Tucumcari Tonight

Day 8: 133 Miles
Total: 2,287 Miles

More correctly, it was Tucumcari, NM last night since I'm a day behind in my blog. The Ford Fusion drives flawlessly and gets around 35 mpg; even so, I wouldn't trade my '37 for two brand new ones. In any event, we meandered along the short drive from Amarillo to Tucumcari, including a 17-mile stretch of unpaved Route 66 between Glen Rio, TX and San Jon, NM. Rental cars are good for something after all!

We got to the Blue Swallow Motel, arguably the most famous motel along Route 66, and checked in. We wound up staying in the same room as last year. We wandered through town taking pictures and we had a nice dinner at the newly reopened La Cita restaurant. After dinner we sat out in the cool evening breeze and met a few of our fellow travelers. It was very pleasant, and our only concern was whether we would be continuing west in the morning or turning around and heading back to Amarillo. You'll have to read today's blog to see what we found out.

Here are a few photos from our brief journey.

The dirt road below is an alignment of Route 66 heading out of the ghost town of Glen Rio, TX toward the almost ghost town of San Jon, NM. Lots of abandoned buildings along the way. A couple of shots below will give you a flavor.




The Blue Swallow is one of the coolest motels along the 2,000+ miles of Route 66. The new owners, Kevin and Nancy Mueller have had the place for a year now and have done some incredible updating. It's no Holiday Inn...and I'm glad for that.





Caio!

Comments

Unknown said…
Our 2 year old ford Fusion doesn't get good mileage at all,- but I like it just the same. We probably don't travel in a year as far as you have driven your rental car. lol. Safe and happy trails. Aunt Mona.
June 8, 2012 at 1:02 AM
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