We started the day in Tucumcari, and checked out a few iconic places along Route 66. We stopped at the Blue Swallow Motel, which was just adorable, and the gentleman working was such a delight. He mentioned he was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, but loves New Mexico; and he even chuckled when he mentioned the closest Walmart is 98 miles away!
As we started on our journey today, we decided would ride the original 1926 path as much as possible; it took us high into the mountains and low into the valleys – it was gorgeous! Although I’m still not a fan of mountain driving (or I guess I should say passenger-seat riding). The feeling of looking out and down from the passenger window and seeing nothing but the side of a mountain terrifies me!
However, the scenery – there’s nothing like it! 😍
We rolled into LAS VEGASSSSSS – New Mexico, that is!! Where jay drove around the city’s center circle, which was from the movie Convoy, and we took pictures of the Plaza Hotel, which was often featured in Longmire. We also got to meet a staff member who made several guest appearances on Longmire. He had only amazingly kind things to say about the actors of Longmire, which only made us like the show more!
We saw a sign for a National Park and took a quick detour to Pecos National Historical Park and learned so much about the history of the land and the indigenous people who occupied this country.
Then, we made our way to Albuquerque and the Enchanted Trails RV Park and Trading Post, we bought a few souvenirs and headed back on the road.
We passed by an originally Route 66 bridge (that is now closed to cars), and faced another storm that rolled in across the flat lands; but this time it also included tumbleweeds being blown all over, in addition to the high winds and rain. We made it through safely and rolled into Grants, and Jay drove through the Grants standing sign.
As we were leaving Grants I kept seeing this churned up soil. I later realized it was very old lava and we were close to the National Park El Malpais!
After that, we realized we were close to the continental divide. We stopped and admired area and took a few photos.
The mountains, and scenery are gorgeous in New Mexico.
We were about ready to call it a night, so we made our way into Gallup to call it a night.
Tomorrow, we will be heading towards Arizona.
Life with Mary and Jay 