Day 2 - We survived the second day of our journey. We had an awesome day! Amarillo to Santa Fe to Albuquerque.
Mile 682 - Left at 9:20 a.m. Dean let Travis sleep in until 8:00 a.m. (lucky for Dean!). Ate free continental breakfast at motel. And you know, you get what you pay for. Backtracked from our motel from last night and hit old Route 66 through Amarillo. Travis starts driving for the day. It was 31 degrees when we left Amarillo and even had some frost on the car. The wind was blowing (BAD says Travis, but doesn't get agreement from Kansas resident Dean). Travis insisted the top stay up. Travis even gets to turn on the newly working heater.
Mile 701 - Stopped at the Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo for a Kodak moment.
Mile 702 - (Background information: through this point, Dean has been using a pen to take notes under protest. He hates the pen that Travis brought - he claims that it doesn't write worth anything). Dean throws Travis' crappy pen out the window, and Travis has a fit. Littering - Isn't that a misdemeanor? Dean ends up apologizing. (We're going to be on this trip for how long?)
Mile 703 - Stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere. $1.519 / gal
Mile 747 - We blew through Gruhlkey, TX. Travis was in his driving and not thinking zone and ended up missing our next Route 66 turn. (Got Lost #2). We decided not to take an old dirt road version of Route 66 from the pre-1930's.
Mile 767 - Went to ghost town of Glen Rio, TX/NM. It's on the border. It's a true 66 Ghost Town. Old buildings with no residents. Dean begs Travis to stop and take pics. As fate would have it, Dean finds an awesome pen on the ground in Glen Rio. He's happy now (but he's still protesting the top being up)! The name of the place is the First/Last Motel in Texas. Looks like we won't be staying here for the night.
Mile 795 - We passed yet another falling down gas station/motel/diner combination. Dean rolls down his window to give Travis the hint to PUT THE TOP DOWN.
Mile 810 - Enter Tucumcari, NM. Stop at the Blue Swallow Inn and ask proprietor permission to take pictures. Get okay and start clicking away. It's a true original Route 66 motor court with individual garages and all!
Mile 811 - Make a quick stop and put the top down…finally says Dean!
Mile 823 - Travis freaks out at cattle guards on old Route 66 (obviously a CITY BOY!).
Mile 855 - Rejoin I-40 (yuck!) after driving along the old Route 66. What we have been driving on is actually the original Route 66, which has become the I-40 service road for the majority of the time. It's really pleasing driving 60 mph for miles and miles and miles with no other traffic. We get our first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. Sorry…those pics didn't come out.
Mile 867 - Stopped in Santa Rosa, NM and ate lunch at the Silver Moon Restaurant, another original Route 66 business. Dean starts his leg of driving.
Mile 868 - Gas fillup. $1.649 / gal. Gas station owner comes out and looks car over. Due to previous bad experiences, Travis becomes the official gas pumper and Dean becomes the official windshield washer. We all have our talents, and it's good to know that if engineering doesn't work out, that we have something to fall back on.
Mile 887 - We leave I-40 and start heading toward Santa Fe on Highway 84, in search of the remains of the pre-1939 Route 66.
Mile 944 - We briefly venture off course in search for the Old Iron Bridge just outside of San Jose, NM. Can't find it with our first try and have to backtrack. (Got Lost #3)
Mile 950 - We are still in search for the Old Iron Bridge, and finally found it spanning the Pecos River outside of San Jose. There's a lady there from Albuquerque fishing, and we talked her into taking our picture.
Upon leaving the Old Iron Bridge site, Dean about gets the car stuck and scrapes the bottom of the car, really bad. Dean almost loses driving privileges…again…but this time he obtained possible scraping permission from Travis (which was supposed to be looking out for clearance issues). He's forgiven.
Mile 952 - Got lost finding feeder road. Dean runs over glass bottle (driving privileges?) while trying to get unlost from Travis' directions. (Got Lost #4).
At this point, Dean starts questioning Travis' abilities as a navigator, and Travis starts questioning Dean's ability as a driver. Are we getting along or what?
Mile 953 - Got lost again trying to get unlost and find the feeder road that we're supposed to be on. Come to find out, we were correct back up at Mile 952 to begin with. (Got lost #5).
Travis realizes that Dean is much too demanding of a driver. He keeps asking for multiple things at the same time. Change the music, what's the next thing we're supposed to be looking for, are there any interesting trivia points about this area, can you get me something to drink, and did you write all of that stuff down from back at Mile 952 and Mile 953? Travis starts to think that Dean is doing this on purpose.
Mile 997 - Pull into Santa Fe and do a little shopping at The Plaza. Dean leaves the backpack in the car (with the top DOWN like he likes it) with all of our driving music in it. Surprisingly enough, 10 minutes later, it's still there.
Mile 1041 - Stopped in Bernalillo, NM for gas. $1.659 / gal. Travis assumes driving responsibilites.
Mile 1050 - We enter Albuquerque, NM.
Mile 1061- Stop at Taco Sal's for dinner. This is an old hangout of Travis' back from 1989, when he spent the summer here working. We discovered that Taco Sal's is closed on Sundays.
Mile 1069 - Backtracked on I-40 and re-entered the Albuquerque Route 66 from a more traditional route. Cruised Central Boulevard.
Mile 1077 - Stopped at The Firehouse (another one of Travis' known restaurants from 1989), which has been ritzied up in the last 11 years. Looked at the menu and quickly left.
Mile 1081 - Stopped at the 66 Diner by the University of NM for dinner. We liked their menu a little better. Dean tries to fix Travis up with our waitress, Jeanette.
Mile 1091 - Stopped at the University Inn, after surveying the MANY hotels along old Route 66. Travis thinks it was built in the '50s, and Dean claims it was built in the '60s.
Total distance for the day: 409 miles.