A sign on the women’s bathroom at the Gunsmoke RV Park
read, “Males over the age of 3 are not allowed in this bathroom,” and on the
men’s bathroom, “Females…” I asked the
proprietor, Kevin, “Just how long do you think you will get away with that sign
before the feds and the ACLU get in your face?”
He looked at me, teeth clenched.
I laughed and said, “I agree, Kevin, don’t get me started!” He laughed back and we’re on the same page.
You know what I told you in the Tucumcari story about
dead cows strewn along the highway and turning back to a motel? Well, I lied.
That incident occurred between Albuquerque and Moriarty, not
Tucumcari. Hey, after 43 years and being
70 (rounded up), I’m lucky to remember anything!
It was too long a drive from Tucumcari to Flagstaff, at
least for us. We stopped overnight at
Grants, NM and split the trip about in half.
The drive through NM was curious, miles and miles of lava on either side
of the highway. (Cold lava, not
fresh.) We didn’t see anything that
could have erupted but apparently something did, maybe a million years ago or
so. The lava fields aren’t particularly
overgrown with ground cover just yet and the scenery is black rugged rock as
far as the eye can see. I wonder if Adam
and Eve knew about this. (That raises
another question I’ve had: Who did Adam
and Eve’s kids make babies with?)
The continental divide was next at about 8,000 ft. but
none of our potato chip bags exploded, this time, and Noobee’s diesel engine
didn’t even blink. Hwy 40 parallels the
railroad tracks for long distances and the trains are hundreds of cars
long. They carry shipping containers
two-deep per flat car, oil tanker cars and in one case, windmill blades! That was fascinating. Two flatcars were coupled together to
accommodate just one of the 240 ft. long blades. Isn’t it great that we still have fossil fuel
on hand to manufacture and transport windmill blades? Just askin.’
The highway also parallels old Route 66 and there are sections that can still
be driven. The road is very skinny in
places and then degenerates to a dirt path with lots of ups, downs and squiggly turns.
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| Miles of flatcars carrying windmill blades. |
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| A fairly good section of Route 66 on the right |
It would be fun to do some of
this in the Jeep sometime but driving it with Noobee just doesn’t look doable,
although we had considered it.
Route 66
was constructed in the 1920s and work on Highway 40 began in 1957, aiming to
replace it.
In 1985, Route 66 was
officially decommissioned and only parts of it have been maintained by local
nostalgia enthusiasts.
Rob got his first
kicks in 1957 at the age of ten when his parents drove cross-country to Albuquerque
to his Pop’s next Army post (in a 1956 red and white Plymouth station wagon
with a swamp cooler hanging on the window, FYI).
His Mom wrapped hot dogs and buns in foil and
laid them in the V of the V-8 to cook them for dinner.
Today was a trip down memory lane for Rob.
Even now in some small towns, you can still
get your kicks on Route 66.
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| Route 66 erodes to a dirt path in places |
We’ve been pushing the trip home pretty hard, one night
stays and long days driving. Now, we are
at our last stop, Flagstaff. So we
deserve to stay two nights before heading for the final stretch home. We love Flagstaff! Our fave little funky rv park, Black Bart’s,
had a nice spot for us and here we are, ready to kick back, relax for a little
while and go to dinner on site at the steak house where live entertainment is
provided by the same kids who serve the tables.
The piano player plinks the keys and singers walk about the floors amid
the tables and on the stage, singing their hearts out. You can feel the high energy and there are no
grumpy people in Black Bart’s Steak House,
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| Overview of Black Bart's Saloon. |
Saloon and Musical Revue.
 |
The entertainment! Brian, our waiter, is the
third singer from the right. |
Tomorrow, June 3, we will bring Noobee to her new home at
1640. Bye for now with love!
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| Bye for now! |
