Day 9: Amarillo, TX to Santa Fe, NM

The halfway point of Route 66

Today's drive was the longest of our trip on Route 66 - close to 300 miles.

The Vega Motel in Vega, TX

The remaining 70 miles through Texas took us through some small towns and a couple larger ones, but same as yesterday, the booming glory days of these towns have long disappeared. Vega had a couple motels and old gas stations and Adrian finally brought us to the mid-point of our journey. After driving for 8 1/2 days, it feels like we should be much further than this. However, with this stretched out land, the travelling between towns goes at a pretty quick speed.

Route 66 disappears under the interstate

And as we got to 18 miles from the New Mexico border, we hit an end of the road sign as Route 66 disappeared under the interstate for the last piece in Texas.

Remnants of an old railway bridge

Dirt 66

Once we got into New Mexico, we were able to get off the interstate right away for a 18 mile piece of dirt road where 66 once lay. Along the road, we could see remnants of what was once the rail road chugging next to Route 66. Now, only the elevation, some rotted pieces of wood, and pillars of what used to be a bridge gave away what was present here.

All that is left of a motel in Endee, NM

About mid-way through the dirt road, we hit a couple buildings in ruins - a town once called Endee. One of the ruins mentions the words "Modern Restrooms" where a motel once housed weary travelers. As we stopped to take a couple of pictures, we could literally hear nothing around us, which was a great feeling.

The Lasso Motel in Tucumcari, NM

The landscape around us is changing rapidly again as well. We started to see more hills appear, which were almost like half mountains as we got closer. It is starting to become more greener as well, starting with scattered bushes, then further in turning into trees and more grass.

These ruins are all that is left from Wilkerson's in
Newkirk, NM

At the same time, other pieces of the landscape are rocky and washed-out small canyons. Some of the earth has a deep dark-red color and as we drive down some of the dirt roads, the red dust filled up the back window of our car quickly to where we could no longer see out of it.

The Blue Swallow Motel is still in business in
Tucumcari, NM

We drove through several little town in New Mexico where we barely found a dozen houses - most of them abandoned or looked abandoned. Ruins are very prevalent around here. About 40 miles into New Mexico, we got to Tucumcari, one of the larger cities in New Mexico, and while other towns have long lost their resting place, Tucumcari is one of those that has been able to keep its charm with dozens of old motels as well as modern establishments.

Mural along a side of a motel in Tucumcari, NM

We hadn't really came across so many motels in one city (especially of this size), which makes me think that since the roads here are so stretched out between towns, that many motels had to be available because of the rest that travelers needed and not many options of where to stay.

Rough piece of Route 66 near Cuervo, NM

A bit further, we had an option to follow original Route 66 through another semi-paved road. The book we are using clearly indicated that this road was rough and did NOT recommend taking this road, which is of course guy code for "of course you should take this road."

Some unwanted visitors along the road - or were we
the unwanted visitors?

As we started off along this piece, a huge sign in the middle of the road indicated "dead end", which made us wonder if we could even get through. Almost immediately, we found a piece where half of the road was washed away. As we continued, we ran into pot holes about every half minute, but the road felt driveable. As we drove up and down the New Mexico rocky hills, about halfway through on top of a hill, we found ourselves pinned on a narrow road between the barbwire of two ranches in the company of about ten cows and a couple bulls.

Fallen tree blocking the road for us on old Route 66

As we drove a couple feet next to the cows, they looked at us like they had never seen a car before in their life. A little further down, we found ourselves with a tree that had fallen down and blocked the road. With a cliff right next to us as well, we just had enough space to wiggle by.

The Sun n Sand Motel in
Santa Rosa, NM - just one of many

Eventually, we got to the end of the rough patch with our final scare as we saw the road roped off with barbed wire and a small opening right next to it with some old wooden pieces to cover a huge dip in the road. As my dad guided me through the small opening, we were glad to have a nice piece of paved road again.

This took us into Santa Rosa, one of the larger towns with dozens of motels in the couple miles leading up to its downtown - several of them still in business.

A couple ruins in Dilia, NM

From Santa Rosa to Albuquerque, there are two options to drive route 66 - a post '37 option that takes you straight from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque - most of it eaten up by the interstate today. The other is a pre '37 option that takes you up to Santa Fe and then back down.

1916 church in Bernal, NM

Since we didn't want to drive down the interstate (even though the views here are amazing), we decided to do the pre-option. The section taking us up to Romeroville was a long stretch of highway driving that took us through Dilia, of which not much was left except for some houses and ruins. However, from Romeroville to Santa Fe was about 65 miles of back roads going through the New Mexico mountains.

Mount Tucumcari

The towns we drove through were very small yet houses were spread everywhere possible up hills or down into valleys.

1826 Plaza Church in San Jose, NM

The towns of Bernal, San Jose, Pecos and Glorieta were pretty neat - housing changing from the traditional what we had seen before to Spanish-style houses or houses made out of the materials found in the area.

Yes, this is snow

1921 bridge in San Jose, NM

As we drove through the towns, we got to see some buildings, like stores and churches, that were from the pre-Route 66 era - dating from the 1800's.

The Pecos river crossing underneath the abandoned
bridge in San Jose, NM

In San Jose, we back tracked a piece of old Route 66 and as we got to the end of the town, we saw a tiny piece of old broken concrete of where the road was laid and in front of it, a 1921 bridge, no longer in use because the end was broken off. A couple of small concrete patches still covered the bridge but it was mostly wood by now - still in very good condition.

Saint Francis Cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, NM

Walkway in downtown Santa Fe, NM

Our final rest stop for today was Santa Fe. As we walked the downtown in the evening, I was amazed of such a big city (for where it's located) has such a small town feel.

The Cottonwood Court Motel in Santa Fe, NM

The King's Rest Court Inn
in Santa Fe, NM

Several people were relaxing on benches in the small plaza downtown, listening to live music playing, while others were strolling next to the many art galleries the city has.

Downtown Santa Fe, NM

Others were enjoying some local and foreign food in the many small restaurants available. The city has many of the name-brand stores that we know, yet because of the Spanish-style store fronts, it somehow makes it feel less busy and rushed. As we drove out of Santa Fe, we came across dozens  of motels - most of them still in business.

I'm thoroughly enjoying New Mexico and really liked Santa Fe as our final stop today.

Miles driven today: 291
Time driven today: 8hrs 25min

Total miles driven: 1,296
Total time driven: 42hrs 35min