Travel Route 66 with KW&CJ

Illinois

 

The adventure begins here in the midst of downtown Chicago’s hustle and bustle. An official US 66 sign, mounted so it faces westbound traffic, marks the Mother Road’s starting point on East Adams Street, just west of its intersection with South Michigan Avenue. 

 

Our trip did not start here. We have not been to Chicago, or any place in Illinois yet. Two other states we have not been on Route 66 are Kansas and California.

 

Missouri 

 

Gateway Arch, St Louis 

Wagon Wheel Motel, Cuba 

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic

Boots Court Motel, Carthage

 

Oklahoma 

 

Coleman Theatre, Miami

Pops Soda Ranch, Arcadia 

 

 

 

Texas

 

The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo 

 

Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo 

 

New Mexico

 

Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari 

 

Petroglyphs National Monument, Albuquerque 

 

Arizona 

 

Petrified Forest National Park, Forrest

 

Wigwam Motel, Holbrook 

 

Standing on the Corner Park, Winslow

 

Twin Arrows Trading Post, Flag Staff

 

Two giant 25-foot arrows mark the where the Twin Arrows Trading Post once stood. Built in the late 1949’s, Route 66 motorists once stopped to fill up the tank and dine at the Valentine diner. Forest Gump ran past the Twin Arrows in his race across the U.S.

 

Grand Canyon Railway, Williams 

Great Sand Dunes NP

Great Sand Dunes National Park and  Preserve

 

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves and area of large snd dunes up to 750 feet tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve located in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in south-central Colorado. The park was originally designated Great Sand Dunes National Monument on March 17, 1932 by President Herbert Hoover. The original boundaries protected an area of 35,528 acres. A boundary change and redesignation  as a national park and preserve was authorized on November 22, 2000 and then established by an act of Congress on September 24, 2004. The park encompasses 107,342 acres while the preserve protects an additional 41,686 acres for a total of 149,028 acres.

 

The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America.The dunes cover an area of about 30 sq mi and are estimated to contain over 1.2 cubic miles of sand.^] Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley over geologic time periods. After lakes within the valley receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos, eventually forming the dunefield over an estimated tens of thousands of years.The four primary components of the Great Sand Dunes system are the mountain watershed, the dunefield, the sand sheet, and the sabkha. Ecosystems within the mountain watershed include alpine tundra, subalpine forests, montane woodlands and riparian zones.

Tucumcari Tonight

Hey tour guide let’s take a trip down Route 66 in New Mexico. Sounds like fun. You drive and I’ll take pictures. That would be nice, but I still can’t reach the peddles. Oh yeah, I forgot. 

In the 1920’s, an Oklahoman helped dream up what would become America’s most beloved highway: Route 66. Tulsa businessman Cyrus Avery lobbied strongly for a highway linking Chicago to Los Angeles and for it to pass through Oklahoma. The U.S. Highway 66 was commissioned 1926. Avery called it the Main Street of America. 

The journey down Route 66 wasn’t always a cheerful one. The Great Depression hit had in 1929, and in the early 1930’s, Oklahoma and neighboring states fell victim to what would be known as the Dust Bowl. 

The Grapes of Wrath, 1940 (motion picture) Great Depression and Dust Bowl. 

Built in 1961 and closed in 2004. It is has been remodeled and is now open for business. 

The world famous Motel Safari on Historic Route 66 has been a Mother Road icon for over 60 years. 


Trails West Lounge Neon sign is from 1950. Not sure if it is still open. 


The story of the Blue Swallow Motel began when carpenter W. A. Higgins purchased lots on March 29, 1939 an began construction. The Blue Swallow Court, as it was originally called, was opened, operating with ten rooms sometime in 1940. 

the Blue Swallow Court in 1940. 

The Blue Swallow Motel in 2020. 


The Apache Motel in 2020. Rumored to be remodeled soon. 


A few of the many murals along Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM. 

Let’s Go Bowling

KW here,it’s time to blog again. We have been in quarantine for about 3 months. Big problem was when we finally got the door open, we discovered that the tour guide had forgot to take us back home with them. 

As we were hiking from Durango Colorado, just a reminder, tour guide forgot us. So anyway we saw this three wheeler with a trailer so we commandeered it for the trip home.   


A few vintage Bowling Alley neon signs for your viewing pleasure. CJ was driving and I was taking pictures on our route home. Fred and Ethel were usually sleeping. They are quite elderly. 

Well, we got home safe and sound. Tour guide apologies were finally accepted by the Gang of Four. I explained about the bike, but he won’t let us keep it. He will hire a vehicle mover to take it back to Colorado. My guess is He is upset about leaving us and is paying for it. My guess is the guy never even missed it. There were a few sirens and flashing lights behind us, so we got off and took back roads and never saw any more of them. 

PS:

Commandeered is to take possession or control of something without authority, especially for military purposes. We were on a mission to get back home. 

Guadalupe Mt. NP Update

Guadalupe Mountains National Park. 

Hiking Guadalupe Peak was on the bucket list. Probably the most strenuous hike we have attempted and we have hiked Angels Landing in Zion National Park which was a tough hike, but very scary. 

Mrs tour guide getting her stamp in her  passport book. 

Now it’s time to hike the Peak. 

This is a drawing by the tour guide. His pack twisted to the right, which was too heavy. When it twisted it pulled him down. He was a lot closer than the drawing shows. He wanted mrs tour guide to take a picture, but she was intent on pulling him from the edge. Probably a good idea since the only thing stopping him from rolling down about a 1000 feet or so to the bottom was the bush (which was placed there by God to stopped his descent to the bottom). We hiked a little higher till the tour guides decided it was way to strenuous and scary to continue to the top. We made it 3/4 up. So it is crossed off the bucket list. 


PS:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is an American national  park in the Guadalupe Mountains, east of el Paso, Texas.

The mountain range includes Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet, and was  used as a landmark by travelers on the route later followed by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line. The park covers 86,367 acres in the same mountain range as Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about 25 miles to the north in New Mexico.