2026 Western Route 66 - Day 19

 Vega Texas

Today’s route to Vega Texas includes 14 miles of gravel on the original alignment, and this handy rest stop at about the halfway point of the gravel, but we have 27 miles of paved riding to get there.

We had breakfast at Del’s diner at 6:30 am on a very chilly morning. Another great meal served quickly and we headed back to the Blue Swallow Motel. This restored Texaco gas station does not sell curios, its been repurposed as a tattoo and piercing parlor!

I think this sums up the feeling of many of the business owners in Tucumcari!

After loading my bag, the owner of the Blue Swallow stopped by to thank us for staying. We did fill up the whole place. I thanked him for a great stay and wished him well running a wonderful time capsule/motel. When I looked up, everyone was gone. Too early to chase so I settled into my pace and slowly started catching up with the group.

We are on a section of Route 66 that was bypassed by the interstate. This gas station is part of the ghost town of Cedar Hill. It looks like a 20’s/30’s structure that is collapsing. There was a newer footing for a light post with a date of 10/7/51; so this business must of made it to the 60’s when it was bypassed.

Lots of small wash crossings. this one still has a foundation from the 1926 road. 

The first van stop was just outside the town of Jon. From here you had a choice to take the Interstate or a 14 mile section of gravel on the original Route 66. I decided on the gravel route.

More dead motels in the town of Jon, this one was only a few units.

Next up is the World’s Largest Flip-flop! Worth a picture, but with some time pressure to get to the lunch stop before they close the grill I pushed on.

Here is the start of the gravel. It was in good shape, hard-packed with avoidable washboards. As to can see, its mostly pancake flat. With a tailwind, I made great time and caught up with the lead group just as we crossed two bridges.

The first bridge was closed, but it was ridable so I did and recorded the above video as I rolled across.

I did not realize there were two bridges (although the cue sheet mentions two). This bridge was not closed to traffic.

I rolled into the van stop as some of the freeway riders were rolling in. With lunch on my mind I made a quick stop and headed to the end of the frontage road and joined the freeway. Since the van stop was on the state line, there was no Welcome to Texas sign when I got on the freeway, we were already in God’s Country!

After 14 miles of gravel, some hard packed, some washboard, and some soft sand, jumping on the Texas version of I-40 was startling smooth!

In the distance you can see the last few bumps we will encounter in today’s ride. With a strong tailwind it was easy to zip along at 25+ mph on the flats and 30+ on the slight downhills.

Before I knew it, I caught the lead freeway riders as we rolled into Adrian Texas and the Route 66 Midpoint Cafe.

When we rolled in, the place was packed. We had plenty of time before the grill closed, and I enjoyed a great lunch.

How about some pie! I had a great banana cream with blueberry topping. It was delicious and when our waitress picked up my empty plate she returned with this sticker!

There are only 14 miles to today’s finish in Vega, Texas. So I pushed out at a reasonable digestion pace.

It’s pancake flat out in these parts. Lots of grain farming and co-op silos in each town,

Did I mention the tailwind, it was still strong and there were many windmills, some old, and many new!

Did I mention it was pancake flat! There were Route 66 medallions freshly painted on the I-40 frontage road.

Typical of the old road, entering a town Route 66 goes two lanes to four to help alleviate traffic in town. These expansions were put in place in the 40’s and 50’s to manage the heavy traffic on the Mother Road. With the interstate bypass, there is little if any traffic (I swung into the middle of the road to take this photo on the fly)! 

Rolling into Vega, there is not much. A couple of motels, one gas station (without a convenience store), and two restaurants! Oh and a Dollar General store for course.

I decided to head ‘downtown’ to check it out, This is a replica of a 1924 Magnolia (Which became Mobil) gas station that houses the visitor center.

I took a lap around the town square, only a few businesses were operating. I spotted Brant’s bike in front of a coffee shop and rolled over to join him.

We enjoyed meeting the owner of the shop and getting recommendations of things to check out in Vega. She highly recommended the Milburn-Price Culture Museum. Plan made, we enjoyed our drinks in the shade, then rolled over to the museum.

It was a great collection of stuff. Somewhat random, but very interesting.

One of museum staff greeted us as we walked in and used this 120 year old printing press to print a couple of free post cards.

Of course what Texas museum would be complete without a barbed wire collection. Many of the exhibits seemed like a conglomeration of local estate sales sorted into exhibits. Pen knives, WWII memorabilia, sports awards and trophy’s, model trains, and on and on.  There was even a piano that I had a chance to play!

We checked out a modern windmill blade on display, it was huge, and big enough for Brant to stand in!

This is the outside view. This blade weighs 26,000 pounds, is 125 feet long, and cost $225,000. Notice the anchors pinning this thing to the ground. With the constant winds in these parts, without anchors, this thing could take off!

Our home for the night; cheap but clean! And best of all, everyone is on the ground floor. Of course there is no second floor.

Here is the local grain co-op. It is directly across from our hotel, and I could see it from the road more than 5 miles out of town!

We finished our day where we will start tomorrow. At the Hickory Inn Cafe about 1/4 mile from our motel. See you there tomorrow morning at 7am for breakfast. We load and roll at 8:45 for the 41 mile run to Amarillo to complete our tour of the Western Half of Route 66!

Steve

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2026 Western Route 66 - Day 18

 Tucumcari New Mexico

After a surprisingly good lobby breakfast in the Best Western Santa Rosa we got underway. The forecast was for a building tailwind for the entire day. “Don’t be fooled by the goin’ in weather,” today’s forecast was backwards, we had building headwinds. That said , it was an outstanding day on the bike!

