What a great idea! The breakfast was so much better than the usual motel fare of bagels, cheap muffins and cold cereal. I had double blueberry pancakes with sausage and egg and coffee. With that in my belly I didn't need any lunch today.
I drove through the center of Albuquerque on old Route 66, called Central Street in town. But old route 66 disappears under the concrete of I-40 on the east end of the city. In fact, as I was to find out today, much of old route 66 has disappeared that way.
There are stretches of the old highway in the small towns while the interstate loops outside of them. But on many of the long distances between towns I-40 sits right on top of 66 which it replaced. There are, however, a few places where old route 66 is a "frontage road" running parallel with I-40 and only a few dozen feet to its side. Interestingly, the railroad line also runs parallel as does a set of telephone polls that, I believe, first carried telegraph signals. Of these, the railroad would have been first, then the telegraph lines, then route 66, and finally I-40. All alongside of each other and running for miles over the expansive open grass and rangelands of eastern New Mexico and the western panhandle of Texas.
I did venture off the big highway onto a minor road and from the minor road onto a dirt county road for a while but it eventually would have dead-ended, so I worked my way back onto I-40.
The towns of Santa Rosa and Tucumcari in New Mexico and the even smaller towns of Adrian and Vega in Texas were once vibrant stopping points along route 66. Many of the old motels are still there. Some are closed and rotting away. Most of the gas stations are boarded up. Those businesses that remain open have their 1940s-1950s era signs on the road but they need repainting. Many are simply falling apart.
The countryside was beautiful but boring in its sameness for over 200 miles. Towns here are much farther apart than they are in rural Kansas and the land is ranched but not farmed. I saw no evidence of corn or soybeans or wheat. In fact, the few grain elevators I passed all had broken windows and appeared to be unused.
I drove old route 66 in Adrian, Texas, and found this sign. This is the midpoint of the old route which ran from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Amarillo is a large town, about 170,000 people. But it is set 125 miles north of Lubbock, 250 miles west of Oklahoma City, 280 miles east of Albuquerue, and there just aren't any big towns at all to the north. It is a long way from here to anywhere.
I've stayed in a few motels on this trip, both new and old. Even the new ones do not seem to be designed for the modern traveler. What I am referring to is the lack of electrical outlets. Typically there are two or three 2-plug outlets in the room. But those have the TV, a clock radio, a fridge, and a lamp plugged in. I have four power adapters to charge my electronics: one of the cell phone; one for the battery in the camera; one for the iPod; one for the laptop.
In every motel I have had to unplug something and I've chosen the clock radio. (Let the next traveller figure out how to reset it.). Two nights ago in Moab, I had to unplug the fridge, the TV, and the clock radio! Thank goodness the battery in the camera is good for a week or more. One motel sent me an evaluation questionairre by email after I stayed there. I gave them my plea, "More electrical outlets please and DON'T put them behind the kingsize bed that it is impossible to move."
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