LONG STRAIGHT ROADS THAT KEEP GOING ON AND ON

Hi everyone

Hi everyone

An interesting day yesterday where we came to a conclusion yesterday - route 66 for many miles goes along the same route at the freeway – in fact side by side and sadly many of the so called attractions are gone, closed up, or have simply faded away. 

Many of the towns are extremely sad, homes run down and broken, junk left to rot where it was dropped. 

Today we drove across the Texas state line into New Mexico and also changed time zones, gaining an hour.  The landscape had been flat, flat flat, for as far as the eye can see and then further again, and where it had been a wheat growing area it changed to dry window blown dirt where nothing much seemed to grow.  We did see a holding area for cattle that was full – must have been thousands of cows ready to go to market.  Then nothing, just dry dirt.  But as we moved into New Mexico it changed from flat to rolling, but still dry, however, Neil commented that it looked like the northern Nevada but with a  bit of green scrub covering it. 

Before we left Amarillo we went to the Cadillac ranch- dry dirt paddock with 10 cadillacs sticking up out of the earth at an angle – apparently it’s meant to be the same angle as the pyramids???  You just walk up to these dead cars, meant to take your own spray paint and tag them – the cars are literally covered and covered again and again with spray paint. There were quite a few people there tagging.  But what shocked Neil and most was the litter!  People it seemed didn’t bother to take away their empty spray cans with them and there were hundreds just dumped on the ground.  Such a shame.

Then again before we headed out of Amarillo we went t to the RV Museum – this was a caravan business started up many years ago and is now the biggest maker of RV/Caravans in the world.  A huge sales/service dept and show room.  So many RV/Campers out the back.  Then there is a museum of all these campers they collected and refurbished over the years.  A real history of camping.  On our way out we were approached by a man we believe one of the owners (or the son of the original owner) and he apparently had been to NZ and said where he’d been, and liked etc.  We mentioned that  Christchurch where he’d travelled had been flattened by earthquakes – he didn’t know and was really saddened and shocked by it.  Obviously news of our little part of the world doesn’t get to Texas.  Mind you we were even cut off the map in a place we’d visited the day before – oh well.

Out of Amarillo we headed west towards Albuquerque finding many of the places now dead and gone, but we did go to Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa.  Interesting in the book this town is meant to be a little oasis in the desert because of artesian wells, however to my eye it was really dry and definitely not lush.  The museum was very good, many of the cars for sale  - big prices though.

50 Woodie Ford

56 Chevrolet

The carpark

Interesting sign post for the museum

Route 66 in this area is a bit dangerous to drive on as it’s in rugged terrain, and at parts a track so we kept to the freeway – no way did I want to meet a rattlesnake.

And here we are in Albuquerque.  It winds in through rolling hills to get there, homes rather sad and run down but I guess again that could be said for many cities and their outer suburb s. 

Today we head on to Gallup, NM and then to the Petrified Forest.

See you tomorrow

Jane and Neil