Gallup New Mexico
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| Paul Foley, what are you doing here! |
What a classic Route 66 day, seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We’ll get to old and new but first we’ve got to get going.
Favorable winds were in the forecast but they didn’t work out that way, it was more of a swirling come from everywhere day. Not bad, and with more great wind days than not on this trip I really shouldn’t complain. After all I could have put my life savings into this place! Based on the age of the pumps this looks more 60’s vintage. This station is just off the interstate and on Route 66; so it does not seem to be a bypass casualty. There were much larger stations just up the road and maybe that did them in.
On an old Route 66 alignment, notice the curbs that come and go. Today’s route follows the Puerco River and valley and the old alignments wandered back and forth along the path of least topographic resistance. Of course, the Interstate made more direct shot, blasting way the topography to make way for the road.
This is one of the old sections that loops through the Houck Chapter of the Navajo Nation. The road turns to dirt with washboards and deep sand in sections.
I came to a historic bridge and was off the bike checking out this benchmark on the bridge dated 1931. A car pulled up and the gentleman said, ‘hey you know this is a historic bridge!’ He confirmed that this is an Old Route 66 alignment, but that unfortunately this old bridge will need to be replaced because the school busses are too heavy to cross! He said they are planning a replacement bridge, but will leave the historic one standing.
I asked him if I could take his picture and he said that would be great, but he also wanted to take mine to write a story in the Chapter newsletter about our ride on Route 66 and through the Nation.
We introduced ourselves and he gave me his card. He ran for Chapter President in the last election, but came in second. He say that was OK. On the back of his card he explains who he is. The first Navajo name listed is his mother, then father, then grandmother, then grandfather.
He was wearing a cap with a US Marine Corps emblem and I asked if he served. He said he did and that his son served seven years in the Navy on the USS Birmingham Los Angeles class nuclear submarine.
What a coincidence, one of my sons served the Navy on the USS Providence and USS Louisville, also Los Angeles class submarines.
The view looking up the canyon from the bridge.
Our first van stop was in the parking lot of the Good News Church, with a message that is standing the test of time.
Many years ago I was driving with the family on our way to Arizona. We were moving from Detroit Michigan to Phoenix Arizona and I was 16 years old. We stopped at several of the Tourist Traps along the way, and I remember seeing, but not stopping at Fort Courage. It had tall timber walls and I think the theme was connected to the F-Troop TV show. It was on the cue sheet, so I was curious and was actually thinking of checking it out. Well, the property is for sale and most of the fort is gone!
Spectacular vistas in the Puerco River valley in northeastern Arizona. The Route 66 alignments are all over the valley. We appeared to be on the 1939 alignment based on the benchmark on an older bridge.
The views are fantastic, but its hard to frame any these fabulous buttes without catching a rail line, freeway overpass, or Indian Curio shop!
I parked my bike at the second van stop of the day and headed over to the trailer to get some snacks and sit in the shade.
I just sat down, and from behind me someone says, ‘hey is that Steve Atkins?’ Paul is from Boulder Colorado and we met years ago on an Arizona brevet. We have shared many great (and not so great) moments together on brevets in Arizona, Colorado, and France. He was visiting family in California and headed back to Colorado. Somewhere along the way, he got added to my blog update list. He has been following along this trip, and figured our paths may cross. He kept an eye out for us today (including driving some Route 66 sections instead of the freeway) and found us!
What a wonderful surprise! Thanks for suffering through my blog updates and tracking me down today!
Just a few hundred meters from the van stop, we left Arizona and entered the Land of Enchantment!
This colt and mare somehow got on opposite sides of this fence and both were quite agitated. One of our guys rode up to the ranch house and the owner headed out to help.
Here is the second muffler man sighting of this trip. He is referred to as “Dude Man” Cowboy Muffler Man. He has been restored, probably 1960’s vintage and is in the classic muffler man style (Square Jaw, arms at right angles, one hand up and one down, ready to hold a muffler). He sits atop the office of Johns Used Cars lot one block off Route 66 in Gallup.
Just a mile or so more and we are at the classic Hotel el Rancho, our accommodations for the night.
According to many local Route 66 guides the two ‘can’t miss’ attractions in Gallup are the el Rancho Hotel and the Dude Man. Sweet, I covered both in just a few blocks!
The hotel is very nice; great rooms, beautiful lobby, and good restaurant. The hotel was built by R.E. Griffith and opened in 1937. It has a ranch house rustic style lobby and is adorned with many interesting artifacts from the film industry at the time. R.E. Griffith was a relative of movie mogul D.W. Griffith, who provided promotional help in making the hotel a haven for the rich and famous and desert location center of a burgeoning movie industry. Many rooms are named for movie stars. Mine is the Wes Studi room. He played the title character in the 1993 movie Geronimo. Scenes were shot just across the Arizona border in Monument Valley, Kayenta and other locations in Navajo territory.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant to cap off a very full day on Route 66.
Tomorrow we continue east to Grants New Mexico. There is an unavoidable section of I-40 that is under construction and unridable so we will have breakfast at a nearby diner then load the vans and shuttle past the dangerous portion of the route. We will clear the construction at the Continental Divide, remount the bikes and head down 45 miles to Gallup. It will probably be cold on that descent, remember bring warm clothes.
Breakfast at 7:30; load the vans at 9:00; and be on the bikes by 10:30! Oh, check your watches, we changed time zones today!
Steve
Just a few hundred meters from the van stop, we left Arizona and entered the Land of Enchantment!
This colt and mare somehow got on opposite sides of this fence and both were quite agitated. One of our guys rode up to the ranch house and the owner headed out to help.
Here is the second muffler man sighting of this trip. He is referred to as “Dude Man” Cowboy Muffler Man. He has been restored, probably 1960’s vintage and is in the classic muffler man style (Square Jaw, arms at right angles, one hand up and one down, ready to hold a muffler). He sits atop the office of Johns Used Cars lot one block off Route 66 in Gallup.
Just a mile or so more and we are at the classic Hotel el Rancho, our accommodations for the night.
According to many local Route 66 guides the two ‘can’t miss’ attractions in Gallup are the el Rancho Hotel and the Dude Man. Sweet, I covered both in just a few blocks!
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