Jack & Jackie's Travels: 14. Route 66 Part 2, Acoma (Sky City) to Tucumcari NM

Route 66 Part 2, Acoma (Sky City) to Tucumcari NM

We left Sky City driving east on Rt.66 passed the camel and Owl Rock and around Dead Man’s Curve in the motorhome. We moved to I-40 through Albuquerque, we drove though the city in our car a few days earlier and I didn’t want to repeat the trip in the motorhome.

It’s not as large as Walls Drug but Clines Corners has lots of road signs. (If you have been on I-90 in South Dakota, you know what I’m referring to). They don’t want anyone to be able to say they didn’t stop because they didn’t know it was there. You can get fuel, fast food and souvenirs. Yes, we left with some magnets and a piece of Indian pottery.

In the town of Moriarty is the last remaining active Whiting Bros. Gas station, operating under the “WB” sign. In 1917, Whiting Bros. established a chain of cut rate gas stations on Rt.66 that spanned from Shamrock, Texas to just west of Barstow, California.

Many of their old buildings remain today. There are many abandoned buildings that become eye sores. What some towns are doing is painting these buildings using the original colors and painting on the name of the business.

Moriarty also has the last remaining “neon rotosphere” at the El Comedor de Anayas restaurant.

As we approached Tucumcari we saw a mesa with antennas and some strange light colored features. Using the telephoto setting I got a close up of appeared to be light colored soil or gravel. The light colored line rising from right to left is a road the goes to the top of the mesa.

I’m thinking, “ya know, I’ve heard all those stories about aliens the gov have captured and they gotta keep’m someplace”. We might have taken one or more steps beyond the boundary of the rational world, the New Mexico sum is brutal!

TUMUMCARI. Wondering about how the town got its name? Some say it comes from the 4999 foot high mountain, once used as a look out by the Comanche. The Comanche word for it was “tucumcari”. That may be true but I’m going with the Indian legend. It goes like this. Kari is the daughter of an Apache chief. She is in love with an Apache warrior, Tocom, and he is in love with her. Now Tocom might have been a good lover but came in 2^nd place in a fight for Kari’s hand (2^nd place means he’s dead). Kari’s grief causes her to stab the victor and then stab herself. Her father sees all this and (you guessed it) grabs his dagger and ends his life. With his last breath he cried out “TOCOM_KARI”. Remember, this was his last breath so he didn’t have time to emphasize that it was two separate names so it was forever known as TUCUMCARI. Jeez, legends don’t get any better than that!

Tucumcari is a railroad town founded in 1901. Rt.66 came through town and business flourished due to tourist traffic. Motels, gas stations, restaurants, etc. all suffered when the tourists stayed on I-40, bypassing the town. There people who have formed or are forming preservation groups and the are some federal funds to restore some buildings and road signs.

Perhaps the best of the old motor courts is the Blue Swallow, their web site is www.blueswallowmotel.com They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We were told that motor court signifies a place where you get a room to sleep and there is a garage for your car. This place has some great painting on the garage walls.

The RV Park we stayed at was a former motor court. A while back some men decided to preserve it. To have a way to make a living and support the work they made it into a RV park. It is a work in progress but the people couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful Here is a picture of the original building and what it looks like today.

Tucumcari has 25 murals on the sides of buildings. The County Chamber of Commerce has a Mural Map, which is a map of the town and the mural locations plus a listing with the name of the mural.

This one is on the side of their super market.

More pictures at: https://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/10415

The town has a museum that is loaded with memories. I worked on reducing the number of pictures Jackie & took thinking I’d put them in with the others. In the end I’m uploading them separately.