Day 12 of Route 66 2015 from Tucumcari NM to Albuquerque NM

Before leaving Tucumcari I needed to do some sightseeing of the highlight of this town. Off course I saw the Blue Swallow Motel. Even drove around it to see the back side (that nothing special compared to the front side). A must see on 66. I looked to make a reservation there but was to late.

I also saw the apache motel that is not in use anymore I hope there will be a new owner soon else it will be lost in a year or 2. 

And the motel Safari were Cees stayed a night. Also a nice logo on the street. And of course I visited the Teepee Curios were Willem now is making his model from. Spoke the new owner because it was closed in 2013. Gar & Heide Engman bought the place. German names but we spoke English.  Good that this highlight is saved. And a nice shop too but that you can see in the pictures.

Then I drove to Santa Rossa over I-40 and some old parts off Route 66 to see the car museum again. And my Swiss friends were already there making pictures and of course on from me and the car too. This museum is a must see for classis car lovers entrée fee only 5 dollars. They had changed the cars since 2013 but not all, the Mercedes and Datsun are still there. And they have a generation line of Ford Mustangs now standing. And yes the Fina logo is still on the wall. For my Total friend ( previous TotalFinaElf) a nice few.

After the visit I did some sightseeing of Santa Rossa saw the blue hole and eat something in the restaurant and fueled the bike because I know it’s a long ride over the US84 ( Rte66 before 37) with no gas station. 

And now I know again why we Europeans want to drive the road. It is lonely and have a lot of mountain views to see. And the end is a gas station and there I met a truck driver with a Peterbilt from 2003. His Cat-engine had done 1,4 miljoen miles and he was happy with it. No epa10 shit like DEF en Particle filters needed he said. Ok work needs to stop here.

The drives continued to Madrid were many artists are selling their work. To road is a beauty to drive with many mountains and many curves. Cees drove here too and it was like the bike did know the way back.

The visit to Madrid was nice. I saw even a bottle tree ranch on the way to Albuquerque. Entering the city over the old route 66 that went over in a wide street with 4 lanes where drivers adapted the drive still to city style. Always in a hurry

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So what do I today? Going to Gallup NM that I did not do in 2013 were I went to El Moro. The entering the home state of my sister were I will see the Petrified Forest again. Think I will end in Holbrooke today.  

picture will follow asap