Real darned HOT.....

Now, things from this point get a bit fuzzy. It’s hot. Now it’s been hot really since we got to New York, but this is noticeably different, dry heat, scorching hot, over 30 degrees hot...infact EVERY thing is different. The landscape is bare, empty, barren, except for a few bent trees. And vast, you can’t see the edge, there is just sky and horizon. As we turn a corner, it just changes and we have to stop, just to take it all in and listen to the total nothingness. There is the odd ruined gas station, or we see a graveyard full of just trucks, smashed up wrecked trucks, in the desert, or the gate for a ranch for which nothing else other than the gate can be seen. We stop at a tiny town, hoping for maybe a cold drink, nope... we are told by the lovely lady that was keen to show us around a very well stocked library that no, there is nothing like that in the town, hasn’t been for many a year. She then tells us about her sister that used to live above the now vintage restored gas station and just how hard her life must have been. We stop at the tiny town museum and are met with ‘Dave’ with the Deputy Dawg moustache, who acts like he hasn’t seen people for WEEKS, let alone English folk, so keen and eager to show us the museum collection and to tell us about the pie we simply have to have when we get to Midpoint - which we rush on to, because, well, pie.

Out of the endless desert comes Tucumcari - one of THE stops on Route 66. Not really because there is anything there, it really is just a few roads BUT these roads do have some excellently restored vintage hotels on them...The Blue Swallow, The Motel Safari and The Roadrunner - each of them immaculate and certainly catering to the Route 66 visitor. We stop at Motel Safari and have an incredibly clean room, that has kept its vintage feel, but has a brand new bed, excellent air con and a spotless bathroom. Especially like the retro radio playing Route 66 50’s & 60’s music. We sit outside our room, have a few cold beers and chat, as countless folk before us have done on this route. As the sun goes down in the bluest sky I have ever seen, people actually WALK (a rare sight) to take in the stunning neon lights. It’s a short walk, but I have total admiration for the people trying to revive this tiny town, bring that Route 66 magic back where the journey is everything.

I even run the next morning, EARLY, before the sun really starts to hit, which is great, but when I get off the main road I start to encounter some rather large pit bulls, chained up outside houses, some not fenced in - and whilst I have no fear of dogs, I decide that maybe just maybe I should stick to the main road. Great photo opportunities though so hey! Another small town, another small town museum of course, with some great old pictures of folks long long dead that I become a little obsessed with. How hard were their lives, what did they do when they left school, who did they love... It also has a very old Wurlitzer juke box, a kind I have never seen before that is fascinating. This one is a little different too because this one HAS AN JET PLANE IN IT. Yup, just there..doing nothing. Wierd

Onwards... We decide actually to push on to Albuquerque, on the freeway. What most people fail to mention is that the Route 66 road often just follows by the side of the freeway, is a bit more broken down and not as fast - so it’s a little pointless unless it actually goes through some tiny towns. So, yes we hit the freeway and head into what is actually a little holiday as we check into a great hotel that has a lovely outdoor pool, bar, restaurants and HUGE rooms. So we chill out, rest up, swim and it feels like we are on a holiday within a holiday. In the evening we seem to hit peak hipster as we seek out the brewery bars. Our top knot and beard score is HIGH, but we also get to not only feel like we are in a film but actually BE in a film as they are filming something (I am secretly hoping it was The Rock obviously) in the vintage theatre down town, with the road closed off and vintage 60’s cars in the street! THIS IS MY LIFE!!

Tomorrow Santa Fe, margaritas and 24 years of marriage....