Who has the contract for the Pass With Care and Do Not Pass signs?...

A good portion of our trip on Route 66 will be on two-lane highways now that we have left I25 for Alamogordo and Ruidoso on our way to Tucumcari. We won’t be on interstate until just before visiting friends in Overland Park, KS. Then about three hours of interstate on our way to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA.

Because we are spending so much time on two-lane roads, it has occurred to me that there is a fortune to be made in Pass With Care/Do Not Pass signs. Plus of course the little yellow triangles that go with the Do Not Pass signs. Sigh. Missed that opportunity, I think.

Coming into and for quite a while after Ruidoso, NM, we had the top down. [Aside: So glad we packed so we could actually do that. The trunk of our Corvette is quite large: we have two large duffel bags, a computer bag with two (!) computers, a cooler, my purse, Randy’s Aussie hat (couldn’t be without that!) and a toiletries bag. Plus maps and books for the Route 66 part of our trip.] What a wonderful drive. The weather was fantastic, just blue sky and some puffy little fair weather cumulous [Another aside: that is spoken like “fair weather Q” but that really doesn’t make sense]. Not too hot, not too cold, just right! We saw signs for Wild Horses, but unfortunately, didn’t see any. Did see Pronghorns, though. NOT Pronghorn Antelopes (no such thing)!

Ruidoso is a wonderful memory for us; we used to come there to ski while Randy was in USAF pilot training in Big Spring, TX, in the early 60s (he was class 63H for the USAF pilots in the audience). It was only 260+/- miles in our VW Bug. Piece of cake for a weekend. I try not to remember almost being thrown in jail for passing a police car over a double yellow line. Don’t ask. Our friend, John Arnold, helped teach us how to ski. You didn’t expect a New York City boy to know how to ski, did you? When we didn’t take time to ski, we went to Big Bend National Park (about 280 miles+/-) to hike and horseback ride. Ah, those were the days!

Our first taste of Route 66 is Tucumcari, although we are just on our way through, eastbound, on our way to Chicago, the starting point of Route 66. Tucumcari is not a happy town. I think it is one of the classic examples of what happens to a town when an interstate (I40 in this case) goes through. There are many, many closed and dilapidated or just plain broken down buildings in the town. It’s clear it used to be quite vibrant, but there are still a few good things: the Pow Wow Restaurant has some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had (not to mention the Margaritas!).

Had to finally wash the Corvette!

A Motel with airplanes, how could we resist!

Everybody says we should stay here on our way west on Route 66.

Lot of murals in Tucumcari.

Can't get enough publicity about Route 66!

One of the MANY old, abandoned buildings.

Our son-in-law is Ken, we wanted to have ice cream here, but obviously could not!

Our first taste of Route 66.

The drive from Tucumcari to our next stop, Pratt, KS, is best not remembered. Potholes! The potholes have potholes! There’s not much traffic which is good because the highway (US 54) would be littered with destroyed tires (tyres for my Aussie readers) and abandoned vehicles. We have brand new Michelin tires (our son works for Michelin in Australia, would we have any other brand?) on our car and really didn’t want to destroy them just two days into our trip! We, and the tires, survived unhurt to bed down in Pratt.

Looking forward to seeing our friends tomorrow in Overland Park, KS!