 66 National Museum)
Sayre
IN TX
Shamrock (the most remarkable Conoco station that was model for Pixar’s Cars movie)
McLean
Alanreed
Groom
Conway
Amarillo
Once we were a few miles out of OKC there was an immediate change in the scenery observed. There were the wide open spaces and big sky that one expects to see in the western part of the country. Of course, there was the plentiful sunshine to go along with those–and today we marked over 100 with the carmometer recording 101 twice in the afternoon.
Arriving in Amarillo, one could see the typical western city with its urban sprawl and what seems to be a lack of zoning standards. And once again I am surprised at the number of people/families that are living in the old hotels from the 50s/60s that have not been updated.
As noted in yesterday’s short post, we split a very nice steak dinner at the Hofbrau House that was recommended by a geocacher in one of the logs that we reviewed. Got there at 8:50 PM just before closing. We were the last customers to get in that evening. While waiting to be served, I made a Priceline reservation using my phone for the Sleep Inn located about 0,1 mile down the street. Very convenient!
We left OKC at 9 AM and made it to Amarillo around 8:30 PM today. Made 300 miles, got 6 caches and lots of photographs. Had a steak dinner in Amarillo at the Hofbrau House where we just made it before 9 PM closing time. They let us in anyway.
Too tired to give details and impressions of today’s drive. More tomorrow (hopefully).
As expected, we had a slow start to the morning following our late arrival last night at the Will Rogers Inn in Claremore, OK. We enjoyed our morning coffee, made some plans for the day and checked the weather for the next several days for our upcoming destinations. We left around 9:30 AM today.
Although we made a total of 200 miles again today (is that a theme….), we only advance about 170 miles. As noted yesterday, we decided to backtrack to see the Totem Pole Park in daylight instead of dusk. It was a 30 mile round trip to get there and back to the hotel where we continued on our way.
It was really worth going back to see the Totem Pole Park. When we got there, the Executive Director and a board member were already there working on ways to get funding to paint the top of the main totem pole. We had a nice chat with them and learned some interesting facts about the totems and their creator. He also made 300 fiddles (I think as opposed to violins in this case) of which about 100 were on display. Made of many types of wood they were very intersting to see. I took some photos of the totems and some of the inside of the main one. We also scored a find for the virtual geocache there.
On the rest of today’s travels we visited quite a few interesting things.
In Catoosa, OK we saw the kitchy “Blue Whale” that seems to attract visitors still.
In Tulsa we photographed the Oasis Motel, the Desert Hills Motel, the Blue Dome and the Cyrus Avery Bridge. Avery was the primary person responsible for the development of the national system of highways in the 1920s and was considered the father of Route 66.
Other places today included:
Salpulpa, OK (old buiding now De Holman Distributing and the Route 66 Bridge that was used until 1952).
We ate a very late lunch at the famous Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. The owner was the inspiration for the Sally Carrera character in the movie Cars.
We saw the brick roadway in Davenport, OK and the Lincoln Motel in Chandler, OK. Plus the famous Round Barn in Arcadia, OK.
We ended our day in Oklahoma City by driving past the State Capital in the hour before sunset when the light is beautiful. And finally by the Milk Bottle building.
Our hotel for the night was an unusual one of a kind place. Isola Bella in OKC. Its mostly an extended stay facility for FAA students at the academy here in OKC. Got it through priceline with no difficulty. Its gated, have to have a gate pass to get in and out and the room keys have no identification on them and work by passing in front of the lock. Reminds me of my Lockheed Martin trips to the Center for Learning in Bethesda, MD!
Okay, finishing up some laundry and calling it another day/night!
Today we had a long day–made about 260 miles! We left Lebanon around 8:30 after breakfast and coffee. We had planned on making it to Tulsa by night, but changed our plans midday because of the number of things on the agenda for today.
On the way out of Lebanon we stopped in a place called Laclede to find Missouri’s largest geocache.
First stop was Marshall Field, MO where we saw a scale model of the Hubble Telescope and walked around the town square.
Then the following places:
Strafford, MO
Springfield, MO
Halltown, MO
Paris Springs, MO (here we met some locals who gave us advice on things to see down the road in Spencer and Red Oak)
Spencer, MO (nicely restored gas station showing low priced gas)
Red Oak, MO (relocated buildings)
Carthage, MO
Carterville, MO
Webb City, MO
Joplin, MO
Galena, KS
Riverton, KS (saw the Rainbow Bridge original from 1923 and saw a 1956 red and white Chevy crossing it)
Baxter Springs, KS
Quapaw, OK
Commerce, OK (Micky Mantle’s home)
Miami, OK
Afton, OK (between Miami and Afton we took the ribbon or sidewalk highway that is only 9 ft wide and from the original route 66.)
Vinita, OK
Foynil, OK (Totem Pole Park, too dark to see much, return tomorrow!)
Claremore, OK
There were a lot more places on the map (and some not on the map) than those listed. These were just the “big” places. The roads in OK are pretty straight and long, so we made good time. The speed limit on most of the 2 lane highways was 65. Not too much traffic either.
We got a reservation via Priceline at the Will Rogers Inn in Claremore. Arrived there about 9:30 PM. Will call it a night shortly and likely get a late start tomorrow! We will return to the Totem Pole Park in daylight and get a geocache there before continuing on to the SW,
Nighty, night…. zzzz, zzzz
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