We started out with about 10 miles of Old Route 66 heading due east on the original alignment.

We had an option to take the ‘Cuevo cutoff.’ An old section of the original alignment that takes at direct line toward the ghost town of Cuevo. This photo is of one of the rougher segments. The road started out double track gravel, changing to old pavement and a few spots of deep gravel that were challenging to get through. It was about 7 miles of very fun riding on a 100 year old road.

This church in Cuevo was built in 1915. The original Route 66 went right down Main Street, and probably contributed to the growth of the town.  The town also benefited from the expansions in the 30’s and 40s.’ But when the Interstate came through it literally went right down Main Street and cut the town in half.

It’s now a ghost town! On the south side of I-40 there is the church, maybe two occupied homes, and dozens of abandoned houses.

Just needs a little work! The appliances looked like like they are 50/60’s or earlier. The Interstate came through in 1964.

Who knows what’s in that jar!

Storm shelter

Plenty of parking

On the north side of I-40 an operating towing company and many boarded up businesses testify to the once bustling town of Cueco. How that relatively new car got on the lift is a mystery to me.

The next town is Newkirk, about 10 miles east of Cuevo. I spotted this old road house and was riding to it when Ken, from Athens Georgia walked over. He was taking a month to drive Route 66 and he spotted the old road house too. He was very interested in our ride and we had a nice visit and exchanged selfies.

Standing in front of the roadhouse, you can clearly see the original alignment and pavement. The 1934 alignment (current Old Route 66) and Santa Fe railway are on the left.

Here you can see where a bridge on the original alignment has collapsed. I am standing on a bridge put in service in 1936.

This is the world famous Randalls ranch. It’s one of the few places where concrete Jersey Barriers grow naturally.

There was quite a stand of them that stretched nearly one-half mile.

I was able to carefully climb up to get a shot of these beauties. Notice how these barriers grow naturally  in a very symmetrical pattern. Some attribute it to the molecular structure of the concrete and the perfect growing conditions here in New Mexico. These are nearly ripe and ready for harvesting and placement!

Another original alignment bridge ruins just to the right of the 1934 alignment.

This bridge had the date and number plaques still intact in the concrete. Many of the bridges’ plaques have been stolen/vandalized, and all the remains are the bolts where the plaque used to be.

There was a break in the railway traffic and I was able to get this shot.

Ok the sign said ‘No Tresspassing’ but the gate was unlocked. Not on the route card, but Lon told me during the morning loading that he thought this road might go through and reconnect to I-40. I had plenty of time and decided to give it try.

I was a mile into my trespass, when I heard a vehicle coming up behind me. Meet Jake, his brother owns this ranch. He told me this was private property and that I couldn’t ride here. I used the old ‘well this is old Route 66 and there is a right of way easement.’ He corrected me; ‘it used to be a right of way, now it’s private property.’  I asked if I could continue on because this should reconnect to the I-40. He said no, and it would be hard to climb back to the freeway. I told him I was game, but he said, I’d like to you go back the way you came. He was very cordial, and after I told him what we were doing, I thought he might relent. No, he told me that cyclists have come through and left gates open in the past and the cattle have gotten out. I laughed and told him I might jump gates but I always close them! He let me take his picture and I headed out the way I came!

I did hop this fence (it was easy) to get off the I-40 and rejoin the Old 66/Frontage road where it dead ended into a different ranch. All on public property!

The frontage road takes you to the west end of Tucumcari, where the 1950’s 4 lane alignment leads out of town. It was like a mini-ghost town. None of these businesses survived the I-40 bypass.

After two miles of closed businesses, I reached the visitor center with a great Route 66 monument and mural. The center was closed when I rolled through. From here it was another two miles to our classic motel.

The Blue Swallow Motel opened in 1940, it was originally called the Blue Swallow Court. The original owner died in 1958 and second owner, Lillian Redman,  took it over and operated it for another 40 years. When the Interstate came through traffic dropped dramatically. Redman sold the property in the late 1990s and extenstive renovations took place to restore it to its 1940’s look. A series of owners continued to make improvements. Robert and Dawn Federico purchased the property in 2020 and operate it today. Robert gave each of us a guided tour of each of our rooms.

I am in Room #1 and it includes furniture from the 30’s and 40’s and even a 1939 rotary dial telephone!

Each unit has its own garage, but today they contain patio furniture and antique bicycles! Our bikes are not allowed in the rooms. So we stored them in the garages between rooms 4 and 5 and the owners closed and locked them. I think there is one other guest here that is not part of our group!

After I checked in I took a lap around the neighborhood. This motel is closed, but had a Model T in the driveway. About 1 in 4 buildings are operating in town.

This curio shop was very nice, and I bought a Route 66 watch cap that I had been looking for. These businesses are only kept alive by the persistence of their owners and the travelers that are looking for the Route 66 experience.

We had dinner at Del’s, about 4 blocks from the motel. It was very busy, and appeared to have a good local following in addition to Route 66 tourists. Its competitor about a block away; Kicks on Route 66 was another diner in town. But it had a fire several years ago. There was a sign pledging to reopen, but nothing but sky showing through the roof when I peaked in. 

Whew, that was a day.

Breakfast at 6:30 at Del’s, load and go at 8am. We had wind and rain walking back from dinner, who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Steve

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